MY FEEDLY

“Big Oly” Is For Sale: The Most Important Racing Bronco In History

It’s difficult to overstate the importance of “Big Oly” – the Ford Bronco you see here. It’s the vehicle that rewrote the rule book for off-road racing in the early 1970s, going on to dominate races like the Baja 1000, the Baja 500, and the Mint 400.

Today the concept of “silhouette” off-road racing trucks is well established, but back in the late 1960s when Big Oly was behind designed and built it was a pioneering concept. The Bronco’s unusual name came from the team’s lead sponsor – Olympia Beer.

Rather than using the stock body-on-chassis Bronco as the starting point for their racing truck, Parnelli Jones, Dick Russell, and Bill Stroppe developed an all new chromoly space frame chassis, onto which fiberglass and aluminum body panels was attached to make the vehicle look like a Bronco.

Parnelli Jones and Bill Stroppe already had a long history of working together by the time Big Oly was unveiled in 1970. Jones was already one of America’s most successful and versatile racing drivers, he won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, and over the course of his career he would win the Indianapolis 500 twice as a driver and twice as a team owner.

There would be countless other race and championship wins over the course of his career, on dirt tracks, asphalt, and in off-road desert races.

Above Image: A look at the spaceframe chassis of Big Oly showing the suspension and engine placement.

Jones would work with Bill Stroppe on and off throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the two men became firm friends. Stroppe built a Mercury Marauder USAC stock car for Jones, who used it to win the 1963 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb breaking the stock car speed record in the process.

As the story goes, Jones had little interest in desert racing but Stroppe knew he’d be a natural so he hatched a plan to get Jones into a Bronco.

He suggested it to Jones at a Christmas party in 1967, making a point of doing it in front of a large crowd. Jones explained that he wasn’t interested, Stroppe said something about off-road racing being too hard for him, which fired up Jones’ competitive spirit and saw him agree to race in the Star Dust 7/11 race across the Nevada desert in 1968.

The Jones/Stroppe partnership would go on to revolutionize off-road racing. They brought in everything they knew about building race cars to the world of off-road racing trucks and changed it forever.

After some patchy successes driving modified production trucks in the late 1960s Jones and Stroppe head mechanic Dick Russell began developing the design oft he vehicle that would become Big Oly in secret away from Stroppe’s disapproving eye.

Above Image: Hear about Parnelli Jones’ exploits in Big Oly in his own words.

When Stroppe did finally learn about the project he was furious, but Jones talked him down and Stroppe insisted that the project move into his workshop after realizing how much of a game changer it could be.

With is long travel coil spring suspension, disc brakes front and rear, full space frame chassis, and its 390 bhp Ford 351 cu. in. V8, Big Oly was a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately during its first attempt at the Baja 1000 Big Oly broke an axle, Jones later admitted he was pushing too hard for the conditions in the hope of beating the motorcycles.

Big Oly would return in 1971 to claim outright victory in the Baja 1000, it would then come back and do it again the next year. In 1973 they won the Baja 500 and the Mint 400 to boot.

Today Big Oly stands as one of the most important off-road racers of all time and arguably the most important Ford Bronco of all time, though not the most famous due to that run-in OJ Simpson had with law enforcement back in 1994.

For the first time Big Oly is due to come up for public sale, it’s spent the past few decades in Vel’s Parnelli Jones race shop and being displayed at some of the most important museums and car shows in the United States.

It will be crossing the auction block with Mecum this May, fittingly in Indianapolis of all places. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of Mecum

The post “Big Oly” Is For Sale: The Most Important Racing Bronco In History appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/ford-bronco-big-oly/
via gqrds

Jay Kay’s BMW 3.0 CSL Is For Sale

The BMW 3.0 CSL is one of the most important cars in the German automaker’s long history, this one is perhaps a little more special than most because it’s being offered for sale directly from the collection of Jay Kay, the famous front man of Jamiroquai and a car collector of some international repute.

The BMW 3.0 CSL

Originally released in May of 1972, the BMW 3.0 CSL was a homologation special developed to allow the car to be raced in the highly competitive European Touring Car Championship.

Just 1,265 would be built, with the “L” in the model name coming from the German word “leicht” (“light” in English), due to the fact the cars had been specially built to shave off any many kilograms of possible.

A large part of these weight savings came from the thinner gauge steel that was used in some sections of the car’s unibody. BMW engineers were careful to ensure rigidity wouldn’t be affected, they also stripped these cars of their soundproofing, the front bumper, and they used aluminium alloy for the doors, bonnet, and trunk lid.

Above Image: The handsome, shark-like looks of the CSL have won it many accolades over the years. The model was nicknamed the “Batmobile” shortly after its introduction.

The side windows were made from Perspex rather than glass, and a number of other trim items were deleted in the interests of saving weight. In total the 3.0 CSLs were approximately 300 lbs (136 kgs) lighter than when they started, a significant reduction that was taken to even further extremes with the race cars.

These cars initially used much the same basic engine as the 3.0 CS, however its displacement was increased to 3,003cc in order to allow it to compete in the over 3.0 litre class, for 1973 cars would see their engine capacity further increased up to 3,153cc.

In 3.2 litre road-going trim the CSL was capable of 203 hp at 5,600 rpm and 211 lb ft of torque at 4,200 rpm, these were impressive figures for the time and when coupled with the cars independent front and rear suspension, disc brakes on all four corners, and 5-speed transmission it meant the cars were excellent performers.

