This coffee table was made using an original Porsche 911 2.7 liter flat six engine from a 1974 car. The engine in question apparently suffered a catastrophic failure, which led to it being removed from the vehicle to make way for a replacement engine.
The engine-based coffee table is nothing new of course, it’s a popular conversion for old or unusable blocks – we’ve featured a fair few of them on Silodrome over the years as a result.
This particular flat six coffee table was built by an engineering student as a class project, with help and oversight by professional technicians. As a result it’s a cut above the sometimes questionable examples of engine-based coffee tables that pop up for sale.
A series of LED lights have been fitted to better illuminate the inside of the engine, and various colors can be chosen.
The 2.7 liter flat six that powered the G-series Porsche 911 that launched in 1974 quickly developed a reputation for grenading itself, frequently within 50,000 miles of use and sometimes within the first year of ownership.
The reasons for this are many, but in short its development was rushed and corners were cut. The engine was essentially a modified version of the earlier 2.4 liter engine, similar to the flat six used in the Carrera RS though it was detuned and tweaked for mass-production.
The primary problems were warping magnesium engine cases, head studs pulling out, and failing valve guides. The 3.0 liter engine with its aluminum crankcase that followed in the Porsche 911 SC was a considerable improvement, but signifiant harm had been done to Porsche’s global reputation.
The cylinders are well-sized for holding bottles of champagne, wine, whiskey or whatever your favorite tipple happens to be.
Many Porschehiles will tell you that the best place for a 2.7 liter flat six is under 70 tons of household waste in a local landfill, though using a blown example as a coffee table is far more creative.
This coffee table is currently being offered for sale in a live online auction with Collecting Cars in the United Kingdom, it’s currently in Cheshire, England and at the time of writing there are still a few days left to bid.
Images courtesy of Collecting Cars
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.
