This is a 1:1 scale Ferrari Colombo V12 engine that measures in at 37″ long by 24″ wide and 26″ tall, with a weight of approximately 55 lbs – and it was made entirely from wood over a period of three years.
This model is based on the version of the Colombo V12 that was fitted to the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona, with a displacement of 4.4 liters and producing 347 bhp at 7,500 rpm and 318 lb ft of torque at 5,500 rpm.
Here we see Gioacchino Colombo (center) with engineers Pasquale Cassani (left) and Luigi Bazzi (right). This picture was taken at the 1949 Italian Grand Prix, a race that was won by Alberto Ascari driving a Ferrari 125 powered by a Colombo V12. Image courtesy of Ferrari.
History Speedrun: The Colombo V12
The Colombo V12 was a masterpiece of engineering by anyone’s standards, but particularly by the standards of the time it was first designed. The engine debuted in 1947, just two years after World War II, with a design so sophisticated it quite literally left most of the competition in the dust.
Gioacchino Colombo had started out working under the great Italian engineer Vittorio Jano at Alfa Romeo. In the mid-1930s he had designed the elegant Alfa Romeo 158 engine for the Alfetta, it would be this design that caught the eye of former racing driver Enzo Ferrari, who had lofty plans to establish his own automotive marque.
The V12 that Colombo would design for Ferrari had a 60º V-angle, an aluminum block and heads, a single overhead cam per bank, crossflow heads, and a displacement of 1.5 liters. It was a revelation by the standards of the time, many sports cars still relied on far more rudimentary engines with iron blocks, iron heads, pushrod actuated valves, and non-crossflow heads.
The Colombo V12 would be used in many of the first Ferraris, it was even used in Ferrari’s Formula 1 cars in supercharged form for a time before it was usurped by the much larger Aurelio Lampredi designed V12.
Colombo’s V12 would remain in use in most of Ferraris sports racing cars, and production cars, including icons like the Testa Rossa, 250 GT SWB, 250 GTO, and countless others. The engine would grow in displacement from 1.5 liters all the way up to 4.9 liters, it would switch to fuel injection replacing the carburetors, and it would get an additional overhead cam per bank.
Production continued until 1988, 41 years after it had first been introduced, and today it is unquestionably one of the most important engine designs of the 20th century.
The 1:1 Scale Ferrari Colombo V12 Engine Shown Here
The model you see here was entirely fabricated by the artist Greg Stirling using several types of wood and wood finishes, to recreate the original engine’s carburetors, intake trumpets, valve covers, cylinder heads, engine block, distributors, oil filter housings, and clutch assembly, all fitted to a walnut base.
The model you see here was entirely fabricated by the artist Greg Stirling using several types of wood and wood finishes, to recreate the original engine’s carburetors, intake trumpets, valve covers, cylinder heads, engine block, distributors, oil filter housings, and clutch assembly, all fitted to a walnut base.
The individual wooden pieces are joined together with stainless steel hardware, and a dozen gleaming velocity stacks above the wooden Weber carburetors. Many additional details have been included – twin oil filters, dual ignition systems, a starter motor, coolant pump, and more.
This Colombo V12 engine model is now being offered for sale on Bring a Trailer out of San Jose, California and you can visit the listing here to read more about it or place a bid.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben Branch 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.
