The Most Affordable (And Slowest) Lamborghini: The Lamborghini 5C TL Tractor

This restored Lamborghini 5C TL tractor is probably the slowest vehicle to ever wear the Lamborghini badge, but on the bright side it’s also the cheapest 1960s-era Lamborghini money can buy.

It’s widely known in classic car circles that Ferruccio Lamborghini originally started out building tractors, in fact it’s probably one of the most popular pieces of vintage car trivia in the world. It’s less widely known that there are entire communities of enthusiasts around the world who restore and preserve these tractors for the next generation.

Fast Facts – The Lamborghini 5C TL Tractor

• The Lamborghini 5C TL Tractor is powered by an air-cooled 2.2 liter diesel engine producing 40 hp. Power is sent to the tracks via a four-speed dual-range manual transmission, and the total vehicle weight is a little over 2,000 kilograms or 4,400+ lbs.
• Though it only had 40 hp, the 5C TL was the most powerful tractor built by Lamborghini at the time of its introduction. The goal isn’t speed of course, it was reliability and the ability to traverse almost any terrain, albeit slowly.
• Lamborghini Trattori started out in 1948 building tractors using modified six-cylinder petrol engines from Morris trucks that he ran on diesel using a special atomizer that he developed and patented.
• The company joined the SAME Group in 1973 and it remains in business, there is a line of state-of-the-art Lamborghini tractors in production to this day.

Ferruccio Lamborghini

Ferruccio Lamborghini was a famously tough man, the son of Italian farming viticulturists he spent his childhood far more interested in the farm machinery than the actual practice of agriculture.

An image of Ferruccio Lamborghini in the early 1970s between a Lamborghini Jarama and one of his tractors. Image courtesy of Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A.

After leaving school he would study engineering at the Fratelli Taddia Technical Institute near Bologna. In 1940 in the early days of World War II he was drafted into the Italian Royal Air Force where he would serve as a mechanic, eventually being taken prisoner in 1945.

In post war Italy the critical importance of getting the country back onto its feet was recognized by many, including a young Ferruccio Lamborghini who set to work designing simple tractors powered by Morris six-cylinder engines that had been used during the war.

Ferruccio developed a modified version of the Morris engine that could run on diesel thanks to a unique fuel atomizer he designed and patented. The engine would need to be started on petrol, but could then be switched to diesel –  vastly less expensive fuel that made it much more economical.

Lamborghini Trattori grew quickly, in just a few years they went from building one tractor a week to hundreds per year. Ferruccio became a wealthy man as a result and fast, luxurious GT cars were a luxury he afforded himself – particularly those built by fellow Italian Enzo Ferrari.

As a tracked vehicle the 5C TL doesn’t have a steering wheel, rather it uses two levers that each apply a brake to the tracks on their own side to make the vehicle turn.

One thing he couldn’t stand about his Ferraris was their clutches which would break frequently and their interiors, which he deemed insufficiently comfortable.

He took his grievances to Enzo Ferrari and the two famously head-strong men had a wild argument over it – the result being that Ferruccio started his own car company to show Enzo how it should be done.

The two companies remain each other’s greatest rivals to this day.

The Lamborghini 5C TL Tractor Shown Here

The tractor you see here is the Lamborghini 5C TL, it was both the most powerful and most expensive Lamborghini tractor at the time of its release. Though it only has 40 hp this was deemed ample for the work it needed to do.

The simple 2.2 liter air (and oil) cooled diesel engine produces 40 hp. It was designed to be incredibly rugged and reliable, and vastly easier to work on than one of Lamborghini’s automotive V12s.

Lamborghini equipped the 5C TL with two PTOs (power take offs) for operating farm machinery and it has a hydraulically-actuated three-point hitch system. Power ir provided by a three-cylinder, air-cooled 2.2 liter diesel engine, and power is sent to the tracks via a four-speed dual-range manual transmission.

With a weight of over 2,000 kilograms or 4,400+ lbs the 5C TL is more of a clydesdale than a race horse, their simple diesel engines and heavy duty engineering ensured that many stayed in service for decades.

