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The Honda T500: A Mid-Engined Truck With A 9,000 RPM Redline

When Honda debuted the T360 mini-truck in June of 1963 it became the company’s first ever production automobile, beating the Honda S500 Sports by four months. The T360 was powered by a mid-mounted, double overhead cam engine with a 9,000 rpm redline – an unusual specification for a work vehicle.

The Honda T500 was the more powerful version of the T360 that was intended for export markets, it was powered by the larger 531cc inline-four cylinder engine and was capable of 38 hp with a top speed of 65 mph.

Fast Facts – The Honda T500

The Honda T360 mini-truck had been developed specifically to take advantage of Japan’s Kei class regulations, allowing smaller and less powerful vehicles significant tax breaks.
The Honda T500 was developed for export markets and as such, it didn’t need to abide by Kei class rules. As a result, it’s fitted with a slightly detuned version of the engine used in the Honda S500 sports car.
Honda had been building production motorcycles since 1949 and the engine in the T500 reflected this, it’s an advanced DOHC inline-four with a 9,000 rpm redline.
The Honda T500 offers seating for two in its small cab, it has a 400 kg (882 lb) load capacity, and the engine is accessed by lifting up a bench inside the passenger compartment.

Humble Beginnings: The Honda T360 + T500

When Honda debuted the T360 in 1963 the world outside of Japan took very little notice. It was a small, lightweight truck designed to meet Japanese Kei car regulations, which limited engine power and offered appealing tax breaks.

The diminutively-sized truck was ideal for use in Japan, and it offered excellent fuel economy.

Between 1963 and 1967 Honda would sell over 108,000 examples of the T360, all painted in the same shade of blue, and thanks to its engine that was shared with the Honda S360 sports car it became known as a “sports truck.”

Honda’s main source of income was small-capacity motorcycle sales to export markets, and so it makes sense that they would create a version of their new truck for export markets. Without needing to meet Kei car regulations they were free to use a more powerful engine, an important addition as many overseas markets would require higher speeds.

As with its smaller-engined forebear, the Honda T500 is fitted with a DOHC inline-four cylinder engine mated to a four-speed manual transmission with power transmitted to the rear wheels. The mid-mounted engine is installed at an almost 90º angle and it’s accessed by lifting the bench seat in the cab.

When ordering your new Honda T500 you could choose between a conventional pickup body or the folding side flatbed for easy loading and unloading. Interestingly there was also a snow crawler version of the T360 offered, with tracks on the rear axle rather than wheels, however very few are thought to have been sold.

Honda entered Formula 1 in 1964 with the Honda RA271, they had first entered the world of international motorcycle racing at the Isle of Man TT in 1959, and by 1961 Mike Hailwood was claiming Grand Prix victories in the 125cc and 250cc classes.

As a result of this, motorsport fans around the world were already very familiar with the Honda name by the time the Honda T500 began appearing in limited numbers in showrooms.

The engine and gearbox are mounted low in the mid-position for the best possible weight distribution.Over the course of the 1964 to 1967 production run of the Honda T500 just over 10,000 would be built, far fewer than the T360, making the T500 highly desirable to modern collectors.

The Restored Honda T500 Shown Here

The Honda T500 you see here is a restored example currently residing in Europe. This is an original European-delivered truck, imported by Honda Benelux in the 1960s.

It now benefits from a restoration back to original condition that was completed a few years ago, with a small amount of patina beginning to show now.

This Honda T500 is now for sale through the Bonhams Marketplace, if you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of TVP Classics

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A Rare, Fully Functioning Marmon V16 Engine On A Display Stand

The Marmon V16 was a remarkably advanced engine by the standards of the late 1920s, it features an aluminum block and heads with steel cylinder liners, overhead valves rather than the more popular flathead layout, and it was capable of a reported 200 hp.

Just under 400 or so cars with the Marmon V16 would be built due to the fact that it was released in 1931, into the midst of the Great Depression.

Fast Facts – The Marmon V16

The Marmon V16 had a swept capacity of 491 cubic inches (8.0 liters) and is said to be capable of 200 hp, a phenomenal amount of power for the era.
Marmon was one of the most important American automakers of the 1910s and 1920s, pioneering a number of technologies that are now commonplace, like aluminum engines and cars with aluminum used extensively in the chassis and bodies – like the Marmon Model 34.
A Marmon Wasp won the first ever Indianapolis 500 in 1911 with Marmon engineer Ray Harroun at the wheel.
A Model 34 would later beat the American cross-country coast to coast record set by Erwin “Cannonball” Baker.

