Tanks aren’t fast. Or at least they weren’t in the 1940’s. But they sure are cool. I mean who doesn’t love something that can run over almost anything, blow stuff all to hell, and scare almost anyone in almost any other vehicle? Yeah, we know, you want one. We do too. But even more than that, we want something to put this Panzer engine into. This air cooled V12 sounds way more bitchin than we bet it sounded like in the tank, as we assume they had mufflers on them to try and keep them at least a little bit quiet. But with straight exhaust this might be one of the sweetest sound V12 engines we’ve heard. It might have something to do with its displacement, as these are not little cylinders.
This one is a Continental AV1790 I believe, and depending on which variation it is makes anywhere from 643 to 704 horsepower and 1250-1575 lb ft of torque. It’s air cooled, has a 5.75 inch bore and a 5.75 inch stroke, and is a 90 degree V12. And the bad news is that the lightest version of this engine weighs 2300 lbs. Ouch. No wonder it can only fit in giant vehicles like Jay Leno’s Blastolene Special.
We still dig it. Watch the video, you will too.
That looks very like a Steyr motor which was also air cooled. Sidney Allard built cars with two Steyr V8s and used to hillclimb them nut its a shame he never went to Bonneville as he could have broken sone records. But he was the father of British hot rodding and drag racing and his first car ran a blown Hemi – so he can’t be all that bad!
How freaking cool is an air cooled diesel…question diesel heads…how does it run so well without a flywheel???
Because the crank weighs like 500lbs.
not only that, its also because its a v12. a v12 has a power stroke every 60 degrees of crank rotation, so before one cylinder is at the end of its power stroke the next one is starting its power stroke.
Korean war era not WWII.
The first versions of that motor were gas burners.
I’m pretty sure that General Dynamics still builds a diesel version of that motor