I know a lot of you guys are into vintage racecars, so I figured I'd post up some progress photos from the Marmon Wasp build here at Honest Charley Garage. The car belongs to Corky Coker, and we first build it in 2009 with a Ford inline six engine, late model rear end, etc. The car was pretty cool-looking because we left it in bare metal, but it was no where near authentic with all of the late model parts. So before the 100th Anniversary of the Indy 500, Corky decided to get serious and put a T-head engine in it, just like the original Marmon Wasp. The car is now finished and it made the trip up to Indy a couple weeks ago, where Richard Ray Harroun (son of inaugural Indy 500 winner, Ray Harroun) hung out with Corky, sat in the car and signed the cowl. We do***ented the build closely, with pictures and video. Here are our pictures from the build, all the way from the bare-metal configuration, to the first drive around the block and the finished photo shoot. Big fire truck....this seems irrelevant but this thing had a big T-head six-cylinder, very similar to the engine that powered the Marmon Wasp. The original Wasp engine was a custom piece, so the fire truck engine is the next best thing. With the engine plucked out the truck, we could start dis***embling our Marmon Wasp replica. The frame would need lots of reinforcement to withstand the heavier power plant. Here's the old inline six Ford engine. Not too appealing... Twin ignition systems send fire to the combustion chambers. Thick steel plate was used to box the frame rails, and provide a mounting point for the m***ive T-head engine. Frame is up on the table, squared up and welded into place. Transaxle from the fire truck. This originally had an out shaft with a sprocket on the end of it, for the truck's chain drive system. We welded axle tubes to the transaxle and had a custom pair of axles made. Engine mock up, while the ch***is is still on the table. A little bit of studying on the brake drums, hubs and wheels. This stuff is all scratch-built. J.D. Scott at Coker made the 25-inch wheels, as well as the hubs and drums. More welding. Lots and lots of welding.
Grinding welds to get the ch***is ready for paint. Rear end is hung... The big T-head engine wears a matching paint job to the original Marmon Wasp engine. Epoxy primer on the cowl, getting ready for some bright yellow paint! It's yellow! Flattening agent is used to give the body panels the right amount of sheen. Shocks are being mocked up. More ch***is prep before it gets cut off of the table and rolled over to the body shop. Paint is cured on the majority of the body panels. We have lots of striping and lettering ahead of us...
I am so happy to see this car completed as near to orignial. The history is really cool. Its to bad the money ran out before the movie for the 100TH Anniversay of the Indy 500 could be made. Some of us would like a youtube of this car diving when its finished.
Wow it's come a long way since I saw it in August 2009 - I love the direction it is going in, closer to the original. Thanks for posting the updates.
Frame is back from paint.... Front suspension goodies Hal hanging the rear end Corky gettin' after it... Hal getting the front suspension together. Mounting the front engine crossmember. The engine is going in for good. Richard, Zane and Hal staring at the engine....in amazement. Carb... Big shiny intake. Good stuff... The driveline is tricky but Hal got it figured out pretty quickly. Custom flanges allow for the use of a standard driveshaft.
This is so cool. Thanks for sharing all of it. The top half of the finished engine, is that porcenalized (sp?) or painted? I really like the soft lime green hue it has. An specs or explanation about the T head, that is wild!
We're glad to share the photos of the buildup. It's an awesome piece, and we like showing it off! The top half of the engine is just paint...we color-matched it to the original Marmon Wasp. We have thousands of reference photos from the original Wasp and had access to it a couple years ago to match all of the specific colors. The T-head used in this car is a little different than the original Marmon Wasp engine. I don't have the specs handy, but it's in the neighborhood of 500ci. From what we've researched it probably makes about 40hp....that's not a typo, hah. It has a super long stroke, giving it LOTS of torque.
