21 classic cars with aeronautical links

Flying high

Plenty of cars take their names from aircraft, but the ones here have a more direct link to the aeronautical world.

Whether it’s a designer with an aviation background, an engine borrowed from an aircraft, or donating a car engine to a plane, all the classic cars in this list have links to flying machines.

So enjoy our selection of classic cars with aeronautical connections, presented in alphabetical order.

1. The Beast

There have been many aero-engined cars, but few have caused as much of a stir as The Beast.

It was originally created by Paul Jameson in 1966 using a Rolls-Royce Meteor engine from a Centurion tank.

The huge car then passed to John Dodd in chassis form and he completed it before a fire badly damaged it in 1975, which was when it gained an aero version of the 27-litre Meteor engine from a Boulton Paul aircraft.

Various outlandish claims were made about The Beast, including a top speed of 200mph. It was tested by the RAC at 183mph.

However, The Beast and John Dodd became most famous for their court case with Rolls-Royce, which took exception to its grille being used on the car.

Rolls-Royce won, Dodd refused to alter the car initially and escaped to Spain to avoid a jail sentence for not complying.

2. Bristol 400

At its launch in 1947, few cars had ever been styled with such direct influence from the aero industry as the Bristol 400.

This sleek coupé didn’t just make nods to aircraft design, a wind tunnel had been used to make it as smooth and aerodynamically efficient as possible.

This isn’t a surprise given Bristol was a successful aeroplane manufacturer and it applied this thinking to how the 400 was constructed, too, with superb attention to detail.

Another link with aircraft is the factory where the 400 was built – it was established at Filton Aerodrome where Bristol had started, building its first planes in 1910.

3. Chevrolet Corvair

The Chevrolet Corvair was the company’s radical response to the number of cars being imported to the US from Europe, yet another extreme use for the model lay ahead.

Launched in 1959, it only took until 1960 for aircraft designers to realise the potential of the Corvair’s flat-six engine.

The appeal of the Corvair’s engine was reliable power, because aero engines run at lower but more constant speeds than in cars.

When the Corvair could produce as much as 180bhp at high rpm, 60% of maximum power was more than enough for an aircraft at 3400rpm.

The engine has become a staple of experimental aircraft and bespoke aero versions remain available.

4. Chevrolet Corvette

“Stick a V8 in it,” has been used as the reason to fit Chevrolet’s ubiquitous LS motor into all manner of vehicles, so why not an aeroplane?

That was the thinking of Canadian Brian Robinson, who realised the LS1 V8 from the Corvette C4 was ideal for his Seabee planes.

In this application, the converted engine makes 320bhp, while an LS6 version delivers 350bhp.

These engines have been flown at heights up to 10,000ft (3050m) and in temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celsius.

The Seabee is no longer in production but remains a very popular aircraft with pilots who want to take off from land and water.

5. Chrysler Turbine car  

Chrysler first started work on a turbine engine for cars in the 1930s. The appeal was a turbine has fewer moving parts than an internal-combustion engine and can run on almost any fuel.

However, poor economy had all but consigned the idea to the bin when the company was given a contract to develop just such an engine by the Bureau of Aeronautics of the US Navy.

The company worked hard on the design, but the contract was terminated in 1949, leaving Chrysler with a plan to use the engine in a car.

It was first tested in a 1954 Belvedere, but it’s the 1963 Turbine Car that was the real beneficiary.

A total of 55 Turbine Cars were built, but the company reclaimed most and crushed them, leaving only nine in existence.

6. Citroën 2CV

Citroën engines have powered several aircraft, including its own RE-2 helicopter with the GS Birotor’s Wankel engine.

A less likely aeronautical connection comes from the 2CV, which donated its 602cc flat-twin engine to the Thunder Chief.

Thunder Chief was a US-based engine supplier that spotted the Citroën engine was ideal for light sport aircraft and could be tuned to give 30 or 40bhp, depending on application.

Its fuel economy was another benefit, and the motor was fitted with a reduction gear to give the right propeller speed.

7. Fiat Mephistopheles

This huge Fiat racing car had an undistinguished career before the First World War and only came to prominence when Ernest Eldridge took it on in 1921.

