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For Sale: A “Back To The Future” Spec Toyota SR5 Pickup Truck

Although the DeLorean DMC-12 is the undisputed automotive lead character in the Back to the Future series, the jet black Toyota SR5 Pickup Truck that appears in all three films as a key plot point for Marty McFly is a close second.

It would be the Toyota that Marty was driving in the third and final film when he refuses to drag race Douglas J. Needles and his gang, as a result he no longer has the crash that had formerly caused him to have such an unfortunate future.

Fast Facts – Back To The Future And The Toyota Pickup

This Toyota SR5 Pickup Truck was built to be an exact replica of the model used in the “Back To The Future” films, right down to the license plate “2BAK860.”
The truck remains the second most memorable car in the film trilogy (after the aforementioned DeLorean), and it helped elevate the profile of the SR5 globally.
Toyota has been selling versions of its pickup truck, known as the Hilux in many countries outside the USA, since 1968 and it’s now on its seventh generation.
Thanks to its role in the “Back To The Future” films the truck became a cultural touchstone, and modern electric vehicle startup Alpha Motors has developed a pickup truck strongly influenced by the McFly Toyota.

Marty McFly’s Toyota

Every kid (and I’m sure many adults) who saw Back To The Future in the 1980s remembers the overwhelming feeling of lust that overcame them when they first saw the gloss black 1985 Toyota SR5 Pickup Truck appear on screen.

This 1985 Toyota SR5 was built to be indistinguishable from the example used in the second two films, right down to the license plate.

There can be no denying the fact that the appearance of the truck in the BTTF films helped to elevate Toyota’s pickup trucks from tradesmen’s workhorses to objects of desire, not just in the United States but around the world.

Sadly the truck used in the first film is believed to have been wrecked by the person who won it in a raffle after filming was completed. A second truck was then sourced and built to almost identical spec to the first one – this was the truck used in the following two films.

No one could have predicted that the second Marty McFly truck would end up being used by smugglers to run drugs between the United States and Mexico, or that it would end up being painted bright orange and sold for next to nothing on Craigslist in California decades later.

Thankfully the truck was discovered along with its original documentation and completely restored back to the way it looked on screen – if you’re interested in its fascinating backstory you can hit play on the 30 minute documentary below.

Above Video: This 30 minute documentary covers the restoration of the real, screen-used Toyota SR5 from “Back To The Future.”

The Marty McFly-Spec Toyota SR5 Pickup Truck Shown Here

The truck you see here was painstakingly converted into the same specification as the original from the second two films, right down to the number plate “2BAK860.”

The recipe to build your own Marty McFy truck is mostly limited by the rarity of the 1985 SR5 Pickup Truck, a one year only model in this trim before Toyota changed the front suspension from a live axle to fully independent.

The original truck has black and chromed steel wheels with locking front hubs, a 5-speed manual transmission, a gloss black roll bar in the rear with four KC Daylighter spotlights paired with a front bull bar and twin KC spots. It also has a suspension lift and a polished black paint job, and it rides on Goodyear Wrangler tires.

The truck you see here was built to this specification and it’s now indistinguishable from the original, with the exception of the prodigious price tag of course. It’s now for sale with Mecum and will be crossing the auction block in mid-October.

If you’d like to read more about this truck or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of Mecum

The post For Sale: A “Back To The Future” Spec Toyota SR5 Pickup Truck appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/back-to-the-future-toyota-pickup-truck/
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The Unusual Nash-Healey Roadster – A British/American Joint Project

The Nash-Healey is a British/American sports car that was thought up over dinner and drinks aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth ocean liner on a journey between the United States and Great Britain.

By pure coincidence, Donald Healey was traveling to the United States on the ship looking to secure a supply of Cadillac V8 engines, he got chatting to a fellow photography buff onboard who he later learned was the Nash-Kelvinator CEO George Mason.

The two men hashed out a plan to supply the Donald Healey Motor Company with engines, transmissions, and rear axles for a new sports car if Cadillac should refuse. Cadillac did refuse, and so we got the Nash-Healey.

