The Ab Jenkins Duesenberg & The Boys of Bonneville

[mechanician]

Since there are Duesey posts on here on the forum right now, check out some beautiful contemporary photos of the Mormon Meteor and an incredible video of The Boys of Bonneville at The Old Motor. The video is very very interesting.

[Guest Fred Smith]

WOW, you are right about that, what a beautiful car and the video is one of the best I have ever seen.

[Guest]

The origins of how the Pontiac Bonneville really earned it’s name, and it all started with David “Ab” Jenkins and his love for the Bonneville Salt flats.

He and his son Marv were racers there and in 1956 were tapped by Pontiac to help the brand set some speed records and to shed it’s ho-hum reputation. “Until my dad got hold of that Pontiac,” said the late Marv Jenkins, “it was a car for retired ministers.”

In June of 1956 Ab and his son Marv drove a Series 860 Pontiac around a 10-mile circular track that had been laid out out on the salt. Together the achieved an average speed of 118.375 MPH in a 24 hour period and shattered all 28 American unlimited and Class C stock-car racing records. The same car was then used to set a 100 mile distance/speed record of 126.02mph.

Ab drove around 2,841 of the miles himself and survived off of only a few chugs of milk that he took down during his 30-second pit stops. He died of a heart attack shortly after setting the records while being chauffered around salt Lake City by a Pontiac executive in another 1956 Pontiac. The company rep. stopped to use the restroom at a gas station. When he returned to the car he found Jenkins slumped over dead. In 1957 Pontiac name the Bonneville in his honor, a rare example in which a car was named after a racing inspired theme.

http://2475-rodauthority.voxcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/34/files/2011/08/214.jpg

Edited December 3, 2011 by helfen (see edit history)

[Guest]

Picture of his car;http://www.pontiacsafari.com/L1EarlyV8Pontiacs/56DualQuad/56PontiacWorldSpeedRecord.jpg