2022 FORD GT HERITAGE EDITION COUPE
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euroaficionado: Was able to wipe the cobwebs off my boy Travis Cuykendall and he captured some...
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The Meteor 27 Litre V12 Special: 1,449 lb/ft And (Theoretically) Capable Of 204 mph

As its name suggests, the Meteor 27 Litre V12 Special you see here is powered by a Meteor V12 – that’s the non-supercharged version of the 27 liter Merlin V12 aero engine from WWII that powered the Spitfire, Hurricane, Lancaster, Mosquito, North American P-51D Mustang (in Packard form) and many other iconic aircraft.

This may be the only time in history that the McLaren F1 supercar and a tank-engined special are ever mentioned in the same breath, but if you take a close look at the seating arrangement in the Meteor 27 Litre V12 Special you’ll note one marked similarity: both the McLaren F1 and the car you see here have a central driving position, with two passenger seats off set to the sides behind the driver.

Fast Facts – The Meteor 27 Liter V12 Special

• The Rolls-Royce Meteor V12 was a swept capacity of 27 liters, and the engine you see fitted to this car produces a dyno-tested 631 bhp and 1,449 lb ft of torque.
• Due to that prodigious torque figure it’s common for cars that use this engine to be fitted with a heavy duty automatic transmission, as the torque converter helps reduce drivetrain shock and it eliminates the need for a regular clutch.
• This car uses a double ladder cross-braced chassis and Jaguar XJ12 suspension components, as well as disc brakes and power steering from the XJ12.
• The car is geared for a top speed of 204 mph, however this has never been tested as the tires are rated for a maximum of 135 mph.

The Rolls-Royce Meteor V12 Engine

The development of the Rolls-Royce Meteor engine began almost by accident, due to the difficulty of manufacturing the Merlin engine and its high cost, Rolls-Royce had begun collecting Merlin engines from crated aircraft and refurbishing them.

The seating arrangement is reminiscent of the McLaren F1, with a centrally positioned driver and the two rear passengers sitting off to the sides.

These engines were not suitable for re-use in aircraft for obvious safety reasons, however Rolls-Royce executive W. A. Robotham quickly realized that a detuned, non-supercharged version of the Merlin would be ideal for use in tanks. In fact it would increase power and tank speed considerably thanks to the ~1,000 hp output, considerably more than the ~500 hp tank engines then in use.

When the first Meteor engines were installed into the British Crusader tank in place of the original Liberty L-12 engine performance essentially doubled despite the fact that that both engines had the same 27 liter displacement.

This additional power allowed tank designers to add more armor and make tanks safer, and impressively the Rolls-Royce engines were more fuel efficient and more reliable than the engines they replaced.

So revolutionary was the Meteor engine that Duncan Sandys, the Financial Secretary to the War Office during WWII, was noted to have said “I regard the adoption of the Meteor tank engine as the absolute turning-point in the history of British tank development.”

The Meteor 27 Litre V12 Special

The idea of putting aircraft engines into cars isn’t a new one, but due to the fact that each one is typically built by hand, no two are ever the same.

The car tips the scales at almost 5,000 lbs and it has an estimated fuel efficiency of between 5 and 10 miles per gallon.

The most famous car of this type is almost certainly Jay Leno’s Merlin V12-engined car that he regularly drives on the road – he also has an M47 Patton tank-engined car developed by Randy Grubb.

The construction of the Meteor 27 Litre V12 Special began in South Africa in 2001, the man behind the project had visited Robin Beech in Sussex and seen the Handlye Special, a one-off car powered by a non-supercharged 27 liter Merlin V12 engine.

It took him a year to find a Meteor engine, he discovered one in Johannesburg that had been taken from a Centurion tank sent to South Africa in 1952. With the engine secured he then designed a strong double ladder, cross-braced chassis and fitted it with Jaguar XJ12 suspension, brakes, and power steering.

Impressively, when the car’s weight distribution was tested it came in at a near perfect 50/50 front and rear with a total curb weight of approximately 2,200 kgs (4,850 lbs). The car issues a tubular steel framework mounted to the chassis with aluminum body panels fitted to form the body of the car.

In 2016 the owner moved to the UK and brought the car with him, he then had the engine rebuilt by Flight Engineers in Leeds, a company that specializes in rebuilding aero engines. After the rebuild the engine was tested on their dynamometer, it now produces 631 bhp and 1,449 lb ft of torque with an expected fuel consumption rate of between 5 and 10 mpg.

The Meteor V12 has one single overhead cam per bank, two valves per cylinder, and a swept capacity of 27 liters or 1,650 cubic inches.

The gearbox used is an automatic GM TH400 from a Jaguar XJ12, now fitted with heavy duty drag racing internals, with a step-up gearbox designed and built in Cape Town using helical gears.

The car sits on 21″ wheels and Blockley tires, and it is reportedly geared for a top speed of 204 mph – however it’s important to note that the tires are rated for a maximum speed of 135 mph.