Fast Facts – The Nash-Healey

The Nash-Healey would start out as a British/American joint project before becoming a British/American/Italian joint project in 1952.
The original cars had a chassis and body built in Britain with an engine, gearbox, and axle supplied by Nash in the United States.
Nash used the Nash-Healey as a halo car to boost the profile of their regular family cars, and Donald Healey used the opportunity to race the cars extensively at Le Mans and the Mille Miglia, increasing the profile of his own brand.
The Nash-Healey would be succeeded by the Austin Healey 100, a somewhat similar arrangement with the Austin Motor Company, with the Austin A90 Atlantic supplying the engine, transmission, and axle.

The Nash-Healey

The chance meeting between Donald Healey and George Mason aboard an ocean liner that resulted in the Nash-Healey being built is the stuff of automotive legend.

The meeting led to cars being developed that would compete with great success at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Mille Miglia, a Nash-Healey was even used as the official pace car of the 1951 Carrera Panamericana, going on ahead of the race cars to ensure the course was clear for them.

As a first-year, 1951 Nash-Healey this car has a more traditional headlight arrangement, unlike the later cars with bodies by Pininfarina.

Some claim that the Nash-Healey was the first sports car introduced in the US by a major automobile manufacturer after the Second World War, however this is hotly debated as the cars were built in England.

Over the course of its 1951 to 1954 production run over 500 Nash-Healeys would be built, including some prototypes and race vehicles. Today they’re considered highly collectible and a few can be seen competition in vintage race meets, staying true to their motorsport heritage from the early 1950s.

Nash-Healey – Specifications

As with almost all cars of the time, the Nash-Healey was made using body-on-frame construction, with independent front suspension and a live axle rear end with drum brakes on all four corners.

The body was initially designed by the Donald Healey Motor Company and built by Panelcraft Sheet Metal in England, though from the second year of production onwards Nash had Pininfarina redesign the body to more closely follow Nash styling cues, and Pininfarina then built the bodies in Italy.

The interior is somewhat reminiscent of the later Austin-Healey 100, a car built to a very similar recipe as the Nash-Healey.

The chassis used on both versions was essentially a widened and reinforced version of the chassis used on the Healey Silverstone – a box-section ladder-type steel frame. The independent front suspension consists of coil springs with a trailing link and a sway bar, and in the rear the car rides on leaf springs, with a live axle located with a Panhard rod.

Power is provided by a 3.85 liter inline six-cylinder engine from the Nash Ambassador, power is sent back through a three-speed manual transmission with a Borg-Warner overdrive to the live axle rear. In original configuration the engine produced 112 hp however Donald Healey, a highly experienced race car driver in his own right, realized a power increase was needed.

He had a lightweight aluminum alloy cylinder head developed that gave the engine higher-compression and better flow characteristics. A pair of 1.75 inch SU carburetors were then added, boosting power to 125 hp in road-going trim initially, rising to 140 hp in later cars.

The Nash-Healey was capable of doing the 0 to 60 mph dash in 12 seconds, a respectable time for the era, and it had a top speed when new of approximately 104 mph. By and large Americans loved the car although the later cars by Pininfarina with the headlights set into the grille were an acquired taste for some.

Power is provided by a 3.85 liter straight-six engine from the Nash Ambassador, in this case fitted with a Healey racing alloy head and triple SU carburetors.

The Nash-Healey Shown Here

The car you see here is a first-year example of the Nash-Healey, built before Pininfarina restyled the car and took over production of the bodies. Just 104 of these 1951 cars were built, and those later Pininfarina cars are a more commonly seen coming up for sale.

This example of the Nash-Healey was bought by internationally celebrated sculptor and furniture artist Wendell Castle in the early 1990s. He sent it off to Posies Rods and Customs of Hummelstown, Pennsylvania for a restoration, and the engine was sent to Concours Classics Motor Cars of Macedon, New York for a rebuild.

The body rebuild included a few unique touches, including the fitment of an earlier Nash grille, and the engine was rebuilt with a rare Healey factory racing aluminum head and triple SU carburetors. Sadly, Castle would die before the unusual car could be completed.

Today the car sits in the condition it was in when he died, and the auction listing states that “much of the remaining work is said to consist of the installation of various hardware and parts and the sorting of mechanical systems.”

Unusual project cars like this don’t come along every day, particularly out of the ownership of a signifiant artist, so it’ll be interesting to see what this Nash-Healey sells for when it crosses the auction block with RM Sotheby’s on the 7th of October.

