Kiwi Coupe is a steel-bodied 1934 Plymouth which has been modified into a land speed car to run as a "competition coupe" in Utah, in August.
The car’s owners Owen Jones, of Dunedin, and Chris Barnes, of Riverton, hope to beat the B/GCC Southern California Timing Association Class land speed record of 423.7kmh, set by E. Wooden in 1998.
During the next few months, the team will continue to tweak the car’s 427cu in, twin carb, big block V8 Chevrolet engine, which produces about 800hp at the moment.
Mr Barnes said, fortunately, the car weighed about 2.3 tonnes.
"It’s heavy. Kiwis really don’t want to fly."
The car has already had a successful run on the salt at Lake Gairdner, in South Australia, reaching a top speed of 323.5kmh.
He said he and Mr Jones had flipped a coin to decide who would get to drive the car at Bonneville.
The car was among about 100 at the Stateside Streeter’s 30th Great USA Day car show at Tahuna Park on Saturday.
Hundreds of people turned out to see classics and the latest and greatest American cars on display.
