The beast of Turin

[popper]

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/auto-blog/the-beast-of-turin-revs-again-17485406?click=INSTAPUNDIT
Don't know where they got this to re-build but Wow.

[JSnover]

Very cool!

[fecmech]

+1 on the WOW.

[phonejack]

And the Plymouth Barracuda behind it !

[bullet maker 57]

Absolutely. That is an amazing piece of history.

[Bzcraig]

Absolutely. That is an amazing piece of history.

What he said ^^^^^^

[MaryB]

Dang! That was sweet, would like to see them drive it to 90mph or so but probably to much risk for what that thing is probably worth

[popper]

'Ford' 999 was 19L & did almost 100mph. When I was a kid I rember seeing a 1902 tiller steered Caddilac. At the polo grounds -- none of them left either. Always was interested in the rate of advancement in the early auto years. Those roller bearng pinned up cranks of the 30s. Desmodic cams & 'hemi' heads of the mid 20s.. Notice the beast doesn't have counterweight crank.

[fast ronnie]

Did you ever see a Mercedes Razor Blade? There used to be one at Harrah's collection in Reno. Another neat place for old racing engines is Smith's collection at Speedway Motors. Nothing but antique and rare racing engines!

[Blacksmith]

Don't forget the Stanley Steamers:
1906 Fred Marriott, Stanley test driver, first human to travel two miles in less than one minute 121.6 MPH.
1906 Land speed record 127.7 MPH stood until 1910.
1907 Returned with more powerful car that was going approximately 150 MPH when it crashed.

Here is a link:
http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z11210/stanley-steamer-rocket.aspx

[wch]

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/auto-blog/the-beast-of-turin-revs-again-17485406?click=INSTAPUNDIT
Don't know where they got this to re-build but Wow.
Popper,
They don't make 'em like that there no more!

[Bulldogger]

I like how the driver's seat has a strategically placed hole in it, presumably in event of a crash. "First ya say it, then ya do it!"
BDGR

[pmer]

28.5 liters comes out to be 1,739 cubic inches..wow. I don't know it's bore and stroke but for a 4 cylinder, it would have to be around 7.5 X 10 or 7 3/4 X 9'' bore and stroke. It looks like a 4 cylinder. I have a early '60s Minneapolis Moline pulling tractor with a 5 5/16 X 6'' bore and stroke 6 cylinder engine and it is 800 cubic inches (13 liters). It makes about 165 horse at 1800 RPMs.

Hard to imagine that big rotating assembly spining fast enough to make 300 horse. Some early 1900s tractors had engines over 1500 cubic inches but the ran at around 500 RPMs. I bet the beast made an unforgetable sound at full throttle. I was kinda worried about that guy starting it with his leg in range of the hand crank if it back fired too.

[MaryB]

I learned about backfire with hand cranks on grandpas old Minneapolis Moline, broke my wrist!

[popper]

Pmr - pretty close, I think redline was ~ 1600 rpm. Stanley Hotel was supposedly named by Stanley when he drove as far as he could (get through the trees) & was stopped. I remember the steam tracters with huge steel studded wheels in the fields of northern Mo. when I was young. Yea, I decided NOT to hand crank a model A, dad said he had to drive the T backwards up a hill to keep fuel in the motor. As the guy said, "nothing new under the sun", we just figger out how to use it. My fav. was the W196 Fangio drove. Bro had a 52 300SLR, same drive train but street tuned, a tank to drive - no synchro, mech. F.I. I studied the 30's AU & Benz racer designs when I was a kid, not familiar with the 'razer blade'. Interesting design of the Miller, Offy, Meyer-Drake, box frame block with heads, sides & bottom bolted on, splined build-up cranks with roller bearings, same as early Renault, Fiat & AU.
MaryB - got to set the spark correctly and pray.

[Blacksmith]

Now if you are talking about BIG old engines.
How about
Bore 21 1/2"
Stroke 36"
Tandem Compound (double acting) engine making 485 HP
Made in 1913

Here it is running and the story of it's salvage, click view album for still pictures.
http://www.roughandtumble.org/cooperengineproject

Edit
I am trying to figure out what the cubic inch displacement of that engine is. It only has one connecting rod because the cylinders are in line. It has two cylinders but each cylinder forms two combustion chambers (four total) because it is double acting, and the pistons fire on both sides.

Here is a period write up of how similar engines work:
http://archive.org/stream/audelsgasenginem028772mbp#page/n283/mode/1up

Roughly 52,279 cu. in. or more than 100 big block V-8's

[MaryB]

Grandpa farmed 80 acres with that little tractor well into the 70's... 1 row corn picker, we shelled it manually as needed...