The Lamborghini 5C TL you see here has been carefully rebuilt and restored, including a repaint in its original color scheme. It’s now being auctioned live online by Car & Classic with a few days remaining to bid if you’d like to make it your own.

If you’d like to read more about this unusual vintage Lamborghini you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of Car & Classic

The post The Most Affordable (And Slowest) Lamborghini: The Lamborghini 5C TL Tractor appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/lamborghini-5c-tl-tractor/
via gqrds

This Is The Only Bill Frick Special GT Coupe Ever Made

This is the only Bill Frick Special GT coupe ever made, it has a body designed by the great Giovanni Michelotti and built by Vignale in Italy, but its modified chassis and tuned Cadillac V8 were all built by legendary American race engineer Bill Frick.

Bill Frick was one of those trackside racing mechanics who had an instinctive feel for the engineering that goes into a great race car, his natural talent would take him from local oval track races in America all the way to the 24 Hour of Le Mans in France.

Fast Facts – The Bill Frick Special GT

• Bill Frick started out in the 1930s doing engine swaps and performance modifications for road cars. He began modifying race cars, his cars had a habit of landing their drivers on the podium, and as a result Frick’s work was in much demand.
• When Frick partnered with renowned driver Phil Walters (known as Ted Tappet), the careers of both men would never be the same again. They became so successful that they opened their own garage in Rockville Centre, New York, and called it Frick-Tappet Motors.
• The work of Frick-Tappet Motors, in particular their engine-swapped “Fordillac” caught the attention of Briggs Cunningham, who hired Bill to prepare the team’s Cadillac-powered race cars for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
• The Bill Frick Special GT is a bespoke car with a modified chassis and running gear developed by Bill Frick, then sent to Italy to be bodied by Vignale with coachwork designed by Giovanni Michelotti. Just three would be made, a prototype, a convertible, and one production GT coupe – the car you see here.

Bill Frick – From Engine Swaps To Le Mans

When Bill Frick started doing engine swaps just before WWII in the United States he earned a reputation for quality work and an ability to make almost any engine fit into almost any car.

The car is clearly a mid-century Vignale, the front end is notably similar to the Ferrari 166MM from the early 1950s.

He became well-known in the early automotive performance modification community, but no one could have guessed just how far he would go – all the way to the most prestigious sports car race in the world – on the other side of the Atlantic.

After the war Frick became famous for his ability to get speed and power out of race cars, so much so that he rose up the ranks of NASCAR working on cars for a vast array of drivers. Once he started working for driver Phil Walters, better known by his pseudonym Ted Tappet, Frick’s life would never be the same again.

The two men would open Frick-Tappet Motors together on Sunrise Highway in Rockville Centre, New York and when Cadillac introduced their new 331 cubic inch V8 engine it would be Frick who recognized its performance potential.

Frick pulled the engine from the heavy Cadillac it came in and installed it into a much lighter 1949 Ford, he called it the “Fordillac” and it quickly became a favorite among those looking for genuine speed. One of these people would be Briggs Cunningham, a man of considerable means who had been born into a wealthy industrialist family.

The distinctive tail fins are a unique feature distinctive to this car, along with that “Bill Frick Special” badge on the side.

Cunningham bought a Fordillac from Frick-Tappet Motors and he was so impressed with the performance modifications that had been made to the engine he hired Bill Frick to prepare his own cars for their assault on the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Frick’s work for Cunningham’s race team would put him on the map, cars that he prepared took back-to-back 1-2 finishes at Watkins Glen and Elkhart Lake, earning Bill Frick the first ever “Sports Car Mechanic of the Year” award.

The Bill Frick Special

The Bill Frick Special started life as the “Studillac,” a custom car developed by Frick consisting of a 1953 Studebaker coupe with the 331 cubic inch Cadillac V8 and a number of other modifications to better handle the increased power.

