What do you do after building the Gunbus? The Gunbus was a jumbo sized 410 cubic inch V-Twin motorcycle that looked like an impossible dream, right up until it rolled out into the sunshine in all of its mechanical magnificence. Well, if you’re Clemens Leonhardt, you build a car, a BIG car, a retro 1920s style open roadster powered by a 30 liter, 1400 horsepower V12 with a mere 1953 lb ft of torque. Sure, doesn’t everyone?
Gunbus was previously featured over on The Kneeslider and checking back with Leonhardt Manufacturing to see what the builder had been up to I saw renderings of this roadster. It’s a beast, rolling on what seem to be the same monster Rigdon tires he mounted on the Gunbus.
The engine is an air cooled Continental V12, normally found in tanks of the Korean War era, so the car needs to be appropriately sized and beefy. Clemens shouldn’t have any problem doing that, I’m sure building the Gunbus got him into the habit of seeing bigger numbers on the micrometer.
Jay Leno has a car using the same engine, very impressive, but judging from the initial renderings, I actually like the looks of the Leonhardt car a bit more, it seems more scaled up to fit the engine, where Leno’s car is stretched out to make it fit. Of course, until it’s actually built, we won’t know if the Leonhardt design works out, but after seeing him build the Gunbus, we know he’s a man that gets things done. This is a project worth following. I like the way he thinks.
Link: Leonhardt Manufacturing
Another image below and a video of the V-Twin engine at idle:
Been following the Gunbus motorcycle and noticed the car renderings the last time I was on the Leonhardt website.
I have searched for audio/video files of the bike running and/or being ridden and have not found any. Anybody got any links to share?
Russell, I don’t know if you saw the video of the V-Twin engine running at idle on his website, so I added it above at the end of the post. It seems almost surprisingly docile, however I don’t know what it sounds like when the rpms increase.
I missed this video when I was trolling the Leonhardt site, thanks for catching it and posting it. One could just about walk at the same beat that thing idles.
Thank you for all your work and improvements on this (and The Kneeslider) website. They add much entertainment and knowledge to my less productive days.
And I think I may have gotten the captcha on the first try, which would be a first for me.
Kool!! But its been done.
http://www.blastolene.com/The_Special/pages/06Sideview.htm
Mark, the car currently owned by Jay Leno, that I refer to in the post, is the Blastolene car. When Leno bought it, he rebuilt and improved it.
sorry i knew Leno had it,just could find any info on it.
its a great car!!