A Gas Turbine/Electric Volvo 850: The 1993 Factory Prototype

The 1993 Volvo 850 gas turbine/electric hybrid you see here is one of two made by the factory when it was experimenting with future drivetrain technologies in the 1990s.

The car is driven by an electric motor powering the wheels, and the turbine spins a high-speed generator (HSG) which sends its electrical power either to the batteries, the electric motor, or both at the same time.

Fast Facts – The Volvo 850 Gas Turbine/Electric Hybrid

• This car would be Volvo’s second attempt at building an automobile fitted with a gas turbine, the earlier version was the 1978 Environmental Concept Car (ECC) based on a Volvo 264.
• As the world approached the end of the 20th century new legislation was making it critical that automakers develop ever more fuel efficient cars with lower emissions.
• Volvo engineers developed this car and its fellow prototype borrowing some ingenuity from Volvo Flygmotor, the automaker’s sister company that produced aircraft engines and aerospace components.
• The car they created uses an electric motor to power the front wheels, drawing electrical power either from built-in batteries, from the electrical generator powered by the gas turbine, or by both working together.

Gas Turbines + Automobiles

Though it may seem strange to bolt a gas turbine under the hood of a car, automobile manufacturers have been experimenting with the technology for decades. By the 1990s progressive increases in emissions and fuel efficiency requirements resulted in automakers experimenting with all manner of unusual propulsion systems.

The gas turbine is mounted under the hood where the piston engine would be in a normal 850, exhaust from the turbine exits out of an exhaust in the rear as with a normal car.

Volvo had developed the Environmental Concept Car (ECC) in 1978 based on a Volvo 264 saloon car, with power provided by an automotive gas turbine engine. No electric motor or batteries were used in this car, it utilized a direct drive system instead.

In the 1990s engineers at Swedish automaker realized if they could get a small, highly efficient gas turbine to power an electrical generator – then use this charge to power an electric motor, they might just be able to meet or surpass their fuel efficiency requirements.

Volvo also had an ace up their sleeve – they could tap into the engineering know-how of Volvo Flygmotor, a sibling company that specialized in building aircraft engines and aerospace components for spacecraft.

Building The Volvo 850 Gas Turbine/Electric Hybrid

The Volvo 850 had been released in 1991, making it the newest car in the Volvo model line in 1993. The reasonably large engine bay of the 850 made it perfectly suited to the gas turbine/hybrid electric project – the standard road car was fitted with an inline-five cylinder mounted transversely to power the front wheels.

The nickel cadmium battery array is in the trunk, along with what appears to be an electronic controller.

Two Volvo 850s were sent to the engineering department, where the design and development phase of the project began in earnest. Direct electric drive was chosen for the sake of simplicity and practicality, with the electric motor connected to a bank of nickel cadmium batteries (/Ni-Cd/).

In the early 1990s nickel cadmium batteries were still the best option, lithium-ion batteries were too new and lead acid batteries would have been far too heavy.

The engineers developed a front wheel drive system using an electric motor, there are many benefits to this arrangement, chief among them being the instant torque from 0 rpm offered by electric motors.

The motor can be powered directly by the batteries in “Electric” mode, it can be powered by both the batteries and the gas turbine generator in “Hybrid” mode, and it can be powered directly by the gas turbine generator in “Gas Turbine” mode.

When driving the car it’s not a dissimilar experience to driving a modern automatic or electric car, there is a rotary drive mode selector and you can choose from the usual P, R, N, D, or L.

The interior is essentially identical to a normal Volvo 850, with the exception of the rotary dial that allows you to select “Electric, “Hybrid,” or “Gas Turbine” modes.

An Evolutionary Dead End

Volvo opted to not put its unusual hybrid into production, though it has fewer moving parts than a similarly sized piston engine it does require more exotic materials and manufacturing technologies – not to mention the fact that your local mechanic wouldn’t know where to begin with even just a basic servicing.

Of the two cars that were built just one is in private hands, the example you see here. The other is believed to still belong to Volvo, and it’s unlikely to be sold anytime soon due to its historic importance as an early Volvo hybrid.

This prototype has 4,000 test track kilometers on the odometer and it comes with its original Swedish number plates as well as extracts of a period magazine article about the car.

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 cross the auction block with Bonhams on the 3rd of February with a price guide of $68,000 to $91,000 USD.

Images courtesy of Bonhams

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This Is The Rare BMW 1600 GT

The BMW 1600 GT is an exceptionally rare 1960s-era BMW that actually started life as model from another German manufacturer – Hans Glas. The car had originally been launched as the Glas 1300GT in 1963 at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

It was a beautifully styled 2+2 sports coupe designed by Pietro Frua and his team in Italy, the body was made by the coachbuilders over at Maggiora, and each car was built by Glas workers at their factory in Dingolfing, Germany.

