Mustang Power, the 1953 Cramer Comet

[Intrepidation]

There are hot rods, there are hot rods, and then there's "Um... what is that?" Tom Cramer, an ex-GI and mechanic in Omaha says, "I wanted to see what would happen if you put a really high powered engine in a chassis." Sound familiar? That was in 1953. So he found a fresh 12-cylinder 1,710-cubic-inch Allison airplane engine that produces 1,350-hp/1,500 ft-lb and got to work.

The body of the Cramer Comet was Frankensteined from De Sotos, Dodges, Oldsmobiles, Buicks, Studebakers, Cadillacs, Lincolns, and Fords. Part of the tubular chassis is made up of four-inch refrigerator tubing filled with coolant that runs to a rear-mounted radiator. The engine is mounted in reverse and is heavily insulated -- it gets hot in there. Power is sent through a drive shaft mounted between two truck universals and on to a four-speed transmission. The top speed is said to be 160 MPH, which is low for so much power, but probably sensible considering it's hand built.

Check out that center console. To start the car, the driver (pilot?) sets the throttle quadrant to ten-percent, cranks the fuel mixture to full rich, turns the spark lever to retard, flips the master switch, turns the magnetos on, turns the fuel boost and primer switches on, flips the starter control first to energize and then to on. And then it's time to fly, hopefully not in the literal sense.

Tom didn't get rid of the car until 1991 and it's now up for auction for the first time at this year's Sport & Classics of Monterey held by RM Auctions August 15 and 16. It's expected to fetch up to $300,000. Even if you don't plan to buy, you should check out the gallery of high-res photos below for evidence of how powerful elbow grease is.

Source: Autoblog

[Intrepidation]

I have no idea where to put this thread, but if there's a better place for it feel free to move it.

[Sixty8panther]

I feel like it's Sept. 1993 again when I first looked upon that blonde-haired

curvaceous-soccer-player-build, blue eyed, drop dead gorgeous faced girl

at my bus stop that I had a crush on for all four years of highschool.

That is an amazing machine.

* I am NOT worthy *

[Intrepidation]

Indeed, putting an engine from one of the greatest planes in history and building a running, driving car around it is just amazing.

[balthazar]

Well, it's been done before, and more than once (Alison V-12 in a custom car). IIRC, the Quad A1 had FOUR.

Design is an OBVIOUS take-off (yet another in a long list) of the infinitely-inspirational '51 GM LeSabre.

Car above, visually, does nothing for me.

Edited August 7, 2008 by balthazar

[Sixty8panther]

True it is a not-so sexy knockoff of Harley Earl's jet-inspired LeSabre

and there's m,uch to nitpick but I LOVE the fact that it was built using

guts, blood, sweat & a hearty amount of imagination!

I'd love to put together my own dream car.... have a sketch of a '30s

art-deco V16 Cadillac boat tail fastback that I dreamed up one day...

maybe if |I win the powerball....

[balthazar]

One of the last all-the-marbles period at Cadillac was the early-mid '60s, when the Division toyed with reintroducing the V-16 (they built 5 running protoype engines, too). One of the most interesting sketches from that period is a long, low 2-seat roadster with 16 induction pipes poking discretely thru the hood, with a pointed boattail-esque rear, tho there were also numerous razor-edges ala the '67 'E'. I first saw it years and years ago and have always liked it.

Here it is, the Cyclone!

Edited August 8, 2008 by balthazar

[Robert Hall]

One of the last all-the-marbles period at Cadillac was the early-mid '60s, when the Division toyed with reintroducing the V-16 (they built 5 running protoype engines, too). One of the most interesting sketches from that period is a long, low 2-seat roadster with 16 induction pipes poking discretely thru the hood, with a pointed boattail-esque rear, tho there were also numerous razor-edges ala the '67 'E'. I first saw it years and years ago and have always liked it.

That's pretty cool... I'll have to look for it, but I recall seeing a pic of a prototype of a coupe with a stockish '64 de Ville front end and a really long hood... probably in a reference book

on Caddys with a lot of B&W photos.

Edited August 7, 2008 by moltar

[Intrepidation]

One of the last all-the-marbles period at Cadillac was the early-mid '60s, when the Division toyed with reintroducing the V-16 (they built 5 running protoype engines, too). One of the most interesting sketches from that period is a long, low 2-seat roadster with 16 induction pipes poking discretely thru the hood, with a pointed boattail-esque rear, tho there were also numerous razor-edges ala the '67 'E'. I first saw it years and years ago and have always liked it.

Here it is!

That is hot

[balthazar]

Here's the '63 you referred to, moltie, an altered production car with a fastback roofline :

Here's a ground-up concept V-16 I always liked :

A few more pics 'n the story HERE

[Robert Hall]

Here's the '63 you referred to, moltie, an altered production car with a fastback roofline :

Yes..that's it...I wonder if either of those concepts still exist...would love to see them in a museum.

[balthazar]

I doubt it - you do see that they're models, right?

[Robert Hall]

I doubt it - you do see that they're models, right?

Ah..interesting. Maybe I'll build my own V16 Caddy concept in 1:25th...I have a lot of Cadillac models in my collection.