Pmr - pretty close, I think redline was ~ 1600 rpm. Stanley Hotel was supposedly named by Stanley when he drove as far as he could (get through the trees) & was stopped. I remember the steam tracters with huge steel studded wheels in the fields of northern Mo. when I was young. Yea, I decided NOT to hand crank a model A, dad said he had to drive the T backwards up a hill to keep fuel in the motor. As the guy said, "nothing new under the sun", we just figger out how to use it. My fav. was the W196 Fangio drove. Bro had a 52 300SLR, same drive train but street tuned, a tank to drive - no synchro, mech. F.I. I studied the 30's AU & Benz racer designs when I was a kid, not familiar with the 'razer blade'. Interesting design of the Miller, Offy, Meyer-Drake, box frame block with heads, sides & bottom bolted on, splined build-up cranks with roller bearings, same as early Renault, Fiat & AU.
MaryB - got to set the spark correctly and pray.

[Multigunner]

They had a car that Mercedes Benz had presented to Hitler when he became Chancellor. It was on display in Gatlinburg many years go. Hitler didn't care for it because it was too sporty and not dignified as befitting his ego so he gave it to Eva Braun.
This car had a body hammered from a single 3/8 plate of armor. The Engine had back up fuel systems that allowed it to run on just about any flammable liquid that could go through a fuel pump.
They were never able to establish its top speed because no track or salt flat available in Europe was long enough to run the car through all of its gears and multiple over drives. IIRC it hit 135 mph during testing but was capable of far more they had only run through about half its gears before they ran out of track.
I may still have a print of a photo of this car that I got at that exhibit.

Eva Braun's driver hid the car after the fall of Berlin then sold it when he got old and needed the cash.

How ever much of the story they told was true or BS I have no idea, but that was a beautiful car. Sort of like a scaled up sports car and built tough as an armored car. The multiple fuel option alone made this a remarkable piece of engineering. I guess Mercedes was lobbying for some fat aircraft and AFV engine contracts.

[Multigunner]

Looks like it was driven to 175 MPH rather than 135 as I'd thought.


The chassis and motor were hand crafted in Stuttgart, Germany and the body hand crafted in Switzerland. The motor is supercharged straight eight. 400 Hp. The cruising speed 170 Mph and it has been driven at 175 Mph. It has 2 transmissions, both with over drive, 2 sets gears and may be driven with 4 or 7 speeds. The first transmission takes’ it to 125 Mph using first set of gears then converts to the second transmission to reach 175 Mph. This automobile has both fuel injectors and spark plugs. The gas tank is under the hood. .. The diesel tank is the rear of the car and it may be driven with either fuel. The lever on the steering wheel converts it from gas to diesel. There is also a lever on the steering column that lifts the body away from the chassis for a more even ride, it is claimed that the British Jaguar was copied exactly from this car in 1940. The wheels are of special interest . . . each wheel individually suspended and each wheel is equipped with 7 automatic balancers. The tires have been replaced, they are exact replicas of the originals “17 inch, 7 ply.
http://www.dfwelitetoymuseum.com/special-rare-toys/tippco/eva-braun-mercedes/eva-braun-part-3/

Also just remembered that the hood ornament and hubcaps were gold or gold plated.

[pmer]

Now if you are talking about BIG old engines.
How about
Bore 21 1/2"
Stroke 36"
Tandem Compound (double acting) engine making 485 HP
Made in 1913

Here it is running and the story of it's salvage, click view album for still pictures.
http://www.roughandtumble.org/cooperengineproject

Edit
I am trying to figure out what the cubic inch displacement of that engine is. It only has one connecting rod because the cylinders are in line. It has two cylinders but each cylinder forms two combustion chambers (four total) because it is double acting, and the pistons fire on both sides.

Here is a period write up of how similar engines work:
http://archive.org/stream/audelsgasenginem028772mbp#page/n283/mode/1up

Roughly 52,279 cu. in. or more than 100 big block V-8's

My guess would be to subtract half the length of the piston. So IF the piston is 12 inches long you would have a 30" stroke. (36'' stroke - 12 inch piston plus 6" = 30'' stroke). So for one of tandems it would be 21,783 cubic inches. Just a WAG using one of those on line displacement calculators now as a two cylinder.

I have to admit I had fun looking at the period write up. Ouch for MaryB's wrist we didn't have any hand crank tractors when I was kid on the farm.

[WILCO]

Wonderful!

[scaevola]

Very cool old car.

The rest of the posts in this thread were interesting to read too.

[popper]

'Progress' motor - first direct injection engine. Yea, Hitler had all kinds of vehicles built for him. Most of the German Collective engine & fuel (race) work was to develop aircraft engines for the upcoming war.