Spirit of America: Sonic I - World's first 600mph car goes up for auction

From here going into a duel with the Arfons brothers and Tom Green as they all traded fastest times, Breedlove then claimed top honours again with two more records in late 1964, first scoring 468.719mph before finally cracking the 500mph-mark at 526.277mph.

The latter attempt also ended in spectacular fashion, as he set the unwanted headlines of world fastest crash and longest skid mark in history, after his parachute failed and he ended up in a lake.

Just a couple of weeks later Art Arfons bettered Breedlove’s time – the latter knew he had to dig deep if he wanted to get back on top, which is where Sonic I comes in.

At 34-ft long with a fuselage-type body and fitted with a J-79 General Electric engine, like its predecessor its wheels weren’t driven, but this time it had four instead of three.

The incredible jet produced 15,000 pounds of thrust with an afterburner. As well as having disc brakes, it ran on special tyres produced by Goodyear. An onboard air-supply system for the cockpit was accompanied by an aerospace-style parachute for this rocketship on wheels.

On November 2 1965 on the Utah Salt Flats at Bonneville, Breedlove used Sonic I to register 555.485mph, locked in fierce battle with Art Arfons.

“I got on really well with Art,” Breedlove told Motor Sport. “He was a really nice guy, facing the same challenges as we were.

“He had his hands full. He approached me one evening outside the Stateline Hotel in Wendover [favoured base for LSR teams at Bonneville] in November 1965 when we’re trading places with the record beyond 500mph, and he said ‘You just went 555mph and my car’s in Vegas and now I’m going to have to go get it and try to beat you. What’s going to happen? Are we just going to go back and forth until one of us gets killed or what? What’s going on?’ and I said ‘Well, I’ve never thought about it in those terms, but I suspect that’s what we’re dealing with’.

“Art replied: ‘Well that’s OK, I just wanted to know…”

Arfons bettered Breedlove’s 555mph record just a few days later. However, he had crashed at the end of his attempt, so when Breedlove hit the hallowed 600mph mark on November 16, 1965, his rival had no reply.

“At that speed we saw from the telemetry that the front wheels were barely on the ground,” said Breedlove. “Sonic I was flying.”

Having made history, the incredible achievement would stand for five years, only beaten by Gary Gabelich’s Blueflame in 1970.

Breedlove would make a further LSR attempt ‘driving’ the SoA: Sonic Arrow in 1996, going at 675mph (by then not a record) when a gust of wind blew his car over, resulting in a massive crash – again setting a record for world’s fastest shunt. Breedlove reckoned he would have hit 920mph if he’d kept on going.

Though it was his last LSR chance, the Sonic I has remained iconic. In 1975 the IMS Museum took in the machine in which Breedlove took his fastest time.

50 years later, it’s now available to buy at a Miami Auction on February 27.

More information can be found here.