1942 P-38 Lakester Tank Bonneville For Sale

1942 P-38 Lakester Tank Bonneville Details

2 United States Air Force Fighter P-38 fuel drop tanks for sale. Located in Los Angeles.

We have a pair for your P-38 Warbird, or will sell individually. Priced per tank, not per pair.

Build your lakester out of a real P-38 tank. It will be worth so much more / will be worth at least what you put into it. Build it out of another tank or fiberglass.. you are throwing money down the drain. Just like building a great fiberglass 32 roadster. Worth $25k when you are done.. do the same car with a real roadster body.. worth $65k when done.

I am open to trades for: vintage travel trailers, motorcycles from real Harleys to Street bikes etc… not “custom” bikes….classics, hot rods, customs, late model vehicles, RVs, boats… I can trade up ( tank plus cash up to $60k ) or down or on multiple vehicles or partials etc..

These aluminum P 38 military bellytanks are the real deal. These are the 305 gallon big P-38 belly tanker 14 foot drop tanks. Not the small ones. This is the best tank to have for land speed racing. Or, use it for your plane if you have a Warbird P-38.

“This is the P-38 Aluminum Drop tank from WW2. The Large P-38 that is Aluminum with bolt together flange. Yes, the real deal. This is the tank that 95% of all the post war Lakesters were made from. Bill Burke is the man that is credited for being the first to take a surplus airplane bellytank and make a land speed race car out of it. After the war, they were cheap and very aerodynamic. Bill and several others built cars out of these tanks from 1946 on. I spoke with Bill Burke and he told me that he would go to the surplus salvage yard and pick out tanks.”

To say these tanks are rare would be an understatement. I actively searched for one for 10 years and never found any, until just last year when I found 2. We sold both those for $20,000 over the last couple of years. I figured it would be the last one I would get to touch, but we were lucky enough to get one more. But, too many race cars and projects… so we are going to move it on to someone who has time to build it into a lakester or use it for an old P-38 Warbird. Both better uses then just looking cool hanging on the ceiling. It is impossible to find two of these together these days. As such it is a great deal to buy two of them together.

This tank would be perfect for a restoration, re-creation or a new race car.

This tank is from around 1942. It is 36 inches wide, and about 14 feet long.

This is ready to make into a SCTA, Southern California Timing Association, race car for Bonneville Salt Flats Speed Week, or El Mirage. You can race it on the East Coast at The Maxton Mile, www.ecta-lsr.com, or in Texas at the Texas Mile, www.texasmile.net. Or, even in Maine at Loring, www.lta-lsr.com.

This is the most sought after tank / body to start with. $20,000 for an individual tank $40,000 for the pair. Will also consider a Trade of equal or negotiable value, call for details. We accept Classic Cars, Late Model Cars, Airstream Trailers, Motorcycles, Campers, boats and other vehicles. We are willing to negotiate a full or partial trade up (to $60,000 value) or down.

Good luck in following the dream to Bonneville.

1942 P-38 Lakester Tank Bonneville Pictures