It is a rare occasion to be able to get hold of something both mythical and real at the same time…especially when we are talking about racing stuff. We stumbled upon an eBay ad for one of the coolest things we have ever seen recently. This is a one-off, verified prototype single cylinder Offy engine that was a working project being crafted for a midge racing series that never came pass in the 1940s.

We don’t know if development was stopped by the war or other forces, but we do know that these guys had thrown some real money at the deal with this mostly complete prototype engine. The idea here was not to just saw up one of their four banger engines but rather cast specific and dedicated parts.

The engine is partially there by the looks of it. Obviously finishing the thing would be Herculean in scope as you’d have to make another cam, a crank, find a connecting rod and piston and then start coming up with valves and all that  componentry. This would likely be on top of all the finish machining work you’d need to do so that the block, head, and everything else was actually ready to run. Not to say someone couldn’t do it, there would just be a LOT of time and expense involved in actually finishing the engine to the point of making it run. We’d kill to hear it!

The price $8,100. If you are a collector of one-off, rare, or vintage racing engines this could be a personal holy grail. If you are someone who really wants a bad ass conversation piece, even better. There you have it!

eBay: This single cylinder Offy engine was a project for a series that never was