Stu Hilborn’s Lakester From 1948
Stu Hilborn developed his fuel injection experiments with this car, his Bill Warth-built aluminum streamliner, in this photograph by HOT ROD founder Robert Petersen. Run by Warth on California dry lakes before WWII, Hilborn purchased the lakes racer without engine or transmission for $75 the day Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Run a few times with a flathead Ford before racing stopped in 1942. During the war Hilborn started his experiments in fuel injection while in the service, applying his theories with the help of his race car, running 140mph in 1947 before he rolled it, landing him in the hospital. While recuperating, friend Eddie Miller Jr. banged the old racecar back into shape. Since Stu promised his mother he wouldn’t race again, he enlisted Howie Wilson to drive, becoming the first car to break 150mph on the lakes. By 1948 Hilborn Injection Company was born, and by the following year his fuel injection systems could be found on many race cars including the top Indy 500 teams.
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