If you’d like to read more about this car or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

The post The Unusual Nash-Healey Roadster – A British/American Joint Project appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/nash-healey-roadster/
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TV Tommy Ivo’s Wagon Master: The 4×4 Dragster With Four Engines And 2,000+ HP

In the early 1960s TV Tommy Ivo and a small crew set out to build a four-wheel drive dragster with four Buick nailhead V8s. It was designed to be the fastest dragster in history but the men had overlooked one crucial factor – traction.

In its original incarnation the car was called the “Showboat,” a nickname that was assigned by Hot Rod Magazine and secretly hated by Tommy. When the driver of the TV Tommy Ivo Showboat saw the lights go out and hit the gas all four wheels would spin simultaneously, engulfing the car in a cloud of tire smoke as it launched down the 1/4 mile.

Fast Facts – The Buick Wagon Master

Originally called the Showboat, the car was later given a body inspired by the Buick station wagons of the era, becoming the Buick Wagon Master.
The car is fitted with four Buick nailhead V8s, the two left hand engines work together to power the front wheels, and the two right hand engines work together to power the rear end.
When the driver hit the gas the 2,000+ hp car would instantly overpower its tires, smoking them most of the way down the 1/4 mile.
As a result of this traction problem the car wasn’t particularly competitive however it quickly became a crowd favorite for obvious reasons, and it spent years touring the country doing display runs.

TV Tommy Ivo – Building The Showboat

TV Tommy Ivo is one of the best remembered characters from the early days of American drag racing, he earned his nickname as he was a well-known television actor from the 1940s into the 1960s, appearing in shows like the Lone Ranger, Leave It To Beaver, Father Knows Best, Petticoat Junction, and Margie.

The four Buick nailhead V8s work in tandem in two pairs, the left two engines power the front wheels, and the right two engines power the rear two wheels.

Ivo got into drag racing in the 1950s and built a twin-engined, Buick-powered dragster that became the first car to break the 9 second barrier. It would go on to become the first gasoline-powered dragster to record speeds of 170 mph, 175 mph, and 180 mph.

In 1957 the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) had banned the use of nitromethane fuel, and so drag racers were left scrambling to develop cars that ran on regular gasoline. Ivo’s solution to this was simple – more engines would equal more power, and thus more speed.

After building and successfully racing his twin-engined Buick dragster he decided that twice as many engines would be faster, and twice as many driven wheels would be faster still. Ivo hired Kent Fuller to design a new custom chassis that would accommodate four fuel-injected, 464 cubic inch Buick V8s.

The total displacement is 1,856 cubic inches or 30.4 liters and the car produced over 2,000 hp, no one is quite sure how much power it made because there wasn’t a dyno in America that could accommodate it due to its unusual four-wheel drive layout.

Unable To Race

When the car was completed and ready to race Ivo received the bad news that the TV studio he worked for wouldn’t let him race. It was too dangerous and it was felt that racing a four-engined dragster was an activity with a high risk of death or serious injury.

As it happens the studio executives were right, and one day years in the future Ivo would be severely injured while racing the car.

Above Video: This was the last time TV Tommy Ivo took the Wagon Master for a spin, years after his terrible accident driving the same car.

As he couldn’t race Ivo asked the young Don Prudhomme if he would consider doing it. Prudhomme jumped at the chance, establishing his own career while he was at it. It quickly became clear that the Showboat was too powerful for its tires, it would light up all four as the car accelerated and Ivo said “you just had to hope you were still pointing in the right direction when the smoke cleared.”

The physical size of the car combined with the prodigious power output and the obvious safety concerns led to the NHRA banning four-engined cars and essentially forcing the Showboat to become a demonstration car, not a competitor.

The Wagon Master

Ivo would go on to race a number of other single-engined cars very successfully well into the 1970s. A future owner of the Showboat would change the car by adding a faux Buick station wagon body to it, renaming it the “Wagon Master.”

Ivo would drive the car in this configuration a number of times including one run in Saskatoon in 1982 that resulted in him crushing three vertebra in his back after running over a lump in the asphalt caused by subsurface ice. It ended his racing career, but he would climb back behind the wheel of the Wagon Master one final time in 1996 for another display run – see the video of it above.

The Wagon Master is now being listed for sale for the first time in many years, it’s clear by looking at the images that it’s in excellent show-ready condition however the operational aspect of the car isn’t mentioned. Anyone wanting to use the car for display runs would need to investigate this before bidding.