This is the 331 cubic inch Cadillac V8 that was reworked by Frick to produce more than the 210 hp it came from the factory with.

These modifications included changes to the cross members, uprated suspension, changes to the transmission tunnel, uprated brakes, and modified steering. The completed car produced well over 200 hp, vastly more than the original 120 hp, and Frick received a flood of orders – in fact a Frick-built Studillac even featured in Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel, Diamonds are Forever.

The 1955 Studebaker was deemed far less attractive by Frick, and so he went looking elsewhere for a body.

He shipped a modified Studillac chassis outfitted with heavy-duty dampers, springs, track bars, and anti-roll bars off to Vignale in Italy where a young designer named Giovanni Michelotti penned a body for it. Michelotti would go on to become one of the most celebrated automotive designers of the 20th century.

Michelotti designed a new grand tourer-style body for the car with classic 1950s styling and a number of design cues we would see appear in modified form in his later automotive designs. In total, three cars would be built – an initial prototype, followed by a production convertible and a coupe.

The car has fixed A, B, and C pillars with a sliding roof to give the sensation of convertible motoring.

Ultimately Frick would hit upon the same problems with cross-Atlantic automotive manufacturing that would be detrimental to many other small automakers in the 1950s and 1960s.

The car you see here is the only production coupe version of the Bill Frick Special GT that was made, it was bought new for $9,000 USD by Mr John Blodgett Jr., a wealthy heir to a Michigan lumber fortune.

The car passed through a small number of hands in its life and it’s now being offered for sale by Hyman Ltd for $325,000 USD.

If you’d like to read more about this car or enquire about buying it you can click here to visit the listing.

The interior of the car is beautifully appointed by the standards of the time, offering comfortable seating for up to four adults.

Images courtesy of Hyman Ltd.

The post This Is The Only Bill Frick Special GT Coupe Ever Made appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/bill-frick-special-gt/
via gqrds

A Rare Corvette-Powered Italian GT – The Iso Rivolta Lele

The Iso Rivolta Lele is a highly capable sporting GT car, under the hood you’ll find either a Corvette or a Ford V8, and the car has timeless Marcello Gandini styling riding on a Giotto Bizzarrini-designed chassis.

If you think this sounds like a recipe for an incredible car you’d be correct. The combination of Italian handling with abundant American V8 power, a luxurious interior and seating for four made the Lele one of the most practical Italian GTs of its time.

Fast Facts – The Iso Rivolta Lele

• The Iso Rivolta Lele would be the final production car introduced by Italian automaker Iso Automoveicoli S.p.A., it’s a 2+2 GT car with an American V8 that was developed to challenge the Lamborghini Espada.
• Iso Rivolta started out as Isothermos, an Italian company that built refrigeration units, after WWII they began building motor scooters and microcars before developing their first luxury GT car in 1962 – the Iso Rivolta IR 300.
• The Iso Rivolta Lele was introduced in 1969 at the New York International Auto Show where it caused quite the stir, at the time of its launch it was powered by the Chevrolet Corvette V8 and its chassis was developed by Bizzarrini, the same man who developed the Ferrari 250 GTO.
• Ultimately a few factors would lead to the closure of Iso Rivolta, the company had already been in some financial difficulty however the 1973 Oil Crisis all but wiped out any demand for luxury V8 GT cars with a penchant for drinking gasoline.

Isothermos And A WWII Bombing

During World War II a small Italian company that made electric heaters and chillers was bombed by the Allies, the remnants of the company, named Isothermos, were moved to Bresso in the north of Italy.

By the standards of the time the interior of the Lele is opulent, with ample leather upholstery, thick carpeting, air conditioning, and electric windows.

If anyone had predicted that within 20 years Iso would be building some of the most desirable cars in the world developed by some of the best automotive engineers on earth they would likely have been committed to a mental health facility.

Though it would have sounded like madness, this is exactly what happened to Isothermos.

