In addition to Jaguar, there are several other V12 engines ready to displace the Lincoln-Zephyr on the scene. One of them is the BMW M70 twelve-cylinder German engine, which has been gaining popularity recently. Why this particular five-liter engine is not completely clear, but my theory is that, being BMW’s first V12, it still does not contain too much electronics, which is extremely difficult to overcome when transferring the engine from one body to another. And the years of production from 87th to 96th mean that right now the moment has come when the M70 is quite cheap, but not yet a rare unit – which means it is a very real alternative to the classic V8.
With the taste of maple syrup
I found the first example of a hot rod with a Bavarian engine in Canada. Not in Quebec, but in Alberta, but I had to come up with some kind of subtitle… In general, in the city of Calgary, Blaine Savchuk built a very nice two-piece around the German engine. “I would use a Jaguar V12, but they’re getting harder to find. The BMW 750 was just easier to find,” says Savchuk. Therefore, Blaine made the exceptionally right decision and donated the BMW 750i of the 94th year, which had only 43 thousand kilometers on the odometer.
Since Comrade Savchuk’s plans were not only to rearrange the engine, but also to do it beautifully so that the power unit stood out exactly as it should stand out on the right hot rod, a small part of the BMW was sawn off and the German car served as a stand while Blaine developed the intake manifold for six Weber twin carburettors. We also had to create an electric ignition and fuel supply system on our own, since no company provided a product that would meet all of Blaine’s requirements.
“When I turned the key and the engine started, I shed a tear. When I finally realized that it really worked, I finally pulled the engine out of the donor and started working on attaching the V12 to the GM Tremec five-speed manual transmission.”
For the sake of such beauty, you could have given away two 750is at once.
Yes, it’s worth saying that Blaine bought a ready-made hot rod and just decided to change the boring V8 to a V12. The new engine, however, did not want to fall into place, so Savchuk decided to saw off a piece of the block and weld the crankcase pan again. In addition to the new engine, Ford received new wheels – Blaine did not make any more changes to the purchased car, paying tribute to the work of a colleague in the workshop. “I think cars are the eighth wonder of the world. You pour gasoline into them, and they help people get where they want to go,” says Savchuk. Golden words! In addition, Blaine admitted that he does not particularly like show business, preferring roads and driving, and also added: “I plan to drive a lot in this car.”
With the taste of sausages and beer
Another example with a German V12 was built in Germany by a certain Roger Stegall from the US Army in Europe. Apparently, the US army has absolutely nothing to do in Europe and there is plenty of time. The photos show that this Model A from the 30th year combines both very fresh spare parts (the Ford Explorer from 2003 gave part of itself for this hot rod) and classic ones. For example, a certain armaturenbrett from the Buick Special 48th year of manufacture.
For some reason, I thought that in the army they drive tanks, not hot rods. It's not that I'm against it, but the very word 'army' confuses me a bit.
Yes, the photos are not very good, but we have a good video. So I suggest you take another look at this car with a 1989 BMW 750i engine. After all, since you’re here, you’re probably just as interested in this as I am.
With the taste of hamburgers
Of course, in the homeland of hot rods, they couldn’t help but notice the engine, which looks much better in a car of the last century without a hood. Therefore, when Kyle Yocum and Chris Rusch decided to build a Ford from 1932, they chose a BMW engine as the power unit. “I’ve always loved the sound of a twelve-cylinder V-shaped engine,” explains Chris. “I wanted some kind of exotic motor. And we’ve already seen Chevy’s small blocks a million times.”
The German engine was taken from the 750i of the early 90s and stripped clean of all electronics, after which the V12 was attached to the GM 700R4 transmission. The minimum set of really necessary electronics was created from scratch by specialists from Borla, Electromotive and Beyond Redline. This hot rod has many, many photos, and at the same time high-quality videos, so that it can be viewed in great detail.
Such photos make it seem as if BMW specifically designed its M70 for Ford cars of the 30s.
As you can see in the photos, the car’s body has also undergone major changes. Chris made a custom frame according to his own design, and Kyle re-created the body. “It’s only 15 percent of the Model A,” says Comrade Yokum. And despite the fact that the hot rod in all the photos is without a roof, Kyle created a removable panel that can cover the cabin.
In general, as you can see with your own eyes, first-class V12 projects from BMW very much exist. I also saw hot rods with Bavarian V8s on the Internet. If we take into account that not every car, even such an original one, gets into the camera lenses, then we can safely assume that there are many more such cars than can be found in a search engine. And it seems to me that in the near future the number of projects with German engines will only grow.
But, of course, there are also guys who prefer American engines to European ones. And there are those for whom, perhaps, the originality of the solution is really important. Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, Cadillac, Packard and many other twelve-cylinder engines hit the hot rods for one reason or another. This only shows once again the potential and diversity of the custom scene and the truly extraordinary talents of some of its participants.
Sources: https://driving.ca/bmw/auto-news/news/on-the-road (August 8th, 2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7qbii-nSpM
https://www.rcnmag.com/garage/community-project
