Words: Tommy Parry
Elvis Davis has a specific taste in hot rods. His shop, Rod Bods Down Under, specializes in Model As, and Elvis likes to describe his cars as unique. This particular car, which sports an odd GMC V12, could not be described as anything but.
The 702ci GMC V12 Twin Six is a strange combination of two V6s fused at the crankshaft, with four V6 cylinder heads nailed on. It’s not a light motor, either, weighing in at 1,485 pounds dry. In fact, Elvis needed his forklift to place the engine in! To support all that weight, the chassis was center-boxed with a 4mm plate. The motor outputs only 250 horsepower, but is more than capable of knocking down cement walls with its 630 lb/ft of torque at only 1,600 rpm – which, driven through a Turbo 400, should come in handy moving the 3,800-pound beauty.
Though that sort of power could be used for farm equipment, it powers a fiberglass, three-window ‘32 Ford Coupe, which sits on a ‘32 chassis. In fact, there’s nothing industrial about this machine; it’s a total looker. The door handles and exposed hinges are all chromed, and the body is doused in a thick coat of DeBeers Wine Red paint, which graces the wheels wrapped in whitewall tires. The interior is all trimmed in black leather over the late model BMW seats and the roof, and a spiffy Lokar shifter acts as the final accent piece.
It’s the engine which dominates the picture, naturally. The length of the GMC V12 forced Elvis to extend the chassis to fit it in. It’s not a fire-breather, as it used to power full-sized trucks back in the sixties. However, Elvis balanced and rebuilt the motor, and then changed the stock fuel pump for a Moroso external pump that allows him to raise the rev limit from 2,400 rpm to 4,500 rpm. After popping on a set of Holley two-barrel carbs and bolting on some custom headers, that V12 sounds more P-51 Mustang than industrial equipment.
With the modifications in place and the rev limit raised, the engine puts out about 300 horsepower. Because some of the internals are so rare, the engine is run quite rich, since finding a piston is nigh-impossible these days; they were officially discontinued a decade ago.
Though the conservative mixture makes for a little heat dispersion, the massive motor still needs substantial cooling. In order for one of the largest custom radiators built by Aussie Desert Coolers to keep the monstrous mill cool, it needs a small swimming pool’s worth of water. It’s over the top, of course, but it deserves to be.
