Does you garage have a Bentley section? Of course it doesn’t, and that’s why we defer to Jay Leno for this history lesson. However, the car on today’s episode of his show is not a real classic, it’s the a British hot rod done in the spirit of W.O.
The car started its life as a 4.5-liter race car, presumably on a 3-liter chassis. Jay’s team then put the 8-liter engine from the saloons into the tiny chassis, and then they slapped a couple of turbos on.
Of course, turbos were not available back in the day, so lots of parts had to be hand fabricated. Jay says the car now has 400 to 450 horsepower and as much as 900 lb-ft of torque. As you’d expect, that much power translates into lots of heat as well. The engine is essentially oil-cooled, and has a whole other radiator added to the underside.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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