V12 engines on the custom stage: exotics from Europe

Despite the fact that V12s under the hood of hot rods are a very unusual sight in themselves, I must say that Lincoln-Zephyr, Jaguar, BMW, GMC are all, in fact, pops among 12-cylinder projects. And there are engines that were actually used only once in one project. Or there was only one master in history who specialized in them. Well, or they are a really special sight. In this article, we will cover all the examples mentioned, and we will start, perhaps, with the coolest of the exotic engines. This European engine is probably a little too much. And despite the fact that only a few people choose such an engine for their project, I could easily find as many as three cars powered by this engine – they attract the attention of onlookers, journalists and photography enthusiasts so much.

V12 weighing a ton

Basically, I’ve known about the existence of such hot rods for 10 years, but… Do you know the expression so bad that it’s even good? No? I use it sometimes. So, here, along the way, the opposite situation arises: so good that, perhaps, too good… I don’t know. In short! Certain craftsmen choose a Rolls-Royce Meteor engine – and this is a 27-liter tank V12! They put him in Crusader tanks, and this dog eats two-thirds of a liter of oil in an hour, and the military vehicle carried as much as 545 liters of fuel with it. And … words cannot describe it. Let me introduce you to, in my opinion, the most outstanding hot rod with such an engine.

This green bucket was assembled by Neil Morris. Yes, it has two superchargers, it carries 80 liters of fuel and a considerable amount of oil, and – who would have thought – it is a little illegal to travel on the roads.

“So far, I’ve only been chasing him back and forth around the yard. I suspect that I will get too much unnecessary attention on the road.”

This is Comrade Morris speaking. The most difficult task during construction was to dock the engine with the Ford C6 transmission, as the engine arrived without a bell. Therefore, Neil made the bell himself, as well as the pipes and the entire frame. Almost everything else on this car is parts of different Fords, but sometimes the creator himself does not remember which ones, giving out the phrase “one or the other.” But the steering column is definitely not Ford’s. Maybe not even American. “It’s probably 120Y, just don’t tell anyone,” Morris admits. And also the radiator, despite the fact that it now has the inscription Ford, is actually a product of the Australian company Aussie Desert Cooler.

The horse in the blue oval

Another project with a slightly less crazy, but still European engine, was assembled in Australia by a certain Jerry Dywestin, the owner of the Forza Automotive workshop, specializing in the restoration of vintage Ferraris, Lamborghini and other European sports cars of the last century.

“Hot rods don’t usually show up on my radar. But one day, my friend Bill Yang from GT Car Parts in Phoenix, Arizona, sent me an email with a photo of a fully polished Ferrari V12 engine with two superchargers. On my next visit, I noticed this motor and asked about it. Bill replied that it was an unfinished project by Bob Reisner, the famous American hot rod builder, and that an entire car was attached to the engine. He showed me some photos of the car – it was only partially built, but the frame and body were more or less finished, and several suspension parts had already been made before the pile. And a little later, while I was picking out spare parts, Bill called me into his office and said, ‘You won’t believe it.’: The guy who owns Bob’s project now said he had to sell the car and vacate the place as soon as possible.’So I bought it.’

This is Jerry speaking.

Despite the fact that the body of this hot rod is an all-steel Ford T, the frame underneath is one hundred percent Ferrari. The five-liter all-aluminum V12 engine once stood in the Ferrari 400 GT. At the moment, this motor is almost completely in line with the factory parameters. Separately, it is worth noting a pair of large Weber carburettors, which were chosen mainly because they required minimal tuning for such an exotic engine.

“We weren’t chasing power and didn’t plan to build a dragster – the end result, by and large, just had to work reliably”

– explains Jerry. Given the two superchargers of unknown origin, the power plant should produce approximately 700 horsepower, which is taken over by the Turbo-Hydramatic 400 transmission.

Instead of using steel suspension arms from Ferrari, Bob Reisner made his own from an aluminum block. With so much aluminum, a stripped-down frame, and a very light body, the hot rod weighs much lighter than the Ferrari 400 GT. Comrade Dyvestin says that although he did not put the car on the scales, it would not be a big surprise to him if the entire structure weighed 100-200 kilograms less than a ton. Considering the power of the V12 that powers this car, the whole project looks a bit crazy. At the moment, the t-bucket is ready to hit the road at any moment, but, according to Jerry, by and large, any work can always be continued.

“I still have half a dozen little things in my plans that I plan to finish. But at the moment, I can go into the garage, turn the key and go for a ride somewhere.”

Twelve cylinders in red

And in the context of the article, it is impossible not to mention such an amazing thing as a bike with a V12 engine from Aston Martin. Although this project, in my opinion, is from the category of “could have been better,” I certainly do not agree with those guys who say that this is just a wasted engine. Although, probably, the fact is that I just frankly don’t care about Aston Martin and its entire model range. In addition to the various V8 lines produced from ’69 to ‘2000. And everything else – ugh, even if all the Aston Martin’s in the world are melted down into choppers of similar quality, it definitely won’t be worse.

Unfortunately, the name of the one who decided to put a six-liter 412 horsepower engine on two wheels is unknown. The ride on this motorcycle could be described in three words: “fast, hard, brutal.” Oh yes, this elephant is fully operational. He can drive and even turn with some… a perverse degree of grace.

Of course, such projects exist not only in Europe, but also in America there are many custom designs with extremely unusual power plants. But using European engines in projects that clearly belong to the American school always seems extremely tempting to me. I like it when something created in completely different parts of the planet finds each other and mixes together. Such cocktails from different schools, cultures and traditions are very rare, but almost always extremely successful and unusual. And it seems to me that it is precisely such cases that embody the full power and potential of humanity without borders and unnecessary prejudices.

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