See the 1957 Ford break 462 national and international speed and distance records at Bonneville in this original factory film.

Ford called it “the longest left turn in history.” On September 9, 1956, two 1957 Fords rolled out onto a giant circular course, 10 miles in circumference, laid out on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Over the next 20 days, running almost non-stop, they covered more than 50,000 miles each with the lead car averaging 108.16 mph for the entire distance. In the process, they set 462 national and international speed and distance records for production automobiles.

Directing the project was California racer Danny Eames (1918-2012), who’d run similar programs at Chrysler before Ford hired him away.  The cars were prepared by two more well-known members of the California hot rod fraternity: Fran Hernandez, later to become racing manager at Lincoln-Mercury, and Scarab race mechanic and driver Chuck Daigh. The star-studded driver lineup included Chuck Stevenson, Johnny Mantz, Danny Oakes, Jerry Unser, and George Lynch.

All this effort was for the greater glory of the Ford Motor Company and the new ’57 Ford, of course. The sucessful record run was trumpeted in a multi-page ad buy in Life magazine, full coverage in Sports Cars Illustrated (January 1957) by Griff Borgeson, and with the neat little film we’re sharing here. As a bonus, there’s a segment at the end featuring Danny Eames himself, who as a teenager raced on the California dry lakes before World War II and has too many motorsports accomplishments to name here. Here’s a rare opportunity to see and hear him in person, so to speak. Video follows.