From Refrigerators To Supercars

In the years immediately after WWII it became clear to company owner Renzo Rivolta that motor scooters were going to be hugely in demand, both in Italy and across Europe as a whole. He decided to pivot Iso from refrigeration units to small-capacity motorcycles, and in the 1950s his new company, now called Iso Automoveicoli S.p.A, developed the Iso Isetta bubble car.

This tiny little three-wheeled microcar would be built in Germany by a company named BMW, it was also manufactured under license in France, Argentina, and Brazil.

The Gandini-designed headlights have a brow that can be popped open when headlight use is required.

Renzo Rivolta seemed to greet each new decade with a new pivot, and so it was that by the time the 1960s were underway he had a team developing a new vehicle, the Iso Rivolta IR 300.

Never one to do thing by halves, Rivolta had the chassis design and engineering for the IR 300 done by former Ferrari engineer and father of the 250 GTO Giotto Bizzarrini. The body was styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Bertone and power was provided by the 327 cubic inch (5.35 liter) 300 hp V8 from the Chevrolet Corvette.

The IR 300 proved popular, it led to the development of other cars from Iso including the Iso Grifo and the Le Mans racing supercar the Iso Grifo A3/C.

The Iso Lele

The Iso Lele, also called the Iso Rivolta Lele, was one of the most sensible cars ever made by the Italian automaker. It features understated styling by Marcello Gandini, the man who penned the Lamborghini Miura among other icons, and it rides on a modified version of the chassis developed by Giotto Bizzarrini, the lead development engineer of the Ferrari 250 GTO.

Unlike its Italian rivals there is no complex V12 under the hood with maintenance costs that could bankrupt a small nation. Instead the Lele was initially powered by a 300+ hp Corvette V8 with later cars receiving the Ford 351 Cleveland producing 360 hp.

This is one of the earlier Iso Leles with the Corvette V8 under the hood and a 4-speed manual transmission. This engine has been rebuilt and now produces 350 hp.

Iso developed the Lele to compete with cars like the Lamborghini Espada, luxurious 2+2 GT cars with serious sporting credentials. The interior of the car was opulently upholstered in leather and things like air conditioning and electric windows came as standard.

285 examples of the Iso Lele were built between 1969 and 1974 when the company folded. Today they remain among the least expensive of the Iso V8s, having never quite achieved the status of their siblings like the IR 300, Grifo, and the A3/C.

The Iso Lele Shown Here

The car you see here was restored in 2008/2009 by Roberto Negri of Iso Restorations. Negri worked at Iso in the 1960s and 1970s and remains one of the world’s most sought after Iso restoration specialists – knowing more about the cars than anyone on earth.

The Corvette V8 was sent off to Yankee Motors in December 2015 for a rebuild, during this process it was modified and tuned to produce 350 hp, up from the original output of 300 hp.

The interior was fully retrimmed during the restoration by Negri, and today the car remains in excellent condition throughout. It’s now being offered for sale out of Düsseldorf, Germany through Collecting Cars.

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

Images courtesy of Collecting Cars

The post A Rare Corvette-Powered Italian GT – The Iso Rivolta Lele appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/iso-rivolta-lele/
via gqrds

The Unusual Reliant Scimitar GTE

The Reliant Scimitar GTE was released in 1968 as one of the first of its kind – a full production two door coupe with an estate (station wagon) rear end, otherwise known as a “shooting brake.”

This combination of the fun of a sports car with the practicality of a station wagon proved immediately popular, in fact the GTE became the best-selling four-wheeled Reliant of all time.

Fast Facts – The Reliant Scimitar GTE

• British automaker Reliant is best-known for their three-wheeled economy cars like the Reliant Robin and the Reliant Regal.
• Reliant started producing affordable three-wheelers in 1935, they diversified into four-wheelers with the release of the Reliant Rebel in the early 1960s.
• The Reliant Scimitar was released in 1964 initially as a coupe with a three-box design, it was later offered as the Scimitar GTE with a shooting brake rear end.
• The GTE was powered by the Ford Essex 3.0 V6, thanks in part to the lightweight fiberglass body the car could reach 120+ mph – an impressive figure for the time.