The Revolutionary Marmon V16

Howard Marmon had actually started development work on the V16 in 1927, he was the first to develop such an engine for a production car however he wasn’t the first to bring a V16 to market – Cadillac beat him to it in 1930 after poaching Marmon engineer Owen Nacker.

The Marmon V16 was advanced for the era, with overhead valves, aluminum construction, cross-flow heads, and 200 hp.

As it happens Peeless built a V16 in 1931 after hiring another ex-Marmon engineer, James Bohannon, however they only completed a single example of the car which now resides in the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum.

The Marmon Motor Car Company had a long history with engines that used a V-configuration, their first experimental automobiles built in 1902 were powered by an overhead valve, air-cooled V-twin. V4, V6, and V8 engines would follow shortly after, before more traditional inline engines became standardized for the company.

The Marmon V16 was an all new design with no relation to the company’s straight-eight first introduced in the Marmon Roosevelt introduced in 1929. Unlike the flathead inline-eight, the new V16 made use of aluminum alloy for the block and heads, the heads feature a cross-flow design and they sit at an angle of 45º.

With its pushrod actuated overhead valves and prodigious 8.0 liter capacity, the Marmon V16 produced 200 hp and was apparently capable of outrunning the Duesenberg Model J, a car that cost three times as much.

This display stand is set up to allow the engine to be run, so it can be showcased for people who have never seen or heard a V16.

With under 400 examples of the Marmon V16 built and just 75 thought to have survived to the modern day, the V16 is now remembered as one of just two production V16 automobiles ever built, and the Marmon example is the most powerful.

The Marmon V16 engine you see here is currently mated to a display stand, it’s all plumbed in and wired up for running, and there are gauges and operational controls fitted at the clutch-end of the engine.

If you’d like to read more about this unusual engine or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing on RM Sotheby’s. It’s due to cross the auction block on the 7th of October with a price estimate of $25,000 to $40,000 USD.

‘”The Marmon Sixteen looks like no other car. It borrows little from the past. It will lend much to the future. It is the one example of unhampered co-ordination of effort by artist and engineer.” – Marmon advertising, circa 1931.

Above Video: See an original Marmon V16 in action, and learn a little more about the history of the car.

The Marmon V16 was advanced for the era, with overhead valves, aluminum construction, cross-flow heads, and 200 hp.

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The Bowler Wildcat: A Street-Legal Off-Road Racer

The Bowler Wildcat looks like what might happen if you injected a standard Land Rover Defender with six pints of horse steroids and left it alone in a weights room for three months.

The fact of the matter is that there are relatively few Defender components used in the Wildcat, it has a totally new space frame chassis, heavy duty off-road racing suspension, and this example has a highly-tuned Rover V8 capable of over 330 hp.

Fast Facts – The Bowler Wildcat

The Bowler Wildcat was released in 1998 and sold until 2007 when it was replaced by the Bowler Nemesis.
The Wildcat has a steel spaceframe chassis, each chassis took three weeks to weld, it has a fiberglass body, custom suspension with Land Rover Defender live axles front and rear, and it could be specified with either a V8 or turbo diesel engine options.
Wildcats have been raced extensively in events like the Dakar Rally, Baja de France, Baja Great Britain, the Scottish Hill Rally, and the original American Baja races.
Unlike many of their competitors, the Bowler Wildcat is 100% street legal and can be driven daily if you don’t mind the lack of comfort features.

Drew Bowler and Bowler Offroad

Drew Bowler sounded Bowler Offroad back in the mid-1980s due to popular demand after his successes with a Land Rover Series 1 that he had modified extensively for off-road competition.

Above Video: This is the original Top Gear feature on the Bowler Wildcat from 2003 featuring Richard Hammond.

From 1985 he started taking orders for vehicles similar to his own, launching the company with eight employees on the Bowler family farm in Derbyshire, England. The company’s first full-custom vehicle was the Bowler Tomcat, which was then evolved into the Bowler Wildcat.

The company grew to become an off-road manufacturing juggernaut, with some of their vehicles being used for military purposes and others being used in the development of automated off-rad driving systems by BAE Systems and the Mobile Robotics Group at Oxford University.

Drew Bowler died suddenly in 2016 sending shockwaves through the company and through the off-road racing community at large. The company survived and continued with its development and manufacturing work, then in 2019 Bowler Offroad was acquired by Jaguar Land Rover, becoming an independent wing of the company’s Special Vehicle Operations division.

