The power of 12
Though often complicated, and usually hideously thirsty, there’s nothing like a V12.
Whether you’re gliding along serenely in a Jaguar XJ12, or standing every single neck hair to attention winding out a Ferrari F50 past 8000rpm, you can’t help but fall in love with the sensation of 12 pistons doing a job that most cars tackle with eight.
A 12-cylinder engine is pure extravagance, so indulge yourself with 21 of the greatest V12-engined classic cars.
1. Bugatti EB110
Bugatti’s 1990s comeback car was briefly the fastest car in the world thanks to the muscle provided by its quad-cam 3.5-litre V12.
Bugatti claimed a 213mph top speed for the original 553bhp EB110, and 221mph for the 603bhp Super Sport that came later.
2. Jaguar XJ13
Jaguar’s 1960s hopes for Le Mans glory were pinned on the exotic mid-engined XJ13 and its new V12, though the project was axed before the car had a chance to prove its mettle.
The sole car was badly crashed in an accident at the MIRA test track in 1971, but was later rebuilt, and is now looked after by the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust.
3. Lamborghini 350GT
When tractor-maker Ferruccio Lamborghini needed a V12 for his first Ferrari-rivalling GT, he turned to ex-Ferrari man Giotto Bizzarrini.
Bizzarrini created a 3.5-litre V12 for the 350GT that featured dohc heads, when Ferrari’s contemporary engines only had one cam per bank.
4. Aston Martin DB7 V12
Aston’s DB7 had been well received at launch and was fairly brisk thanks to a supercharged ‘six’ that made 335bhp.
But the 414bhp V12 Vantage introduced in 1999 delivered more performance and polish, and the standard car was soon discontinued.
5. Lagonda V12
The DB7 Vantage might have been the first Aston to come with a V12, but sister brand Lagonda offered customers luxurious V12 cars in the late 1930s, featuring a 180bhp 4.5-litre engine designed by WO Bentley.
6. McLaren F1
Designer Gordon Murray insisted on a naturally aspirated engine for the legendary F1, but when McLaren’s Formula One partner Honda declined to come up with something suitable, McLaren turned to BMW and its engine expert, Paul Rosche.
Murray wanted 550bhp but BMW gave him 627bhp – enough power to give the F1 a then record-breaking 230mph top speed.
7. Auto Union D-type
Auto Union’s 1930s Grand Prix racers started their careers with V16 power.
But after a rule change limited capacity to 3.0 litres, the company switched to twin-supercharged V12 engines.
8. TVR Cerbera Speed 12
Created to help TVR win at endurance racing, project 7/12 was a Cerbera coupé with a pair of TVR’s straight-six engines spliced together that predictably caused a storm at the 1996 Birmingham motor show.
But rule changes killed its competition career and after the 7.7-litre engine allegedly broke TVR’s 1000bhp-rated dyno, boss Peter Wheeler decided the car was too wild to be made into a production car, although the sole surviving example was sold off.
9. BMW 850CSi
BMW got one over on rival Benz by introducing the 296bhp V12-powered 750i in 1987 – Mercedes’ flashest cars still used V8s at the time – and by 1990 the 5.0-litre engine was being showcased in the wedgy 8 Series coupé.
BMW killed off plans for an M8, but did deliver a hotter 8 in the form of the 850CSi, which got a 5.6-litre version of the V12, and a bump to 375bhp.
10. Ferrari 125 S
The 1947 125 S was Ferrari’s first car, and while the model didn’t last the year before being replaced, its new Gioacchino Colombo-designed engine remained a Ferrari staple for another four decades.
As fitted to the 125, the 60-degree V12 offered just 1.5 litres of swept volume, but by the time it bowed out on the 412, it had been stretched to 5.0 litres and over 340bhp, the numbers in each car’s name denoting the capacity of an individual cylinder in each case.
11. Jaguar XJ12
When Jaguar slotted its 5.3-litre engine under the bonnet of the S1 XJ in 1972, it was the only company in the world selling a V12 saloon.
