any idea of what these cars had for a driveline im going to guess most were direct drive but I have never seen one in person(car tractor or plane) the only v12 I have seen/touched was a Rolls Royce Merlin out of a Lancaster I can only imagine what it would be like to stuff one into a car or dragster
Art Arfons used a tug boat clutch and truck transmission and rear axle in one of his. Mainly a matter of finding something big enough and heavy duty enough to handle the power. In the fifties you could buy war surplus Allison engines for $100 apiece.
I remember seeing pictures of a roadster with an Allison engine. Think it was in a 50's Hot Rod mag. Don't remember much about it except it had an extra long, extra heavy frame. Had a 55 gallon drum for a fuel tank. Even at 50's costs, the guy could only afford to drive it once a month. There was also an article in one of the mags about the possibility of running a 1200 ci Ford tank engine in a car.
Some crazy guys across the river from me put an Allison in their field forklift. They said it would do 60 MPH in reverse.
I have a video of one from the other night at the tractor pull. There was one all so with a Merlin in it. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Also E J Potter. Aka The michigan mad man. Had a 56 Plymouth with one and drove from the. Back seat he also got burned bad in it at a drag race!
Well OK, it's not an Allison. But it's still an impressive video. Can't imagine driving this beast!! Wayne
a Merlin is most likely better as they seem to be less common then Allison's. but im curious as to what guys did to get the power to the ground I imagine a machine shop at your disposal would help a lot. I get some crazy ideas some times id love to shoehorn a Allison in a OT(well barely off topic) car one day and kind of pay homage to the RCAF pilots who flew p 51 mustangs(yes Canada and the UK both used p 51's and other US planes) I will most likely have to weasel one away from a tractor pull guy when I can
yeah the guy that had v8's in motorcycles just looked on google there may have been a Allison powered trike idk if he made it or not
I have on old hot rod mag with a photo of the Plymouth and if you google you will find the article of both the then too!
i saw art afrons run his allison GREEN MONSTER in about 1958 in kissimmi fl, he blew a tire, didn't hurt the car. have pix somwhere.
Love the top chop on the Engine Masters car. And all those pipes sticking out from under the running board has gotta scare the **** outa the compe***ion.
Jim Lytle did EVERYTHING with an Allison. http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/01/18/rip-jim-lytle-a-power-crazed-genius/
We have two early (60's ) FED rails here in New Zealand with the big engines, one is held at the Len Southward Auto Museum and the other is been restored by it's private owner for demonstration runs. Sorry I haven't any photo's but I think if you google Southward Car Museum it may have a photo.
Here's a 39 Chev. Just because you can do it, doesn't make it right! http://www.hotrodhotline.com/node/1737#.U_3V36OuQ5c http://www.hotrodhotline.com/node/1780#.U_3WVaOuQ5c
Athol Graham's City of Salt Lake streamliner. A real race car. Not a freak show. Went 340 or so before crashing, in 1960. I believe it was Walt Arfons who also ran an an Allison on the salt before going to jets and rockets.
The 39 Chev. is cool…….. One of Jim Lytles ideas that he did not carry out was to take an old panel truck and put a Toronado engine and trans in the front with an Allison in the back that could be run independently. Another he was working on was a VW Van. He also built a Trike, an Isetta and of course the Quad Al. Allisons got too expensive to use after a while for him.
I see a blank canvas maybe a little chop and something custom with the grille and a lot of louvers. also zoomies coming out of the sides of the hood so you can hear every cylinder fire
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