Mormon Meteor
The Mormon Meteor, based on the Duesenberg Special was another land speed record breaker back in 1930s made by Ab Jenkins, the then-mayor of Salt Lake City and professional racing driver.
They took out the original seven-litre inline-8 and put in a Curtiss Conqueror engine. The yellow car is Mormon Meteor I, the orange-blue example was modified Mormon Meteor III capable of 171 mph (275 kph) in 1939.
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Rolls-Royce Handlye Special
‘Handlye Special’, that’s the name of the car you are watching. Google doesn’t seem to know it. It is, however based on a Rolls-Royce Phantom II chassis and the engine is from a Spitfire as it is the Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 aero power unit.
During its lifespan plenty of versions were created with a wide scale of power. All of them used forced induction, courtesy of a centrifugal supercharger.
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Mercedes-Benz T80
The T80 project was a one-off production six-wheeler created to break a speed record. It had a Daimler-Benz DB 603 inverted aero supercharged V12 from a Messerschmitt Bf 109. It ran on a mixture of methyl alcohol, benzene, ethanol, acetone, nitrobenzene, avgas ether and methanol-water.
It had a very low drag coefficient of 0.18 and an estimated top speed of 466 mph (750 kph) which was never confirmed. The 0-62 mph acceleration time was an impressive 1.32 sec.
Blastolene Special
This custom made vehicle is also referred as the ‘Tank Car’. That’s because it has an American made Continental AV1790-5B gasoline engine from a tank. It also has twin turbochargers.
It powered a 51-ton heavy tank, the car’s weight is only about 8.5% of that. Currently it is owned by Jay Leno who made several enhancements including a new electric system, brakes and gearbox including upgraded fuel injectors and turbos. Supposedly, it now has double the power and torque than it originally did.
Fiat S76
The FIAT S76 nicknamed ‘Beast of Turin’ is a performance car from very early in the previous century. Only two cars were made with one purpose, again, to break a speed record of 187 kph/116 mph.
Unofficially, they broke it, reaching 135 mph (217 kph) in 1911. The engine itself was a huge four-cylinder torque monster with peak power at less than 2,000 rpm. The air-fuel mixture was ignited by triplet of spark plugs in each cylinder.
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