The Malco Gasser 1933 Willys, hood up at Engines Exposed. Photos by KMS Photography, courtesy The Henry Ford.
Automotive museum exhibits are often designed to highlight the exterior styling of vehicles on display with lighting and positioning. That might be interesting to most, but some visitors prefer a peek beneath the skin, to better understand the artwork of the engine that gives each vehicle life. Engines Exposed, a recently opened exhibit at Dearborn, Michigan’s, The Henry Ford, will indulge those of us with 10w-40 in our veins by giving museum-goers a peek beneath the hood of over 40 automobiles in the museum’s collection.
The Malco Gasser’s supercharged 427-cu.in. Ford V-8.
Despite the Ford in the museum’s name, The Henry Ford’s displays include vehicles from a wide array of manufacturers, both domestic and foreign. While not all vehicles will be presented hoods-up during the duration of the exhibit, there’s enough variety to attract automotive enthusiasts of all passions, including those with a penchant for alternative propulsion technologies. The inner workings of a steam-powered 1907 White Model G will be on display, as will the electronics that help deliver power to the motor in a 2009 Ford Focus Electric Prototype.
The 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale’s 779-cu.in. inline-eight.
Among the internal combustion automobiles featured, the Bugatti Type 41 Royale is almost certainly the most elegant. Like the rest of the car, the Bugatti’s massive (779-cu.in.) inline eight-cylinder engine, rated at 300-horsepower, is an understated work of art, displaying a mechanical simplicity absent from today’s engines.
A Tucker Model 48 prototype shows its horizontally opposed six.
Another vehicle sure to draw crowds is the 1948 Tucker, with its rear-mounted, aircraft-derived, horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine, rated at 116 horsepower and finished in a functional battleship gray with red Tucker script lettering. Preston Tucker’s original plans called for an air-cooled flat-six engine designed by Ben Parsons, but the prototype proved so problematic that Tucker instead purchased Franklin engines from Air Cooled Motors, a company which Tucker would later acquire. As the rear-mounted radiator in the Tucker on display in The Henry Ford demonstrates, the idea of air cooling was soon replaced with more conventional liquid cooling.
The classic small-block Chevy, beneath the hood of a 1956 Bel Air.
Production cars of all shapes and sizes are represented, too, including a 1936 Lincoln Zephyr (with its 267.3-cu.in. L-head V-12, rated at 110-horsepower); a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air (with the 265-cu.in. Turbo-Fire V-8, rated at 205-horsepower); a 1960 Chevrolet Corvair (with its rear-mounted, air-cooled 140-cu.in. flat-six, rated at 80 horsepower); a 1978 Dodge Omni (with its 105-cu.in. inline-four, rated at 75 horsepower); and a first-generation 2002 Toyota Prius (with its 91-cu.in. inline-four working in conjunction with an electric motor to produce a combined output of 131 horsepower).
The air-cooled flat-six beneath the hood of a 1960 Chevrolet Corvair.
No such exhibit would be complete with a selection of race cars, and The Henry Ford doesn’t disappoint. Displays include a 1933 Willys coupe, best known to drag racing fans as “Ohio George” Montgomery’s Malco Gasser, a car that delivered six national championship class wins in NHRA competition. Power comes from a decidedly non-stock supercharged 427-cu.in. Ford V-8, producing an estimated 1,200 horsepower.
Buck Baker’s 1956 Chrysler 300-B stock car.
NASCAR fans will enjoy team owner Carl Kiekhaefer’s 1956 Chrysler 300-B stock car, driven by Buck Baker on his way to a 1956 series championship. Unlike modern “stock cars,” the 354-cu.in. Chrysler V-8 used in Baker’s 300-B could be found in examples seen on the showroom floor, albeit in milder tune than the 355-horsepower full race version on display.
The 1960 Meskowski race car, driven by the legendary A.J. Foyt.
A.J. Foyt’s 1960 dirt oval racer, built by Wally Meskowski specifically for one-mile tracks, is also featured. Power comes from a Meyer and Drake-built Offenhauser inline-four, putting out a respectable 400-horsepower from its 255-cu.in. displacement. Of the 26 races that Foyt contested in the car from 1960-63, he captured victory in 13 of them.
This is not the first time The Henry Ford has lifted its hoods. Curator Matt Anderson tells us the museum ran a similar exhibit roughly five years back, also timed to coincide with Detroit’s North American International Auto Show. It proved successful in drawing in visitors, so the museum opted to re-stage the exhibit for 2015, combining perennial favorite vehicles with new acquisitions.
Engines Exposed will run through March 15. For additional details, visit TheHenryFord.org.
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