Fast Facts – The BMW 1600 GT

• The BMW 1600 GT is one of the least well-known of BMW’s 1960s production cars, just 1,259 of them were ever made, five of these were imported into the USA.
• The car started life as the Glas 1300 GT. When BMW bought fellow German automaker Hans Glas in 1966 they reengineered the 1300 GT to use the same engine, gearbox, and independent rear suspension as the BMW 1600-2.
• By the standards of the era, the performance of the BMW 1600 GT was excellent for its class, with a top speed of almost 120 mph (190 km/h) – largely thanks to the low kerb weight of 2,116 lbs (960 kgs) and the 105 hp produced by the 1573cc BMW M10 inline-four cylinder engine.
• The elegant Italian styling of the 1600 GT combined with the practicality of 2+2 seating, moderate trunk space, a sophisticated BMW drivetrain, and independent rear suspension makes the car an excellent daily-drivable classic – for those who can find one.

Hans Glas And The 1300 GT

German automaker hans Glas GmbH was founded all the way back in 1883, originally as an agricultural machinery manufacturer.

The beautiful 2+2 coupe styling of the 1600 GT came from the pen of Pietro Frua, with the bodies being made by the coachbuilders at Maggiora in Italy before being sent to Germany for completion.

Andreas Glas, the son of company founder Hans, saw the Vespa display stand in Italy at an agricultural machinery exhibition and became so enthused by the concept he has his own Glas scooters in production within the year.

The scooters were followed by microcars like the Goggomobil, small and affordable transportation like this was in much demand in the years after WWII in Europe – and Glas turned a healthy profit selling them.

By the early 1960s Glas almost mirrored their Italian counterparts over at Iso Rivolta by turning from microcar and scooter building to full-size automobile manufacturing, in the hopes of becoming a fully-fledged automaker.

Just like Iso, Glas succeeded in their quest. At least for a time. They turned to Italian designers Frua for help with styling, and turned out a series of cars including the Glas 1004, Glas 1300 GT, and Glas 2600 V8 along with the closely related Glas 3000 V8.

Financial difficulties experienced by the company resulted in BMW acquiring them in 1966, this acquisition was largely due to the fact that BMW wanted the Glas factories for the added production volume it would give them.

The car is powered by the 1573cc BMW M10 inline-four cylinder engine which was also used in the 1600-2, and later in the famous BMW 2002 in 2.0 liter form.

For a brief time BMW kept certain examples of the Glas model line in production, with modifications. These cars included the BMW 1600 GT and the BMW-Glas 3000 V8, but by late 1968 they had disappeared from showroom floors.

Today the surviving examples of these Glas-BMW cars are considered desirable by collectors for their historical uniqueness and their rarity.

The BMW 1600 GT Shown Here

The car you see here is a BMW 1600 GT from 1968, the second and final year the model was produced.

Considering the amount of engineering work that BMW put into the 1600 GT it’s a little surprising they didn’t keep it in production longer. BMW engineers pulled the original engine and transmission out of the Glas 1300 GT, as well as the live rear axle and leaf springs.

The interior is nicely detailed, with a wood rimmed steering wheel, a dashboard gauge cluster that contains all the information you could realistically want, and an AM radio.

They then reworked the independent rear suspension on coil springs from the BMW 1600-2 into the Glas, as well as the 1573cc BMW M10 inline-four cylinder engine and manual transmission from the same donor model.

The resulting car had both improved power and better handling when compared to its predecessor, the only major change to the bodywork was the addition of a subtle pair of BMW kidney grills and a roundel front and back.

With just 1,259 examples of the BMW 1600 GT ever made and far fewer surviving to the current day, the car is now prized by BMW collectors around the world.

The 1600 GT you see here benefits from a recent full restoration, it’s a numbers matching car though the engine is now fitted with a pair of Weber 40 DCOE 151 carburetors in place of the Solex carburetors used originally.

This car is now being offered for sale in a live auction with Collecting Cars, at the time of writing there are a few days left to bid and the car is currently based in Monterey, California. You can click here if you’d like to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of Collecting Cars

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There’s A Bugatti Factory Specification Workbench For Sale

This work bench was built to the specifications laid out in the original plans for the workbenches used in the Bugatti factory. Interestingly, it also using a pair of original legs and it carries a vise melted from the molds of the factory.

Bugatti is an automaker that needs no introduction, the marque was founded by Italian-born industrial designer Ettore Bugatti in the then-German city of Molsheim in 1909 – it went on to become one of the most important automobile manufacturers of the early 20th century.

The cars built by designed and built by Bugatti quickly developed a reputation for their sophisticated engineering, their spectacularly beautiful designs, and their successes on the race track.

This eye for design was no surprise to anyone who knows about Ettore’s family tree – his father Carlo Bugatti was an important Italian Art Nouveau furniture and jewellery designer, his younger brother was a renowned animal sculptor, and his paternal grandfather, Giovanni Luigi Bugatti, was an architect and sculptor.

Ettore Bugatti and his son Jean Bugatti sitting in a Type 35. Image courtesy of Bugatti.

Automobiles Ettore Bugatti became an early force in early Grand Prix racing thanks to their technologically advanced designs – their engines in particular were often years ahead of their competition.

The Bugatti Type 35 was a Grand Prix car introduced in 1924 that went on to become one of the most successful race cars of all time, fundamentally influencing the design and engineering or top flight race cars from that moment on.

