There is Elvis Aaron Presley, he is a musician and the sole King of rock and roll. And there’s Ian Davis, nicknamed Elvis, and he’s been building hot rods in the Rod Bods Downunder workshop for twenty years. And to make the situation even more fun, Ian named his most famous hot rod as Elvis. And the truth is that most of you have probably already had the good fortune to see this car, and not just anywhere, but on the big screen! But first things first.

So, we have a separate article about custom cars with GMC Twin-Six engines – refer to it if you want to learn a little more about this unusual engine. And Elvis (as befits any Elvis) deserves a separate article where it will be about him. Such stories should be told from the very beginning, and therefore the first question will be: why? Why build such a car? “Because I can,” Elvis replies. “All the cars that I have built over the years are somewhat different from each other. This is important because in our business, we at Rod Bods are almost like a Ford manufacturing plant.Early models: from the Model A to the 34th. And when it comes time to do something for myself, I give a little free rein to my strange tastes, if I may say so.”

Elvis the GMC V12 hot-rod and Ian Davis — Ian ‘Elvis’ Davis himself.

So Elvis took one of the fiberglass bodies that Rod Bods make in considerable quantities and started working on it. The choice fell on the three-window coupe of the 32nd year, and after a little refinement, it was painted in the color DeBeers Wine Red, after which it was sent for revision to Trik Trim, where they wrapped the entire interior, including the BMW seats, in black leather. Six instruments monitor the engine: it was bought in the USA for $ 800 and brought to Australia along with a metal stand, which turned out to be a factory gadget. Apparently, Ian got one of the stationary engines, which was not planned to be used in the car. And, before the decision was made to build a hot rod, the Twin-Six stood in the workshop for two and a half years, like a landmark. But in the end, the engine was cleaned, dressed up and attached to the Turbo-Hydramatic 400 transmission.

This hot rod really looked great and deserved the name Elvis. It could have been better if the original steel body had been used in the creation.
This hot rod really looked great and deserved the name Elvis. It could have been better if the original steel body had been used in the creation.
This hot rod really looked great and deserved the name Elvis. It could have been better if the original steel body had been used in the creation.
This hot rod really looked great and deserved the name Elvis. It could have been better if the original steel body had been used in the creation.
This hot rod really looked great and deserved the name Elvis. It could have been better if the original steel body had been used in the creation.

“Painting the engine was still a challenge – we couldn’t put it on the engine stand. It took a lot of work to get the engine to where it is now. Since it’s a truck engine, they didn’t even try to make it neat,” says Ian. “He weighs 675 kilograms without fluids and it was a difficult time for my lifter. The last time I lifted it with a forklift at all, and then I drove the frame under it.”

But it wasn’t just about painting and lifting weights. Elvis completely rebuilt the engine in order to slightly enhance its power. “It was worth checking the engine when it was first brought in. In general, I found that several pistons were damaged by corrosion, and it cost me several sleepless nights on the Internet and a considerable number of phone calls around the world. They haven’t been produced for many years, so I had to find two used sets of 351 V6s, and it wasn’t easy,” recalls Ian. “The oil pan on these engines is extremely deep, and if the engine had been installed in the car at the same height as the original pan, it would have scratched on the asphalt. Therefore, I cut off the original pan and stretched it in both directions, while maintaining the original volume of oil.”

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The entire interior is either chrome or black leather. Neat and elegant.
The entire interior is either chrome or black leather. Neat and elegant.
The entire interior is either chrome or black leather. Neat and elegant.
The entire interior is either chrome or black leather. Neat and elegant.

In addition, the Twin-Six in the original assembly had an oil pump with a gearbox that limited the engine speed to 2,400 per minute. Therefore, this part was thrown out of the engine, and an external pump from Moroso was installed instead. “I used the holes where the oil filter cartridge was mounted, and we made a suitable plate quite simply. It wasn’t difficult to do, but it took some time to brainstorm,” says Comrade Davis. “We have balanced and completely rebuilt the engine. I brought it up to 4,500 revolutions per minute, and even though this number doesn’t look particularly large, but there we have pots measuring 11.6 centimeters – a lot of friction. People think the V12 should spin, but it’s not like a Ferrari with five-centimeter pistons.”