If you’d like to read more about this highly unusual four-wheel drive, four-engined car you can click here to visit the listing on Mecum.

Images courtesy of Mecum

The post TV Tommy Ivo’s Wagon Master: The 4×4 Dragster With Four Engines And 2,000+ HP appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/tv-tommy-ivo-wagon-master/
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For Sale: An Adventure Ready Land Rover Series IIA

Of all the classic Land Rovers that were built the Series IIA is arguably the most popular, it sits between the earlier Series II and the later Series III, long before the Defender came along with its flush grill and fenders, coil spring suspension, and fancy-pants one piece windscreen.

Perhaps the reason for the popularity of the IIA, sometimes written 2A, is that it featured in a number of hugely popular films and documentaries like Romancing the Stone and Born Free, helping to embed it into the public consciousness.

Fast Facts – The Land Rover Series IIA

The Land Rover Series IIA is most easily distinguished from the later Series III by the fact that the headlights are inset next to the grille and not fitted to the fenders, though some later Series IIAs did have this arrangement.
As with all Series Land Rovers, the Series IIA was offered in both long and short wheelbase versions, typically abbreviated as SWB and LWB, and it was the first Land Rover to get the option of a straight-six engine.
Unusually, Series Land Rovers have bodies largely made from aluminum alloy panels, as steel was in short supply in the years immediately after WWII.
All Series Land Rovers used body-on-frame construction and various parts could be quickly removed if not needed, including doors, the tailgate, and the roof. The windshield can be folded down if needed.

How Land Rover Actually Began

The story of the origin of the first Land Rovers is the stuff of legend in four-wheel drive circles. In the time shortly after WWII ended Britain was overflowing with American Jeeps, one of which ended up on the farm of a man named Maurice Wilks.

Wilks was using the Jeep for general farm work, not unlike a tractor. Along with his brother Spencer Wilks he designed a very simple new vehicle that incorporated the best features of the Jeep as well as some tractor functions, like a PTO (power takeoff) for powering farm equipment.

Spencer and Maurice Wilks with an early Land Rover prototype. Image courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover.

As it happens both Maurice and Spencer were senior figures at the Rover Car Company, and so they titled their new creation the “Land Rover.”

The Series IIA Appears

Series Land Rovers were built over four primary generations in a huge variety of styles, Series I, Series II, Series IIA, and Series III. The Series I was the first generation vehicle, it had a spartan design but performed its duties well, and quickly became an unexpected bestseller for Rover.

The Series II came next, this was a slightly more refined vehicle and a little less agricultural, but still very much a Land Rover in every sense of the word. The Series II would only stay in production for three years from 1958 to 1961 when it was replaced with the Series IIA, which would then stay in production for 11 years from 1961 until 1971.

The Series III was the most refined of all the Series Land Rovers, though it should be noted that I am taking some liberties with the word “refined” here. These were still tough four-wheel drives designed to work for a living.

The Land Rover Series IIA Shown Here

The Land Rover you see here is a 1964 Series IIA that has benefitted from a comprehensive restoration, and a number of upgrades to make life a little more comfortable for the owner – all without compromising its abilities off-road of course.

The interior of this vehicle benefits from the addition of leather upholstery, a modern stereo, checker plate floors, upholstered doors, and windscreen demisters.

It’s a short wheelbase version of the model fitted with the correct 2.25 liter inline-four cylinder petrol engine. Power output was a somewhat humble 72 bhp and power was fed into a manual four-speed transmission, then into a transfer case to either all four wheels or the rear wheels only depending on what was required.

Both high and low range were offered, and the vehicle rides on live axles on leaf springs front and back with stopping handled by four wheel drum brakes.

This Land Rover is now finished in an eye-catching red, it has a black leather upholstered interior, ands the floors have protective diamond kickplate guards. An alloy bulbar has been fitted up front with a Keeper winch and twin spotlights, there are also alloy sill guards fitted, and a four-point alloy roll cage.

Inside you’ll find a classic Land Rover heater and windscreen demister, and a modern JVC stereo head unit – a feature the original examples were never offered with.

The vehicle is now being offered for sale by RM Sotheby’s on the 7th of October in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The price guide is $40,000 – $50,000 USD and it’s being offered without reserve.

If you’d like to read more about this Series IIA or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.