Engine Puzzle #325 - 1929 STUDEBAKER President 8 ‘Brooklands Sports Tourer’

[Otto Puzzell]

For one point: Identify this engine, and the car it powers

Only a complete and specific answer will earn a point!  

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[Otto Puzzell]

Up

[sixtee5cuda]

American engine?

[Otto Puzzell]

The basic engine is from the US

[sixtee5cuda]

Packard engine?

[Otto Puzzell]

No sir

[RayTheRat]

Pontiac?

[Otto Puzzell]

No sir

[Zerk]

Hudson 8, powering a Railton?

[Otto Puzzell]

Hudson 8, powering a Railton?

Nope

[RayTheRat]

Studebaker "junk formula" Indy?

[Otto Puzzell]

Studebaker "junk formula" Indy

[RayTheRat]

Stude twin carb straight 8 in Virgil Exner's "sports car" built in the late 40s (or 1941 as claimed by some sources)?

[Otto Puzzell]

Stude twin carb straight 8 in Virgil Exner's "sports car" built in the late 40s (or 1941 as claimed by some sources)?

No Exner sports car connection here.

[Otto Puzzell]

Up it goes

[RayTheRat]

Since I haven't made it to bed yet (physical problems) I'll ask if this motor is in a hot rod.  The quad SUs and the 8 header pipes sorta indicate that.

[Otto Puzzell]

Not a hot rod in the usual sense, but certainly hotter than a factory-standard car.

[Tackitt]

It was a street car then. Not a hot rod, right?

[RayTheRat]

Hmmm...is it a Stude motor in a same-year Studebaker?

[Tom_I]

This is a 5.5 litre straight eight side-valve engine from a 1929 Studebaker President 8 which has been restored in Australia in the style of a "Brooklands Sports Tourer".

Apparently in 1929 two (or possibly more) Studebaker President chassis were imported into the UK with the intention of racing them at the Brooklands circuit. Exhausts, suspension and fuel tanks were modified, and they were fitted with open four-seat fabric touring bodies with cycle wings and aero screens (plus fold-down windscreen). They were privately entered for the Brooklands "Double Twelve", a 24-hour race held during daylight hours on two consecutive days (overnight racing had been banned at Brooklands for many years due to objections from local residents). The cars finished first and second in their class (5 to 8 litre engines), but because of the handicapping formula were placed ninth and nineteenth overall.

None of the original cars have survived, but John Grant in Australia has restored the car shown below to the design of the Brooklands cars. I'm not sure that they would have had the quad SUs, though. One of the original cars is also shown below.

[Otto Puzzell]

Very good