The Twin-Six engine in all its glory.
The Twin-Six engine in all its glory.
The Twin-Six engine in all its glory.

Another obstacle was the ignition system. In the original, the Twin-Six has two tramblers on the same axis: one rotates clockwise and the other counter-clockwise, with six cylinders each. This miracle has been replaced with an electronic ignition. After that, the cooling was designed: the guys from Aussie Desert Cooler built one of the largest radiators in the history of their work. “In general, these are two radiators, one in front of the other, with one upper and one lower reservoir. I have no idea how much water it holds, but I remember filling it up with a friend, talking, and I asked him, ‘Is that damn hose still pouring water in there?’ He took it out, and even half of it was missing. I had to add a leaf to the spring just to keep the weight of the fluids in the engine.”

The Twin-Six also had two Holley 350 twin-chamber carburettors, and together they produced approximately 300 horsepower with 854 Nm of torque at the already mentioned 4,500 rpm. The main problem at this stage was fuel economy: a liter of gasoline was consumed in just a couple of kilometers. Ian had plans to fix this case and improve the value at least twice, but suddenly the car was noticed and they wanted to buy it for the filming of Mad Max: Fury Road, so further work on the car went in a slightly different direction. Ian decided not to give such a neat car to the desert and the film crew.

“We took down the body, the interior, the wheels, the grille, the headlights, and everything else that was valuable,” recalls Elvis. “I put in a new body, stuffed some seats in there, and put in the most basic wheels-and that’s exactly what was used in the movie.”

Elvis, GMC V12 hot rod, Mad Max: Fury Road, rat rod — gorgeous promo photo with Elvis, who went from being a hot rod to a rat rod.

Since fiberglass does not rust, the new body was carefully painted, imitating rust – it turned out to be a rat rod. The film crew attached a machine gun to the roof, and that’s how exactly the Elvis you all saw on the screen was created. Somewhere towards the end of the film’s creation, the sound engineers demanded that Elvis’ engine run to the limit, and as a result, the monstrous V12 broke its crankshaft. For the remaining scenes, the team built a fiberglass mock-up, under which they hid an ordinary small block from Chevrolet. In this form, Elvis appeared at the premiere of the film at the Sydney Opera House, after which the company hid him somewhere for indefinite storage. And Ian bought back the original engine.

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Elvis is exactly as he appeared in the movies. Most of the photos were taken after the engine was broken, and you can see the exhaust pipes hidden under the dummy V8.
Elvis is exactly as he appeared in the movies. Most of the photos were taken after the engine was broken, and you can see the exhaust pipes hidden under the dummy V8.
Elvis is exactly as he appeared in the movies. Most of the photos were taken after the engine was broken, and you can see the exhaust pipes hidden under the dummy V8.
Elvis is exactly as he appeared in the movies. Most of the photos were taken after the engine was broken, and you can see the exhaust pipes hidden under the dummy V8.

Comrade Davis also built another Elvis stunt car for the film. Of course, no one was going to get another Twin-Six for him, so once again a fiberglass dummy was created, under which they hid a 1.3-liter Toyota Corolla engine. This car was destroyed during the filming of the movie. And even if Elvis didn’t have a big role himself, he looked extremely impressive and probably stuck in the memory of many when watching.

Overall, it was probably worth it, right? We don’t have a top-notch hot rod, yes. But what kind of shots turned out! And what’s more: in addition to the movie, Elvis appeared in the video game Mad Max: Fury Road of the same name, and therefore now each of us personally can at any time take a ride behind the wheel of this particular – even if virtual – rat race. In addition, since the sound engineers broke the Twin-Six, he went back to Ian Davis – and two years ago he said that he was repairing the engine and planning to build a new custom car based on it.

It won't break, rust, or overheat. Never. Elvis lived, Elvis is alive, Elvis will live.
It won't break, rust, or overheat. Never. Elvis lived, Elvis is alive, Elvis will live.
It will not break, rust or overheat. Never. Elvis lived, Elvis is alive, Elvis will live.
It will not break, rust or overheat. Never. Elvis lived, Elvis is alive, Elvis will live.
It won't break, rust, or overheat. Never. Elvis lived, Elvis is alive, Elvis will live.