Puzzle #915 - Solved! 1919 LaFrance Speedster La Bestioni

[Otto Puzzell]

1919 LaFrance Speedster La Bestioni
Photo credit: http://www.tomstrongman.com

Know what it is?

Please, respond below and let us know the make and model designation of the car posted here.

If you haven't registered yet, you need to do so in order to reply with your answer.  You can do so by clicking here.

Also, please be sure to check out our other puzzles, and, please post a puzzle of your own if you'd like - the more, the merrier.

Thanks!

[Otto Puzzell]

[Allan L]

Probably an American LaFrance Fire Engine that's seen happier days. . . .

[Otto Puzzell]

It looks pretty happy here, if you ask me...

[Otto Puzzell]

moved.

[Arunas]

moved.

:-D I know were to find what is this car.. But this will take much time :-(

[Arunas]

moved.

Let me guess: 1915 Van Blerck 17-Liter Spartan ? 

[Allan L]

I think this is rather nicer than that - we had that one before http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=3386.0

[Otto Puzzell]

Let me guess: 1915 Van Blerck 17-Liter Spartan ? 

No, but you're on the right track.

[grobmotorix]

Like "Brutus" of the Sinsheim Museum (47 litre BMW airplane-motor) or the "Funkenblitz" this looks like a piece of patchwork, made of mostly original components. maybe another creation of a (swiss) automobile museum/collection?

Or is it original as we see it now?

[Otto Puzzell]

This is a rework of a production automobile, done relatively recently, in the spirit of the era from which the car originated.

[Paul Jaray]

1919 LaFrance Speedster "La Bestioni" 
Story by Tom Strongman   
ST. LOUIS — Mark Hyman's 1919 LaFrance Speedster, or La Bestioni, spits, belches and rumbles to life as if a medieval spirit were awakening from a long slumber. In a way, it is.

This open-wheeled monster was the brainchild of Californian Gary Wales. He wanted to create a vehicle that paid homage to two of the monstrous, heroic racers from the early 1900s, the Mercedes-Benz Blitzen Benz and Fiat's Beast of Turin. Both set speed records.

In 1910, the Beast of Turin, with a 28-liter, four-cylinder engine borrowed from a dirigible, was clocked at 145 miles per hour. That, Wales said with a laugh, was at a time when "people thought your face would blow off at any speed higher than 70 mph." The Beast of Turin's engine was more than nine times larger than the V-6 in a Honda Accord, and its cylinders were so large, Wales said, a man could stick his head in one. When it drove down the road, he said, flames shot 10 feet out of the exhaust and people ran for cover.

Wales started with the frame and 14-liter engine of a LaFrance firetruck and added a handmade, aluminum body that is 18 feet long and more than 6 feet tall. Six Harley-Davidson carburetors feed the six-cylinder engine, and three exhaust pipes the size of downspouts dump their raw sound in front of the driver.

However, La Bestioni is not just a visual caricature. It is a real, drivable machine. It has power steering, power brakes and a four-speed manual transmission. Two large sprockets with chain drive turn a Ford differential.

Wales recounts how he came up with the name. His friend asked a waitress at an Italian restaurant how to spell beast in Italian. "La Bestioni," she said, giving it a feminine gender.

La Bestioni may look like a tough old gal, but Wales called it his "Starbucks Racer" because it was so civilized. "I drove it to get coffee every day," he said, "and people loved it."

Hyman, owner of Hyman Ltd. Classic Cars in St. Louis, recently took ownership of this amazing machine. It is for sale for $225,000.

[Allemano]

I'm truly not a fan of pre-war cars, but that is an awesome car! Love the amply 'gothic' style esp. of the mascot.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/demo/#url=http://sportandracing.blogspot.com/2007/10/la-bestioni-666.html

[grobmotorix]

Wow, I´ve never heard of thuis beast, but my first guess was not this far away from the truth.

I had the pleasure to shoot this unique monster recently:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62675811@N00/