And since the world was plunged into an oil crisis shortly afterwards, it remained the only one until the 1980s.
12. Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR
Built to satisfy FIA endurance-racing rules, the 30 roadgoing versions of the CLK GTR sent a hefty 603bhp and 572lb ft to the rear wheels courtesy of a 6.9-litre V12.
According to Mercedes’ figures, the GTR could reach 62mph in 3.8 secs and hit 214mph.
13. Ferrari 410 Superamerica
We’ve already mentioned Ferrari’s legendary Colombo V12 engine. But did you know Ferrari offered two other entirely different 60-degree V12s during the 1950s?
One was designed by Vittorio Jano, and the other by Aurelio Lampredi and used in 1950s racers and powerful US-bound luxury GTs, like this 335bhp 410 Superamerica.
14. Packard Twin-Six
Pierce-Arrow, Auburn, Lincoln and other US-based luxury carmakers piled on the V12 bandwagon in the 1930s, and Cadillac offered both V12 and V16 engines.
But Packard had already paved the way with its 85bhp 6.9-litre Twin Six in 1916.
15. Lamborghini Miura
Though the mid-engined Miura bore little resemblance to Lamborghini’s earlier 350GT (or the 400GT that replaced it), they shared the same Bizzarrini-designed V12.
But for the Miura it wasn’t only placed behind the driver, but turned through 90 degrees and mounted on top of the gearbox, as on BMC’s Mini.
16. Campbell-Railton Blue Bird
V12 and W12 aero engines were the hot ticket when it came to building Land Speed Record cars in the 1920s and ‘30s.
Kenelm Lee Guinness hit 134mph at Brooklands in 1922 with his 350bhp Sunbeam, but by 1935 the record stood at 301mph, thanks to the efforts of Malcolm Campbell and his final Blue Bird with its supercharged Rolls-Royce V12 and monstrous 2300bhp.
17. Ferrari F50
A third entry for Ferrari on our list, and yet another entirely different Maranello V12. The F50 was powered by a 4.7-litre naturally aspirated 65-degree V12 developed from the one used in Ferrari’s 1990 F1 racers.
It produced 512bhp – enough for a claimed 202mph top speed – but drove through a conventional manual gearbox, rather than the F1 car’s semi-automatic transmission.
18. Yamaha OX99-11
The superbike experts at Yamaha were already supplying engines to F1 teams by the 1990s, so the idea of them developing a no-holds-barred supercar wasn’t totally ridiculous.
Like the F50, the tandem two-seat OX99-11 would have used an engine derived from a genuine F1 V12 – in this case a 70-degree 3.5-litre V12 – but only a handful of prototypes were built before the project was axed in the early ’90s.
19. Jaguar XJ220
Jaguar’s 1998 XJ220 concept car promised four-wheel drive, a 6.2-litre dohc version of the TWR-developed V12 that had taken the XJR-9 to Le Mans glory earlier that year, and, of course, a 220mph top speed.
The production version Jaguar delivered four years later made do with a twin-turbocharged V6 and rear-wheel drive, though its verified 217mph maximum wasn’t far off.
20. Rolls-Royce Phantom III
You might think that Rolls-Royce and V12 engines were made for each other, but classic Rollers were only available with V12 power between 1936 and 1939.
The gargantuan Phantom III’s equally massive 7.3-litre pushrod V8 replaced the earlier Phantom II’s straight-six, and helped baddie Auric Goldfinger drag his gold bullion up Switzerland’s Furka Pass in the 1964 Bond film that bore his name.
21. Jaguar XJR-15
While the production XJ220 failed to deliver on the concept’s V12 promise, another even wilder Jaguar supercar did come up with the goods.
The XJR-15 was based around the chassis of the Le Mans-winning XJR-9 clothed in bodywork by Peter Stevens, and powered by a 6.0-litre V12 developing 450bhp.
Only 53 were built by Jaguar Sport between 1990 and 1992.
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