Wheels are installed, wheel covers are also installed. Steering setup. Like all cars from this era, the steering box sits on what we would consider the "p***enger side" of the car. Since this car was a center seat, they needed a way to transfer input from the steering wheel to the steering box...this is what they came up with in 1910. Underside of the engine. That's a big oil pan! On the lift during re-***embly. A little bit of persuasion was needed to make the pitman arm match the original specs. Zane spent lots of time striping on the body panels. All beads are hand-painted black, then a red pinstripe will be added. Hal putting the finishing touches on the engine. Routing plug wires, and setting up the ignition. One Shot...lots of it. Lots of it... Richard heating up the fire truck's water neck to give it the right arch. The piping is composed of br*** and copper, and Richard filled the tubing with sand to soak up some of the heat and keep the tubing from kinking. One of the few updates...a fuel cell and electric fuel pump. Don't hate. Two fairly modern coils...
Yes, it was the original Wasp on the pace lap at Indy. Corky's Marmon Wasp was on hand at Indy, but not included in the starting festivities.
Water piping polished and installed. Oh boy...fire in the hole! Problem was quickly resolved--Hal and Delton are ready to fire it up. This is one ornery engine...snarling, popping and cracking. Yes, we got this on video. Greg making sparks...this is the log-style exhaust manifold in process. Getting closer... Good stuff right here--Corky getting acclimated with the car, about to make the first trip around the block. Corky has driven this car before, but with the new engine and driveline, it's like a whole new car! Corky doesn't mind showing off for the camera... Rounding the corner...for this to be the car's second trip around the block, he sure didn't cut it any slack...it was fun to watch. Here's Hal taking it for a spin.
Exhaust manifold almost complete. Hood sides are on, so we can figure out the placement on the short pipes exiting from the log manifold. Tail piece is on...Greg takes it around the block! Hood and hood sides installed...our paint didn't last long on the exhaust. Floor pan, firewall installation. In case you didn't notice we drove it without a floor pan...it was dangerous. Finishing touches... Custom-milled hub covers, skinned up to look like the original. Grille numbers are done...we're getting close! The wild-looking tail piece features a vertical flag, which wore the number 32. Shifter and brake handles are finished and painted. Our video guy, Jason White made the shift knob...pretty cool. Belly pan fabrication. Don't worry...we intentionally made this piece dented and rough-looking. The original belly pan was beat up pretty bad. Unfortunately we didn't get the belly pan on in time for the finished photo shoot, which you'll see shortly. Last minute upholstery job... All together, and ready for the photo shoot.
Richard Ray Harroun behind the wheel of Corky Coker's Marmon Wasp at the 100th Anniversary of the Indy 500. It probably caused some head-scratching because it's so close to the original car, but Corky was there to explain that it was an exact replica of the original car....down to the tires, which were specifically designed for the restoration of this car. Firestone 34x4-1/2.
Well, we took a break on the car after getting it running the first time. So actual work time, we probably have less than 3 months in it total. Frame and body is scratch built. Wheels, hubs, wheel covers are also scratch built. All of the photos I've shown in this thread were taken in a three-week span...the day of the photo shoot was the day before it left for Indy...
Excellent work. I very much enjoyed the thread! Great photography, too. Do you have any performance specs and how do they compare to the original?
Here is a time lapse of the engine swap/rebuild. We'll have more videos later! <object width="674" height="356" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://videos.cokertire.com/player_flv_multi.swf"><param name="movie" value="http://videos.cokertire.com/player_flv_multi.swf" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="FlashVars" value="flv=http://videos.cokertire.com/upload/video_files/1306518721.flv&startimage=http://videos.cokertire.com/upload/video_images/110527-marmon-thumb.jpg&showfullscreen=1&showstop=1&showvolume=1&showtime=1&bgcolor1=000000&bgcolor2=000000&playercolor=00000" /></object> YES, our fork lift has a leak...we didn't notice until looking at the time lapse in motion.
Like everyone else I am impressed. Can you please tell us more about those tires. Are they speed rated or just a special one time deal that Corky had made up. A fellow could build a whole Bonneville style car around those things. Very neat looking.
The tires are not a one-time deal, although I'm sure they have a fairly limited production run, compared to other tires. I'm not sure about a speed rating, but these tires are designed similar to that of Coker's Firestone line of tires. Coker restores original molds to use for tires of this nature--if the molds are not salvageable, Coker builds new molds based off of Firestone's original drawings. These are exact replications of the tires used at Indy in 1911, down to the lettering and specs on the sidewall.
That is way too cool! That must have been a hoot to take it out and drive it! I would love to have a shop like that too.
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