Recently the company announced Project CSP 575, a highly advanced descendent of the original Land Rover Defender with a 575 hp V8.

The Bowler Wildcat

When it was introduced in 1998 the Bowler Wildcat represented a major evolutionary advance over the previous Bowler Tomcat. The Wildcat was built for international level off-road racing with a steel space frame chassis with a 106″ wheelbase, heavy duty suspensions lightweight fiberglass body, and your choice of either a V8 or turbodiesel engine.

Despite the visual similarity to the Land Rover Defender, very few parts are actually shared between the two vehicles.

The Wildcat arguably would become the most famous creation from Bowler thanks to the extensive media coverage the model received, including a feature on UK television show Top Gear by Richard Hammond.

Wildcats would compete in off-road races around the world including the Dakar Rally, Rallye des Pharaons, Baja de France, Baja Great Britain, the Scottish Hill Rally, and the British Hill Climb Championship to name just a few.

The Wildcat was fitted with strengthened Land Rover Defender axles and an entirely new suspension arrangement consisting of coil springs, telescopic shock absorbers, radius rods, and a Panhard rod up front with coil springs, telescopic shock absorbers, trailing arms, and a Watt’s linkage in the rear.

When it was in production buyers could opt for 4, 4.6 or 5 litre displacement Rover V8 engines with a number of different tuning options offering varying power figures. It was also possible to opt for a 2.2 or 2.5 liter turbodiesel engine.

Bowler kept the Wildcat in production from 1998 until 2007 when it was replaced with the Bowler Nemesis. Many (if not most) Wildcats have been kept in operational condition, with the rights to the design having been sold to QT Services in 2007 (now known as Wildcat Automotive) to ensure a reliable supply of spare parts.

The Bowler Wildcat Shown Here

The Wildcat 200 you see here is powered by the most powerful engine that was originally offered, the 5.0 liter Rover V8. In its current state of tune this engine is producing 334 hp at 5,000 rpm with a dyno sheet to prove it.

This Wildcat is powered by a highly modified Rover V8 producing 334 hp.

The engine was rebuilt by specialists John Eales of J.E. Developments, a new differential and brakes were also added along with a full repaint.

This Wildcat 200 was first registered to off-road rally driver Hugh Haines in May 2001. Haines raced both locally and internationally, claiming multiple race wins including victories in the 2006 Baja de France, 2006 Baja Great Britain, and the Scottish Hill Rally.

This vehicle was also a star feature at the 2005 Goodwood Festival of Speed and it was displayed around the United Kingdom.

The car is now being offered for sale with its UK V5C registration document, an MoT test certificate which expires in June 2022, two spare wheels and a file containing period rally participation documents together with Bowler paperwork, photographs, invoices and recent Dyno results.

If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing, it’s due to roll across the auction block with Historics Auctioneers on the 25th of September with a price guide of £60,000 – £68,000, which works out to approximately $82,700 – $93,800 USD.

Images courtesy of Historics Auctioneers

The post The Bowler Wildcat: A Street-Legal Off-Road Racer appeared first on Silodrome.

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Free Live Stream: The 2021 Goodwood Revival

The Goodwood Revival is one of the most important vintage motorsport events in the world, if not the most important outright.

Held annually at the historic Goodwood Circuit in Chichester in southern England, the Goodwood Revival celebrates the golden age of the 1950s and 1960s, with attendees all in period-correct attire, as they watch the period-correct cars and motorcycles competing on track.

Though functioning time machines may be some way off, events like the Revival do act as a time machine of sorts for those that attend. With tens of thousands of people all dressed in 50s and 60s costumes, surrounded by cars, motorcycles, buildings, and food of the same era, it’s an extraordinary experience when you walk through the gates.

Attending the Goodwood Revival can be an uncanny experience, like going back in time to the 1950s for the weekend.

The team at Goodwood provide a free livestream of the event covering the full weekend and all races, it’s professionally produced and it typically includes cameo appearances by some of the most important figures in motoring and motorsport history.

The racing is anything but processional – drivers are out on track competing hard for wins and accidents do happen, fortunately Goodwood has a team of marshals and safety personnel on standby – all dressed suitably for the event of course.

If you’d like to learn more about the Goodwood Revival you can click here to visit the official website. You click here to subscribe to the Goodwood YouTube Channel and never miss another event.