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The Harley-Davidson XA – The Great-Grandfather Of The Pan America

Although most people don’t realize it, the Harley-Davidson XA is the forefather of the recently-released Harley-Davidson Pan America adventure bike. Before emails from offended Pan America owners begin pouring in let me clarify that statement below.

Both the Harley-Davidson XA (Experimental Army) and the Pan America were built primarily to compete with similar, more established German machinery. The XA was built to compete with the BMW R71 and the Pan America was built to challenge the BMW R1250GS. Both bikes were built with significant influence from their German counterparts, and both were intended to work well both on and off-road.

Fast Facts – The Harley-Davidson XA

The Harley-Davidson XA was developed to meet a demand from the US military for an American equivalent to the BMW R71, with a flat-twin engine, good ground clearance, and shaft drive rather than chain.
Harley-Davidson engineers copied many parts of the R71 almost exactly as the German motorcycle had already proven itself highly-capable in the European theater of WWII.
The flat-twin engine layout resulted in vastly superior cooling to the V-twin layout typically used by HD, the XA engine ran close to 100ºF or 38ºC cooler than the V-twin Harley WLA.
Despite the promise shown by the XA the US military decided to instead stick with what they already had – the Jeep four-wheel drive and the Harley-Davidson WLA motorcycle. Just 1,000 examples of the XA were built.

The Mighty BMW R71

BMW released their first motorcycle in 1923 at the Berlin Motor Show, it was called the BMW R 32 and it was powered by a flat-twin boxer engine with a shaft drive to the rear wheel – a layout the company still has in production today.

The Harley-Davidson XA was based closely on the BMW R71 which was being used extensively by the Germans in the early days of WWII.

BMW, or Bayerische Motoren Werke, first started out in 1916 in the closing stages of WWI as a German aircraft engine manufacturer. In the post war years they needed to line a new line of business to keep from going bankrupt, and motorcycle production was chosen.

Interestingly, BMW started making motorcycles five years before they started making cars, and both took signifiant influence from pre-existing British machines. The BMW boxer motorcycle engine was said to have been influenced by the Douglas motorcycle engine of the same design with a different layout (longitudinal vs transverse), and the first BMW car was the BMW 3/15 which was an Austin Seven built under license.

BMW would see great success with both their motorcycle and automobile production lines which continues to the current day.

The BMW R71 was released in 1938, perhaps the most notable new feature was the use of plunger-type rear wheel suspension rather than the more traditional hard tail rear end. This rear suspension had been trialed by BMW riders in the grueling International Six Days Trial a year earlier in 1937 with much success.

This restored XA is equipped with twin leather ammunition boxes on the rear and a front rifle holster containing a (non-firing) reproduction Tommy Gun.

The R71 is powered by a boxer twin mounted longitudinally with the heads and cylinders out the sides in the clear airflow for optimal cooling. The engine has a swept capacity of 746cc, a compression ratio of 5.5:1, and it was capable of 22 bhp. Though low by modern standards this was reasonable power output for the era, and the engine’s good torque characteristics resulted in a motorcycle with solid performance.

The relatively simple design and the engine that was able to run on very low octane fuel proved to be perfect for the German war effort during WWII, and the R71 was put to extensive use in Europe and North Africa both with and without a sidecar attached.

The BMW R75 with its more advanced overhead valve engine would begin to replace the R71 in the early 1940s, but both models remained in use through to the end of the war.

The Arrival Of The Harley-Davidson XA

The success of the BMW R71 encouraged the Americans to get their own version made – it was clear that the shaft drive and flat-twin engine was ideal for use in places like North Africa where the high temperatures and desert sands proved challenging for many motor vehicles.

With its cooler-running engine and 7 inches of ground clearance, the XA proved ideal for use off-road, particularly in regions like the North African deserts.

Exactly how the engineers at Harley-Davidson got their hands on an R71 has never been disclosed, however we know that the XA was so similar it must have been the result of careful reverse engineering.

Both Harley-Davidson and Indian worked on their own versions of the bike, with the resulting Indian 841 being more closely related to a Moto Guzzi with its longitudinally mounted, air-cooled V-twin and shaft drive to the rear wheel.

The Harley-Davidson XA is powered by a flathead boxer twin with a swept capacity of 45 cubic inches (740cc), a bore x stroke of 3.063 in × 3.063 in, a compression ratio of 5.7:1, and 23 bhp at 4,600 rpm.

Power is sent to the rear wheel via a 4-speed gearbox and a shaft drive. Remarkably the engine in the XA was reported to stay up to 100ºF or 38ºC cooler than the V-twin used in the Harley WLA, largely because the XA had its cylinders out in the clear airflow.

Despite the promise shown by the XA only the original 1,000 or so examples were ever made, it was never approved for full production. The Indian 841 experienced a similar fate, and the US military instead decided to focus on the Jeep and the Harley-Davidson WLA.

Ultimately just over 1,000 examples of the XA would be built, as the US military decided to stick with the Jeep and the pre-existing Harley-Davidson WLA.

Harley-Davidson attempted to find other uses for the flat-twin engine from the XA, experiments were done using the engine for generators, including as blower-cooled generators on tanks, Willys-Overland experimented with the engine as the power source for their mini-Jeep named the “Peep,” and Harley-Davidson made a three-wheeled Servi-Car prototype using the engine.

The Harley-Davidson XA Shown Here

The XA you see here is a 1942 model that has been restored by a marque specialist. It’s been finished in the period-correct color scheme.

The bike is also fitted with twin leather ammunition boxes on the rear and there’s a rifle holster up front fitted with a reproduction (non-firing) Tommy Gun.

This usual military HD is due to roll across the auction block with Mecum in last January, at the time of writing there’s no price guide, and it’s being offered with no reserve. 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

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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.

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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.