This Insanely Fast, World Record-Setting ‘Widowmaker’ Superbike Can Now Be Yours

This legendary V8-powered bike set a speed record for world’s fastest motorcycle.

Sometimes the notion that you can put a small block Chevy V8 into anything seems like hyperbole. Then you see the Widowmaker Number Seven, a record-setting motorcycle built with a small block powerplant to confirm that it is true.

Motorcycle drag racer E.J. Potter built a series of mind-blowing V8 drag bikes in the 1960s, culminating with Number Seven. 

It has a 350-cubic inch engine with a Crane cam, aluminum heads and Hilborn fuel injection, producing 500 horsepower.

Potter rode Widowmaker into the record books in 1973, with a 8.68-second quarter mile pass at 172 mph.

He must have had a bit of a sense of humor about the bike, because for a fuel tank he chose one from a Whizzer, which was a home-built moped using a motor bolted to a regular bicycle.

Number Seven was to have sold at Bonhams Las Vegas Motorcycle Auction last weekend, but did not meet the seller’s price, so it is apparently still available if you’ve got the $65,000 to $85,000 Bonham’s estimates it’ll sell for burning a hole in your pocket.