This is a Buick 3800 V6 “Fireball” that has had some sections cut away and painted to highlight various internal functions. It sits on a rotating base, and it was built by Buick specifically to showcase the engine to curious motor show attendees.
Although the V6 has never attainted the same status as the V8 in the American automotive world, it has become a wildly successful engine architecture around the world. The Buick 3800 V6 is widely regarded as one of the best V6s ever made, and it made the Ward’s 10 Best Engines of the 20th Century list.
As you can see here, some sections of the engine have been cutaway and painted in contrasting colors, to show the internal workings.
The origins of the Buick 3800 V6 lay with the Buick 215 V8, an all-aluminum design that debuted in 1961 as a compact, lightweight V8 engine designed as an alternative to the far larger and heavier V8s that were commonplace throughout the industry.
The Buick 3800 V6 was introduced in 1962 and marketed as the “Fireball” engine. This engine would have one of the longest production runs of any engine design in history, running from 1962 until 2008, though it was significantly updated and modernized over this time – as a result few parts from later generation engines are interchangeable with earlier versions.
The Buick V6 was designed with a thin-wall cast iron block and heads, with two pushrod actuated overhead valves per cylinder. The engine soon earned a reputation for both reliability and good fuel economy, but the low popularity of the V6 engine option resulted in Buick selling the design and tooling to AMC in 1967.
This wouldn’t be the end of the road for the Fireball however, the 1973 Oil Crisis left Buick scrambling for more fuel efficient engines as gasoline prices skyrocketed and the public consciousness shifted heavily towards vehicles with smaller, less thirsty engines. As a result, Buick bought the rights to the Fireball V6 back from AMC and put it back into production.
The engine would be built in a plethora of versions, with different displacements, carburetors and fuel injection, naturally aspirated and forced induction, as well as both transverse and longitudinally-mounted versions. The engine is now remembered as being one of the most popular mass-produced engines in world history, with over 25 million examples produced in total.
The Buick 3800 V6 Fireball Display Engine Shown Here
The engine you see here is now part of a display built by Buick to be used as a centerpiece for auto shows. It features a 3800 V6 that has had multiple sections cutout and painted bright colors, to highlight various internal features and functions.
This is a 1990s-era Buick 3.8 liter Series II V6, it was reportedly put into this display by Buick as a showcase, likely for auto shows and other events.
The stand it’s mounted to has an electric motor and built-in overhead lighting, allowing the engine to slowly rotate under illumination to provide a view of it from every angle. The total size of the display is approximately 6 feet, 6 inches tall by 6 feet in diameter and the power cord for the revolving base has a three-prong US-style plug.
This display is now being offered for sale on Bring a Trailer out of Lauderhill, Florida and it’s being offered with no reserve. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