He fitted a Maybach airship engine to begin with, but the performance was not what Eldridge had hoped for and he swapped this for a 21.7-litre Fiat aero engine with 260bhp – that was improved to 300bhp with Eldridge’s modifications.

In this form, Mephistopheles started to win races and set records, culminating in a new Land Speed Record of 145.89mph in 1924. This was the fastest ever Land Speed Record set on a public road.

8. Leyat Hélica

Few cars wear their aeronautical connections quite as boldly as the Leyat Hélica.

It’s impossible to miss the large propeller at the front that provides the drive in this ‘plane without wings’.

Even the passengers sit in tandem, as they would in a contemporary small aircraft when the Hélica was built in 1921.

Using aircraft ideas, company founder Marcel Leyat managed to get a top speed of 100mph from his unusual car, even with a modest 18bhp engine. It could also provide 48mpg economy thanks to its light weight.

However, only 30 Hélicas were made and 23 sold, because the car was simply too impractical and dangerous with the propeller whirring away in the driver’s line of sight.

9. Leyland-Thomas

The Leyland-Thomas special that set a Land Speed Record of 172.09mph in 1926 is better known as ‘Babs’.

It started out as one of Count Zborowski’s aero-engined Chitty Bang Bang line of cars but was renamed when JG Parry-Thomas bought it in 1924.

The 27,059cc Liberty aero engine was attached to a Benz gearbox and the cylinder heads of the huge V12 motor required substantial cowls on the bonnet.

After being buried at Pendine Sands in Wales following Parry-Thomas’ death while driving the car there in 1927, it was recovered in 1967 and restored.

10. Lotus 56

Colin Chapman’s entire career was spent innovating and finding unusual solutions, and his Lotus 56 racing car was one of his more left-field ideas.

It was derived from the previous year’s STP-Paxton Turbocar and developed to race at the Indianapolis 500 in 1968.

It used a Pratt & Whitney turbine engine designed to be used with turboprop aircraft. However, the race car used and ST6 version meant for stationary applications.

The Lotus proved quick and Joe Leonard was leading the race with only eight laps remaining when the fuel pump failed.

Ironically, this turbine engine went on to enjoy a reputation for superb reliability in many aircraft.

The 56 also ran in some Formula One races in 1971 where it was quick in the wet, but mediocre in dry conditions.

11. Mazda RX-7

The rotary engine is a defining feature of the RX-7 and the 13B twin-rotor motor remained in production until 1992.

The same light, powerful traits that made it ideal for Mazda’s sports car also proved perfect for use in aircraft, especially in turbocharged form with up to 200bhp.

Due to the design of the 13B engine, it’s ideal for use in aeroplanes because it can rev at a low rate to suit a propeller, and give good economy and durability.

This engine has been used by aircraft builders since the 1980s and has recently seen a resurgence in popularity.

12. Messerschmitt KR175

Prevented from building aircraft in the immediate post-Second World War period, Messerschmitt turned its attention to economy cars.

The result was the KR175 styled by Fritz Fend, who was an aircraft designer by training.

The 1952 KR175 was followed by the KR200 in 1955, with a larger canopy and curved glass windscreen.

This domed roof was not surplus from the war production but made specifically for the KR models.

However, the design of the KR’s steering bar was influenced by aircraft, because it helped maximise space in the cramped cabin.

13. Napier-Railton

This famous racing and record-setting car takes its name from Reid Railton who designed it and the Napier Lion aero engine powering it.

John Cobb commissioned the car especially to use at Brooklands, so the 24-litre W12 engine was ideally suited to the task, despite its enormous size.

It was enough to give the Napier-Railton a top speed of around 170mph, and it set the fastest ever Outer Circuit lap at Brooklands of 143.44mph in 1935.

After the war, the car also appeared in a film and as a parachute-test vehicle, before returning to Brooklands as a permanent exhibit.

14. Nissan 300ZX

Nissan’s VG30 3-litre V6 engine has seen service in a wide selection of the company’s cars, notably the 300ZX.

Its design also made it ideal for Dick Rutan’s competition aeroplanes for the Reno Air Races.

In 1988, he asked John Knepp for a compact, powerful motor and Knepp suggested the Nissan engine that had been performing so well in sports-car racing at the time.