On track the CSLs performed better than even the most optimistic projections, winning the driver’s title in the European Touring Car Championship six times in 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979. It also won three rounds of the 1976 World Championship for Makes, it won its class at the 1973 24 Hours of Le Mans, it won some races in the IMSA GT Championship, and it took a slew of other wins and podiums in various racing series around the world.

Above Image: The interior of this car is much the same as the regular production 3.0 CS, as the British importer wanted the cars to keep their electric windows, soundproofing, and some other comfort items.

Interestingly the BMW M (Motorsport) division was founded in 1972 with just 35 staff specifically to develop this car, the 3.0 CSL. The wild success of the program and the positive press it brought to BMW helped to cement the M division into the DNA of BMW, and today almost 50 years later there’s a vast array of BMW M cars that all owe their existence to the CSL.

The surviving examples of the BMW 3.0 CSL are now highly sought after.

The BMW 3.0 CSL Shown Here

As mentioned above, this CSL is coming directly out of the ownership of Jay Kay, he had the car for 13 years and it became a bit of a personal favorite.

It obviously had a special place in his extensive collection as he had the car restored at Munich Legends in 2010 with the final cost of over £35,000 including £7,000 for a full respray to BMW Polaris Silver and £28,882 for a full mechanical rebuild.

The car is now being offered at the Race Retro Live Auction on the 27th of March with a price guide of £100,000 to £115,000, or $137,230 to $157,814 USD. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of Silverstone Auctions

The post Jay Kay’s BMW 3.0 CSL Is For Sale appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/jay-kay-bmw-3-0-csl/
via gqrds

A Drivable 70% Scale Porsche 917 Go Kart – $20,500 to $27,400 USD

This is a 100% functional and drivable Porsche 917 at 70% scale. It’s designed to accommodate both adults and kids, which is why it has an open top with plenty of room for your head to protrude, and it’s capable of almost 30 mph (48 km/h).

The Porsche 917 is a vehicle that needs no introduction, it was one of the most dominant racing cars of its day taking a slew of wins in Can Am, the World Sportscar Championship, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The special long tail (“Langheck” in German) iteration of the car was capable of 225 mph (362 km/h) thanks to both the car’s advanced aerodynamics and its mighty mid-mounted flat-12 engine.

The car you see here was designed to be a scaled down version of the 917 that preserved the legendary styling of the original whilst offering it in a far more affordable (and child friendly) package at 70% scale.

Above Image: The rear-wheel drive car has a rear disc brake and a mid-mounted engine.

The baby Porsche 917 uses a steel backbone trellis frame, all of the various parts of the vehicle are bolted to this central frame, with a series of steel tubes supporting the elegant fiberglass body that was modeled on the iconic 917 “Kurzheck” Porsche.

The car has rack-and-pinion steering, front spring suspension, and hydraulic brakes – it can accommodate either adults or children by removing the fiberglass seat to make more space.

Power is provided by a (mid-mounted of course) 9 bhp 230cc engine which feeds power through a 2-1 reduction gearbox with a wet clutch to the rear wheels. It rides on 10 inch wheels with pneumatic tires, it also has a quick-release steering wheel, working headlights, and am overhead rear cooling fan – just like the full-scale car.

It’s due to roll across the auction block with RM Sotheby’s later in March with no reserve. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

The post A Drivable 70% Scale Porsche 917 Go Kart – $20,500 to $27,400 USD appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/scale-model-porsche-917/
via gqrds

Amazing Steampunk Spider Sculptures Crafted Using Vintage Watches, Medical Equipment, and Cameras

For more than 25 years, Peter Szucsy, Hungarian illustrator and designer, dedicated his career to creating sinister beasts for video games. As a highly-skilled art director and artist, he created several bizarre monsters that run rampant through the virtual world of video games. When he felt it was time to try something different, he came up with the amazing steampunk spider sculptures.

Crafted from different parts of vintage watches, medical equipment, and cameras, the Steampunk Spider Sculpture remains an amazing piece of artwork. Rather than working with vector graphics and pixels, Szucsy made this masterpiece a reality by making use of various pieces gotten from antique watches as well as other vintage objects.

“Crafted from different parts of vintage watches, medical equipment, and cameras”

While trying to fabricate the intricate steampunk spider sculptures, Szucsy would visit a flea market near his home in search of antiques and material, including rare, expensive, vintage timepieces. However, he made sure he didn’t have to dismantle any time that will be valued by an institution or museum.

Amazing Steampunk Spider by Peter Szucsy

Amazing Steampunk Sculpture by Peter Szucsy

In an interview with Peter Szucsy, he said, “I have been working as a video game artist and art director for many years. I made many monsters and creatures in the virtual world. But a few years ago, I felt it was about time that I created something different and unique. I’ve been planning to make such a spider in the real world, and now, it has come true.”

“I’ve been planning to make such a spider in the real world, and now, it has come true”

This masterpiece from Peter Szucsy only continues his love for creative artwork both in the virtual and real world. Even though it wasn’t easy collecting every necessary part required to craft the intricate creatures, to match in material, style, and color. However, Szucsy was determined to make this a reality.

Hanging this amazing steampunk spider sculpture on the wall offers a unique view of a spider climbing the wall and about to get its prey. Absolutely fantastic. As time goes by, we should expect more fine steampunk sculptures from Peter Szucsy. As someone who now enjoys handmade creations, we can expect him to surpass our expectations with his next vintage piece.

Peter Szucsy is a member of our group on Facebook

Peter Szycsy : Website | Instagram | Facebook

L’article Amazing Steampunk Spider Sculptures Crafted Using Vintage Watches, Medical Equipment, and Cameras est apparu en premier sur Steampunk Tendencies.

Via Steampunk Tendencies https://steampunktendencies.com