The History of the Rolls Royce Hurricane

Unbelivable, an engine with 27 liters cubic capacity - as much as 35 Smart- or three Bugatti engines.

As soon as the 12 huge pistons start to move, it sounds like thunder and the ground start to vibrate. A monster engine which needs about 480 Liters of fuel per hour and nobody knows the consumption per 100 kilometers, since the Big Block is an early version of the legendary Merlin engine, which was used in the British interceptors during the Second World War.

More than 160,000 of these aircraft engines were built, one of them was used for the Rolls Royce Hurricane. Rolls-Royce has confirmed, that this chassis was ordered as a unique order. But who the customer was at the time is Rolls-Royce's trade secret. The job map only revealed, that the chassis was sold for 1'900 british pounds and was delivered to a coachbuilder named Barker. It was common at that time, that manufacturers often built only the frame with chassis and engine and left the bodywork to a blacksmith. Barker conjured a work of art with a kind of wasp rear, similar to the american-Duesenberg models from that period. Perhaps even the Hurricane lined up against them, in these days.

One day, the Hurricane was sold to the U.S. and was forgotten until 1970 when a car lover from Switzerland discovered the wreck and brought it back to Europe.

Years later, Elsasser and Stoop got in contact with the collector and convinced him to sell the boxes full of spare parts for a few thousand francs. From that moment, the story of the Rolls Royce Hurricane is continued and the guys started their rehabilitation program with the restoration of the chassis and the engine, exhaust and outer hull.

After more than 1'500 working hours and the help of sponsors, the Hurricane will have it's revival and will again participate in oldtimer- and classic races around Europe.