The car is now due to be offered for sale with Bonhams on the 5th of September with a price guide of $210,000 to $270,000 USD. It is accompanied by a large trailer with a manual winch, a full sized spare wheel, new unused camshafts still in their box, a spare oil pump, two spare water pumps, wheel spacers, a tonneau cover, and a slew of other useful parts.

If you’d like to read more about the unusual Meteor 27 Litre V12 Special or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of Bonhams

The post The Meteor 27 Litre V12 Special: 1,449 lb/ft And (Theoretically) Capable Of 204 mph appeared first on Silodrome.

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itcars:Lamborghini Countach LP400Images by Jeroen Vink

itcars:

Lamborghini Countach LP400

Images by Jeroen Vink

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utwo:Ford Cobra 427© shift mootark

utwo:

Ford Cobra 427

© shift mootark

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For Sale: A Fully-Functional Ferrari 312 F1 Replica – $9,000 USD

There can be little doubt that this car is one of the best pound-for-pound entertainment propositions that we’ve featured here on Silodrome, particularly for anyone looking for open-wheeled fun with a sub-$9,000 USD price tag.

At first glance many might think that this car rolled out of that famous Maranello garage back in the 1960s under the watchful eye of Enzo Ferrari himself.

On closer inspection it’s quickly clear that it’s a replica that was built for the fun of it, and rather than a temperamental Italian V12 in the back it’s powered by a far more affordable American engine.

Fast Facts – An Unusual Ferrari 312 F1 Replica

• This Ferrari 312 replica has a tubular steel chassis with a custom body, it has drum brakes on all four corners behind gold painted steel wheels, and it has four link coilover rear suspension with double A-arm coilover front suspension.
• It’s powered by a 110 hp reverse rotation, air-cooled Corvair flat-six engine with a Protronics electronic ignition, dual carburetors, and short carbon fiber mufflers.
• Power is sent to the rear wheels via a tried and tested Volkswagen 4-speed transmission.
• The car has been driven on Pocono Raceway and the owner reports that it handled well, in its earlier life it was used for parades laps around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

A $9,000 USD Ferrari 312 F1 Replica

This car reportedly started life as an Indianapolis Parade Car back in the 1970s, it belonged to a man named Jim Shillington.

Jim was a member of the Indianapolis 500 Shrine Club, and all members had their own decorated parade cars much like this one – you can see an image of how it originally looked below with Jim at the wheel:

This is Jim Shillington in the car as it was originally, parked outside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.

Sadly Jim passed away back in 1990, no one is quite sure what happened to this car in the meantime, more recently it was bought bike Mike Sassaman who realized that with a little bit of work the car could be made to look like his favorite Formula 1 car – the 1967 Ferrari 312 piloted by Lorenzo Bandini.

Mike set to work modifying the body, he added vent openings and a NACA duct up front and removed the engine cover in the rear. He then carefully created his own take on the famous Ferrari “Spaghetti Exhaust” by cutting and welding 1 1/2″ mandrel bends he sourced from Speedway Motors.

The next order of business was adding a aluminum mock engine cover that made it look like a V12 was lurking underneath. Truth be told the car is powered by a vastly different engine, a Corvair flat-six with air-cooling. With a swept capacity of 2,683cc (2.7 liters) and 110 hp at the crank, this engine sends its power back through a reliable 4-speed VW gearbox to the rear wheels.

This drivetrain has a few advantages, it has a very low center of gravity thanks to the engine layout, and it’s considerably lighter than many comparable engines thanks to the fact that it was largely made from aluminum alloy.

Those velocity stacks you see in the mock engine cover are functional, they allow air into the two carburetors sitting atop the engine and they provide air for the cooling fan.

This is Mike Sassaman with the car as it is now. Image courtesy of Jerry Keefer.

Mike originally built the car as a fun project and he’s displayed it at a number of shows, it always draws a crowd and people are fascinated to hear the history of the car and to learn about the work that was done to it to make it look the way it does now.

The first question many people want to know is usually whether the car is road legal, though that would be great fun the car is track or closed circuit only and it’s not legal for use on public roads.

Mike has now decided to sell the car to make space for his next project, he’s asking $9,000 USD for it and he can include an an Aluma 7812 Tilt aluminum open car trailer for an additional $3,500 USD if the new owner wants an easy way to transport it.

If you’d like to contact Mike his email is mdsassaman at aol dot com and the car is currently based in Reading, Pennsylvania.

If you’re interested in buying the car I would suggest contacting Mike relatively quickly, as I have a feeling it’s going to get a lot of interest.

Above Video: Some amateur footage of the Indianapolis 500 Shrine Club doing a parade lap at Indianapolis, the car shown in this article is likely among them.

Images courtesy of Jerry Keefer and Mike Sassaman

The post For Sale: A Fully-Functional Ferrari 312 F1 Replica – $9,000 USD appeared first on Silodrome.

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cochino-devin:Monday night at Kinda Tropical.
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