We’re in catch up mode after the weekend’s wild live broadcast of the PSCA Street Car Supernationals so forgive us for being a day late on testing your gearhead knowledge! Anyway, the answer to the final challenge of last week was a Crosley engine according to the guys at Valley Head Service in Northridge, California. We can count on one hand the number of restored Crosleys we have ever seen. On the other end of the spectrum, we have seen quite a few made into outlandish pro street style cars that are more cartoonish looking than anything else. Semi-life sized Hot Wheels essentially.
Gino Ofria at Valley Head Service really wanted to throw the gauntlet down with today’s challenge so he sent two photos along. These he had to dig out of the archive and scan in because they pre-date digital photography and the engine predates virtually everything we’ve ever seen. Whoever can guess this one correctly is getting a t-shirt. (BTW – PeteP we emailed you for info on the shirt you won on our last give away but have not heard back — hit me up [email protected])
Take a look below, install your thinking cap tightly and spool up your mental turbo to identify this old and weird engine!
It’s a Hispano-Suiza engine from Snoopy’s Sopwith Camel, right?
I wear size large and prefer the original design in black.
On the Crosley engine from the last challenge, do you have any more information on it? My initial thought when I saw it was Crosley, but when I started doing some searching I couldn’t find any Crosley engines that were cast-iron flathead designs. All of the engines that I could find were overhead cam designs, earlier engines were fabricated sheetmetal blocks where the later engines were cast-iron blocks. Maybe this is a very early design?
I looked at the Crosley engine family tree here;
http://crosleyautoclub.com/EngineTree/Crosley_Eng_Tree-1.html
There is nothing close to the engine pictured in the gearhead challenge.
I still say that it is a Plymouth and submit into evidence this photo of a ’34 Plymouth four from Allpar.com
http://www.allpar.com/mopar/flat.html
I counter gearhead challenge Valley Head Service to find out what they really have in their shop and let us know!
That’s the same information I found on the Crosley. The only thing that resembled a Crosley was the shape of the ports, from there on there are no similarities at all. I think Rob is on the right track with the Mopar.
Boat,truck, tractor , statoinary ? BIG flyweel
Not a plane motor or a car motor
but it looks like a deisel ?????
1913 L45 Peugeot.
I don’t have even a good guess for this one. Something about the looks of it says ’20’s or 30’s vintage marine engine. A really big four cylinder with what looks to be an aluminum crankcase.
As for who made it… Universal? Gray? Thornycroft? Hall-Scott?
Ya got me.
Keck-Gonnerman steam powered thresher
I’m guessing some form of stationary engine for a WWI or interwar era smaller ship, like a donkey engine on a winch or something. I say smaller ship since they are less likely to have a steam supply. Huge flywheel for lots of stored energy and smoothing out the 4cyl 180º bang seperation. Can’t be high RPM with the cross drilled conrods and what looks like a 12in stroke. Reason I say ship is the aluminum crank case, weight does matter on ships, espeically the higher you get above the waterline.