Bugatti craftsmen worked on benches exactly like the one you see here, each with their own individual specialist tools at hand. The cars built by the factory, whether for racing or road use, were all handbuilt from start to finish.

This Bugatti workbench is due to cross the auction block with Bonhams on the 3rd of February in Paris with a price guide of €16,500 – €20,000, or approximately $18,600 – $22,600 USD.

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

Images courtesy of Bonhams

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For Sale: The Porsche 911 “Baja” Prototype #1

This is the Porsche 911 “Baja” Prototype #1, it was developed and built by TJ Russell and his team at Russell Built Fabrication in California and it’s now being offered for sale.

TJ has said that he wanted to take his lifelong passions for Porsche 911s and for trophy trucks and merge them into a single vehicle – arguably the most capable high-speed, off road Porsche ever developed.

Fast Facts – The Porsche 911 Baja Prototype

• The Porsche 911 Baja Prototype was developed by TJ Russell and his team using a Porsche 964 Carrera 4 Cabriolet as their starting point.
• A full custom 4130 chromoly race chassis and roll cage was integrated into the factory unibody tub, the all wheel drive system was kept in place, and power is now provided by a 3.8 liter flat-six built by Rothsport Road & Race producing 360 bhp.
• The suspension system has been fully reengineered for off road racing use, the car now rides on adjustable coilovers offering 12 inches of suspension travel up front and 13 inches in the rear.
• Russell Built Fabrication are offering the Porsche 911 Baja in a limited production run, each will be based on a Porsche 964 and the specifics of each build will be developed between the client and TJ.

Taking The Porsche 911 Off Road – The Mighty 959

Those with an appreciation for Porsche history and off road racing will remember the all wheel drive Porsche 953 that won the 1984 Paris–Dakar Rally. The car was essentially a prototype test bed for the upcoming Porsche 959, a planned production supercar that would homologate the model for Group B racing.

Above Video: Matt Farah of The Smoking Tire went to visit TJ Russell in 2021 and spend some time behind the wheel of the 911 Baja Prototype.

After their success in the ’84 Paris-Dakar, Porsche rolled out a racing version of the proposed 959 in 1985. They won the Rallye des Pharaons in 1985 followed by a 1st, 2nd, and 6th in the 1986 Paris-Dakar Rally.

By the 1987 the Porsche 959 and its all wheel drive system was deemed ready to compete in the brutally competitive world of Group B rally, but the FIA cancelled Group B due to multiple driver and speculator fatalities – leaving the 959 with no where to race.

Later versions of the Porsche 959 with various modifications raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, taking a class win. The 959 would become one of Porsche’s most memorable production cars, as well as one of the most important and influential supercars ever made.

The Porsche 911 Baja By Russell Built Fabrication

In more ways than one, the Porsche 911 Baja from TJ Russell and his team is, in many respects, the unofficial spiritual successor to those Porsche 959s that raced in the Dakar.

TJ Russell, the founder of Russell Built Fabrication, in his workshop with the completed Porsche 911 Baja prototype.

It’s a Porsche 959 rally racer for the 21st century that incorporates decades of technological advancement in off road racing, while staying true to its 911 roots – it keeps the steel unibody tub of the original car in place, as well as an original 911 engine in the back, and the all wheel drive system of the donor Porsche 964 911.

The Baja 911 – Specifications

The project to design and build the Baja 911 took years, in part because each step needed to be standardized for use on the future builds.

The 3.8 liter flat six in the engine bay was built by Rothsport Road & Race, it now produces 360 bhp and 310 ft lbs of torque. The engine is fitted with independent throttle bodies, plenums, a Motec ECU, and a GT3 exhaust system, power is sent through a five-speed G50 transmission to either the rear wheels only or all four wheels.

The original outer body panels of the 964 911 were largely removed and replaced with custom composite panels, both for weight savings and to give the car a much wider track width – the Baja 911 is now 15 inches wider than the 964 and three inches longer.

As the above video shows, the 911 Baja is an exceptionally quick vehicle off road due to its carefully designed suspension system that soaks up bumps thanks to its 12 inches of travel up front and 13 inches in the back.

The core spaceframe of the car was built into the original tub, it’s an aerospace-grade chromium molybdenum steel structure that vastly strengthens the car while also making it far safer in the event of an accident or roll over.

With custom built off road coilover suspension front and back, the Baja 911 has 12 inches of travel up front and 13 inches in the rear. There’s an FIA specification fuel cell up front that was designed in such a way to make room for a full-size 30 inch spare tire.

The Baja 911 – Interior

Inside the car you’ll find a well appointed interior, with Olive Green leather and black Alcantara, carbon-fiber Sparco bucket seats with Olive Green leather for the bolsters and headrest sections, and diamond-quilted black Alcantara for the center panels.

As an RS-specification build this car has no stereo or air conditioning to keep the weight down, though there is a fresh air vent to keep the interior cool when out blasting across the desert.

This unusual 911 is now being sold in a live online auction on Collecting Cars. At the time of writing there are still a few days left to bid, and the car is based out of Sun Valley, California.

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

Images courtesy of Collecting Cars

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