Thread: Runum!

New cars are pretty safe, unless you plan on spending a lot of time on the track I would think a roll cage is more trouble than its worth.

My friends dad bought a Z06 a couple of years ago and shipped it to Lingenfelter to get "improved'.
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Its a monster now, I think he is pushing just a bit south of 900hp out of it.

Hey guys n gals,

I've always wondered what car was the inspiration for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

I know the back story (Count Louis Zborowski's car designs), but I didn't realize that someone had actually built a car that *looked* like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Then yesterday, I came across this:

(top pic is a 1911 Mercedes Labourdette Skiff, bottom is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)

Even has a boat tail!

What do you think?

Is the similarity just a coincidence?

-Russ H.

Nice!

Mercedes did some awsome stuff!

Happy to share.

Here's another weird tie-in: The car in the Chitty movie was supposed to be a multiple Grand Prix winner, before crashing, then being heavily modified by Professor Potts.

So the engine was strong enough to win the Grand Prix.

Imagine my surprise when I found the following about the Mercedes Skiff:

Mercedes continued to use the chain drive for their new top of the line model in 1910, despite having introduced shaft drive on the small four cylinder model in 1908. The engineers probably thought the bigger engines produced too much torque for the shaft drive to handle. To deaden the sound of the noisy chains a fully enclosed oil bath was fitted on the new 37/90 hp of 1911. Driving the chains was a massive four cylinder engine, that replaced the 'six' previously used.

Designed by Paul Daimler, the new engine featured three valves per cylinder; one big intake and two smaller exhaust valves. The valves were actuated by pushrods, propelled by two lateral camshafts. Unlike previous engines, which usually consisted of multiple blocks, the new unit was a single block of four cylinders. Displacing just over 9.5 litres there was nothing subtle about Daimler's 'four'. Peak horsepower was produced at 1300 rpm and although the torque figure is not quoted, it would be safe to say it's massive!

More than anything the 37/90 hp was intended as a tourer, so it featured a comfortable chassis. Its engine's potential was displayed in the 1912 and 1914 Vanderbilt Cup, where American racing legend Ralph de Palma drove a 1908 Grand Prix car equipped with the 37/90 hp engine to victory.

For 1913 Mercedes introduced minor modifications to the engine and chassis. Power rose to 95 bhp, which resulted in a change of type indication to 37/95 hp. The front and rear track were also slightly widened. In 1914 the 37/95 was replaced by the 38/100 HP model, which was equipped with an even larger engine. With the outbreak of the First World War, production of the 38/100 HP halted, the last of the chain driven Mercedes tourers.

Featured is an early 37/90 HP model, fitted with Labourdette's trade mark wooden skiff body. It is pictured here at the 2004 Meadowbrook Concours d'Elegance.

So while the beautiful Mercedes touring body of the Skiff did not win races in the real world, the powertrain did!

-Russ H.

Can you imagine what the torque was? (tractor comes to mind)

-Russ H.

Originally Posted by Runum

WOW, 9.5 liters in 4 cylinders = Huge cylinders and pistons. Chain drive.

Thats how they did it back than. The oil bath chain is a pretty clever way to keep it quite and make the chain last longer.

Notice how advanced the engine was for 1911.

It was cast in one block for starters, it would be a few years before Packard would have enough confidence to do that. They were still casting cylinders in groups of 2 or 3 and bolting them together. Plus three valves per cylinder and two cams. Lots of power too.

Those big displacement low reving enginers were nice. They had tons of torque so you didn't have to shift often, and could loaf along.