Turning a racing-car motor into an air-race engine with 1000bhp from 3.2 litres took some doing, but it was ready in time for the 1991 Reno Air Races where it qualified in the 400mph Silver Class – this was enough to claim second place in this category.

15. Porsche 911

Porsche had already built a version of its four-cylinder 356 engine for aviation use, but it set up a dedicated company called PFM (Porsche Flugmotoren) in 1981 to develop the 911’s air-cooled flat-six for the same purpose.

The 3.2-litre engine was the basis, and there was a normally aspirated c210bhp unit and a c240bhp turbo version.

Called the PFM 3200, the engine was quickly taken up by several aircraft manufacturers, notably Mooney.

However, Porsche ended production of the engine in 1991 due to the cost of developing the motor and limited sales.

16. Rover JET1

Rover investigated many engineering avenues alongside its main car production and this included looking at turbine engines for its automotive offerings.

The car maker had been earmarked as the main producer of a new Whittle jet engine for aircraft, but that stopped when the Second World War ended. Undeterred, Rover used this knowledge to create the JET1.

Tests were promising with JET1 and it set a top speed of 152mph, a record for a turbine car in 1952.

However, fuel economy was poor and throttle lag made it hard to drive smoothly.

This did not put Rover off, though, and the subsequent Rover-BRM competed at the 1963 and 1965 Le Mans 24-hour races.

17. Saab 92

With a name like Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget, or Saab for short, any car from this company was bound to have an aeronautical influence.

Having built combat aircraft in the run up to the Second World War, Saab turned to more peaceful production with its first car, the 92 of 1949.

The aviation links were obvious in the 92’s aerodynamic profile, which was much like an aeroplane wing in reverse.

Later performance versions of Saab cars gave a nod to this aeronautical link with names like Aero and Viggen.

18. Subaru Legacy

Subaru is famed for its horizontally opposed engine designs, which give the motors inherent smoothness.

That quality brought these engines to the attention of various aircraft builders, helped by the reputation for long-lasting reliability of the Subaru Legacy.

There are a variety of Subaru engines powering many light aeroplanes and gyrocopters, and they come in sizes up to 2.2 litres with power varying from c80 to c200bhp – there are also six-cylinder engines from Subaru in aviation use with up to c275bhp.

All have a reduction gear fitted so the engine can work at 5000rpm, but the propeller spins at a much lower speed.

19. Sunbeam 1000HP

The Sunbeam 1000HP was the first Land Speed Record car to break the 200mph barrier, setting a speed of 203.79mph at Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1927.

To do this, Sir Henry Segrave’s car used not one, but two 22.4-litre V12 Matabele aero engines made by Sunbeam.

The Matabele engine had an aluminium block, which made it lighter and ideal for use in aircraft and record cars.

Both engines had been used previously in a power boat, but were of the earlier design for use in aircraft and drove the rear wheels of the 1000HP by chains.

The car is now being restored at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, in the UK.

20. Volkswagen Beetle

More than 80 different makes of aircraft have used the Volkswagen Beetle’s flat-four engine to power them into the skies.

This makes the Beetle motor the most successful at crossing over from motoring to aviation when it became popular in the 1960s.

The engine has been doing this since the 1940s, when it was first used by French and Italian light-aircraft builders using engines from discarded military vehicles.

The horizontally opposed layout of the Beetle engine makes it less prone to vibration, which made it ideal for aircraft use.

The engine has since been developed and remains available today, though capacity has risen to 2.2 litres with power outputs between c80 and 100bhp.

21. Zündapp Janus

Dornier is a company well known for its aeroplanes, yet boss Claude Dornier always felt the need to diversify for fear of relying too heavily on a single industry.

This led him to come up with his own take on the bubble car to rival the BMW Isetta. Called the Dornier Delta, it had four seats arranged in back-to-back pairs.

Unconvinced by the financial viability of the car, Dornier was very pleased when it was approached by Zündapp that wanted a small car to supplement its motorcycle range.

This resulted in the Janus with its unusual door-at-each-end design. However, it was light, strong and built to high standards thanks to Dornier’s aircraft experience, but this was not enough offset the high price and Zündapp stopped selling the Janus in 1958, after only 6902 had been built.