A New Kind Of Sports Car

The shooting brake is an unusual automobile body style typically characterized by two doors and a station wagon rear typically accessed via a hatchback.

The shooting brake body design gives the fun of a sports coupe with the practicality of a station wagon, as a result many Scimitar GTEs were used as daily drivers.

Shooting brakes were initially used by pheasant hunters who prized the ability to lay their shotguns and beaters out in the rear while on a hunt, then fold down tailgate also made an excellent impromptu table for cups of tea and sandwiches.

Reliant were one of the first to create a production sports car based on this design, it was created by Ogle Design’s Tom Karen, a man who had done significant work with Reliant in the past.

Karen’s design was influenced by the closely related Reliant Scimitar GT, the new  car was named the Scimitar GTE with that additional “E” standing for “Estate,” the British term for a station wagon. As with all Reliant cars the GTE had a body made entirely from fiberglass fitted to a steel chassis.

Despite the fact that Reliant was one of Britain’s smaller automakers the Scimitar GTE was quite well appointed by the standards of the era, the use of lightweight fiberglass meant the car was fast too, and it was impervious to the long-time nemesis of European sports cars – body rust.

The Arrival Of The Reliant Scimitar GTE

The Reliant Scimitar GTE entered production in 1968, it was internally coded the GTE SE5 and each car was fitted with the highly regarded Ford Essex 3.0 V6.

The interior of the GTE is well appointed, this example is upholstered in black leather, it has an AM/FM stereo, and the desirable four-speed manual transmission with overdrive.

This 60º V6 engine would become one of the most versatile Ford engines of the period, it was fitted to everything from mid-engined sports cars like the AC 3000 ME to the Ford Transit van, and it became a favorite of low-volume car manufacturers like TVR, Marcos, Gilbern, and of course, Reliant.

The Reliant Scimitar GTE was built using much the same platform as the earlier Scimitar GT, it has a steel box section chassis with independent front suspension consisting of double A-arms and coil springs. In the rear the car has a live axle with four trailing arms, a Watt’s Linkage, and coil springs.

By the standards of the late 1960s the Scimitar GTE was a car that made a lot of sense if you were looking for a semi-practical mid-range GT car. It was priced slightly above the MGC GT, a period sales competitor, but it offered slightly quicker performance for the extra money.

The first version of the Scimitar GTE had a top speed of 120+ mph and a 0 – 60 mph time of 8.5 seconds – highly respectable times for the era. Later cars with slightly more powerful versions of the Ford V6 would improve on these times to a small degree.

Princess Anne is famously fond of the Scimitar GTE, the Queen and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh bought her one has a present on her 20th birthday. Since that time she has owned eight of them, and she still has one in her possession to this day.

The 3.0 liter Ford Essex V6 is a compact engine, this helps shift weight distribution back for improved handling and it makes space for the space under the hood.

Ultimately the Scimitar GTE would remain in production from 1968 until 1986, it arguably remains the most famous and most beloved of all the four-wheeled Reliants.

The 1972 Reliant Scimitar GTE Shown Here

The car you see here is a 1972 Scimitar GTE making it one of the SE5A vehicles with the slight power boost of 7 bhp, the upgraded dashboard, and the rear taillights with an integrated reversing light.

This car was owned by the same person for over 35 years, he took excellent care of it, and no expense was spared with maintenance. It’s fitted with the desirable four speed manual gearbox with overdrive and the car is finished in Porsche Guards Red with a black leather interior.

This GTE had an extensive body off restoration a number of years ago and the engine was rebuilt approximately 40,000 miles ago. The engine is now fitted with an alloy timing gear, John Wade high efficiency gas flowed unleaded cylinder heads, larger inlet valves, and a Kent V61 high performance camshaft.

The car is now being auctioned live online by The Market, at the time of writing there are a few days left to bid and you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of The Market by Bonhams

 

The post The Unusual Reliant Scimitar GTE appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/reliant-scimitar-gte/
via gqrds