If there’s an era of racing that we have fallen more and more in love with over the last few years it’s definitely the stuff that happened from about 1900 through 1920. This was the era where speed records were set all over the world in massive cars that were powered by impossibly huge engines. While technological marvels of their time, we can look at them now and see that they’re barely more advanced than farm tractors and yet brave men drove them to speeds that people then believed no human could survive. Cars like the Blitzen Benz, the Green Dragon, and others have historical importance. Ironically the car you are about to see in the video below does not. Huh? Yes, this 1905 Fiat Isotta race car was dreamed up by Fiat engineers but the machine was never completed during that time frame. Once the plans were unearthed and people started seeing them an Englishmen named Mike Vardy become obsessed with the idea of building the car…and he did.

The result of years of labor and amazing craftsmanship, Vardy now has something that was never actually built when it was intended to. More than 110 years after the fact, the vision of Fiat engineers is blasting its way around British roads with Vardy at the wheel and his better half at his side. Hey, someone has to keep the fuel tank pressurized and enjoy the madness that this car exudes.

The engine is a massive 16.5L piece that was intended to be used in an airship. Others of its type were. Apparently adding another layer of awesome to the story, Vardy purchased an engine that had been part of the estate of Gar Wood, one of the great early pioneers of American speed on the tarmac and in the water. History abounds with this car and to see it running and driving in this video is spectacular.

There are few cars that we’d literally travel the world to ride in. This is one of them. Watch a great video on the monstrous machine here!

Press play below to see this monster cruising the English streets! We LOVE it!