ProLux - 76 Chevy Caprice Cannonball Car

[zenrat]

ProLux.  76 Chevy Caprice.
Every year on the Model Car Magazine forum there is an eleven month long community build to put together the car we should use to contest the Cannonball Run across the continental US.  Some years there is a theme restricting what can be build (pre 1980, sleeper, in-line engine etc) but this year it was open.
In previous years I have thought carefully about what I would use IRL building balanced vehicles with handling, fuel capacity, stealthiness and computerised comms/navigation taken into account.
This year I thought "sod that" and put the biggest 1/25 engine I had (OK biggest apart from Allison V1710s and Napier Sabres) into a large comfortable car with lots of rubber on the road.
The car is a 1976 Chevrolet Caprice and the engine is a 762ci Sonny's Mountain Thunder motor detuned to produce a reliable 700hp and more torque than a bus full of teenage girls.
Pro Lux 12 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Pro Lux 5 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Pro Lux 14 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Pro Lux 16 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
ProLux WIP 17-11-17 02 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Pro Lux 1 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
AMT 1/25 76 Chevrolet Caprice.
AMT 1/25 70 Dodge Super Bee Pro Street Chassis.
Ross Gibson Sonny's Mountain Thunder 762ci engine.
Revell '69 Chevrolet Nova Cowl Induction scoop.
Painted with Vallejo German Orange acrylic.
Decals from my big decal folder.
The vague plan was that it was an eighties Pro Street car which had been freshened up with a new motor.
If I had to drive from sea to shining sea then I can't think of a better way to do it than in a big comfortable car with a huge donk.

[Hobbes]

That sounds like a fun GB. And I've never seen this Caprice variant 

[Mossie]

Bigger is better!

apart from Allison V1710s and Napier Sabres

Next year. 

[scooter]

(OK biggest apart from Allison V1710s and Napier Sabres)

Learn from LeMons

[PR19_Kit]

762 Cu. Ins.  

That's one SERIOUS motor! 

[zenrat]

12 Litres.  Apparently its a real thing intended for Pro Stock racing.

(OK biggest apart from Allison V1710s and Napier Sabres)

Learn from LeMons

Now thats my sort of engineering.  I have a new hero.

[Hobbes]

Damnit, I spent all of last night reading LeMons articles (and wondering what I'd enter in either a LeMons 24h or a Cannonball event).

[scooter]

12 Litres.  Apparently its a real thing intended for Pro Stock racing.

(OK biggest apart from Allison V1710s and Napier Sabres)

Learn from LeMons

Now thats my sort of engineering.  I have a new hero.

The team's next stage is mating a turbine to whatever car they're planning on destroyingentering.  I wonder if they can find a 55 Lincoln...

Damnit, I spent all of last night reading LeMons articles (and wondering what I'd enter in either a LeMons 24h or a Cannonball event).

Trabant?   I don't think LeMons has had any yet. 

[zenrat]

Next years Scale Cannonball theme is "In Line".  Any engines you like but they must be inline engines so the Allisons and Sabres are out. 
There is currently a debate going on about whether a rotary engine counts as inline (IMO yes at the rotors are all in one line).
I also maintain that a single bank radial engine is also an inline engine.  It has just had that line bent into a circle.
I am currently torn between a blower Bentley, a slant six Plymouth Fury, a hot rodded Bugatti Royale and a twin engined Dodge van.
Of course by the time it comes to start something i'll have had a flash of inspiration and decided to do something else.

[Hobbes]

There were some really big inline engines in the early 1900s: Fiat S76 (28 litre straight 4), Blitzen Benz (22 litre straight 4). Or opposed-piston engines like the Junkers Jumo 205, others: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Jumo_205#Other_notable_opposed_piston_engines

Or use a modern truck engine (the Volvo 16-litre is a good start at 750 bhp). There are also LPG conversions for several truck engines.

Perhaps the ultimate inline street engine was the 3-litre straight 8 from the Mercedes 300 SLR Coupe:



Made for 24h races, but street legal. And the 300 SLR Roadster and Coupe are available from Revell

[PR19_Kit]

Do Revell do the SLR variant, or the road going SL? I've got one of the latter somewhere.

[Hobbes]

Revell do the SLR in both coupe and racer guises.

[Mossie]

If you want something a bit smaller I've got a front wheel drive OHC 6 (Pontiac?) from the Daytona Transport Truck kit that I'm not likely to use.
http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/64874-mpc-daytona-transport-truck-2012/

[zenrat]

Thanks guys.  Food for thought.

And thanks for the offer Mossie.  I'll bear it in mind.

[PR19_Kit]

Wow, that truck looks a bit like a stretched, articulated Deora!