It’s simple, really: You just buy a junked Lockheed F-104 Starfighter (without wings), put in a new turbojet engine, add custom solid billet aluminum wheels designed for 900 mph, throw in some magnetic brakes and a parachute, and you’re good to go. Really, really go: to a new land speed record in excess of 770 mph (the current record, held by the ThrustSSC — now morphed into the BloodhoundSSC (see TM 10/2009), and looking at going as fast as 1,000 mph — and set in 1997, is 763.1 mph; new records have to be ≥ 1% better).

The North American Eagle™ Supersonic Land Speed Challenger is 56 feet long, weighs 13,000 pounds, and is powered by a GE LM-1500 turbojet. Its chassis is the fuselage of an F-104A-10 Starfighter (tail number 56-0763) originally designed by the famous Kelly Johnson at the Lockheed Skunkworks.

North American Eagle™ [Manufacturer’s Site]