The Ford 300 inline-six is a type of engine that has six cylinders arranged in a straight line. It was introduced in 1965 and is known for being strong and reliable, especially in larger vehicles like trucks.
The 240 engine is a type of engine made by Ford that was used in their vans and trucks. It's known for being strong and reliable, similar to how tractors work.
The Volvo 240 is an older car that many people remember for its square shape and strong build. It's known for being safe and lasting a long time, which makes it a favorite among those who like reliable vehicles.
The 300 engine is a bigger engine made by Ford that gives more power and is used in larger vehicles like trucks and vans. It's great for heavy work because it can handle a lot.
The rotating assembly is the group of parts in an engine that move around to help turn the engine's power into motion. It includes things like the crankshaft and pistons.
Fuel injection is a technology that helps engines get the right amount of fuel to run better. It's more efficient than older systems that used carburetors.
The Thrift Power Six is a type of engine made by Ford that has six cylinders. It was used in many vehicles during the 1960s and is known for being dependable and easy to maintain.
The exhaust manifold helps get the gases out of the engine after combustion. A high flow version allows these gases to escape more easily, which can help the engine run better.
A turbocharger helps an engine get more air, which means it can burn more fuel and make more power. It's like giving the engine a boost to make it stronger.
Compression ratio is a way to measure how much the air and fuel are squeezed in the engine before they explode to create power. A higher number can mean more power, but it might need special fuel.
The Audi S6 is a fancy car that goes really fast and feels great to drive. It's part of the Audi family and is known for being both luxurious and sporty, which makes it special.
The Baja 1,000 is a big race that happens in Mexico where cars and trucks drive over rough land. It's known for being tough and exciting, and many drivers compete to see who can finish the race the fastest.
Chrysler is a well-known American car company that makes different types of vehicles, including family cars and vans. They have been around for a long time and are part of a larger group of car manufacturers now.
Daytona Beach is a well-known place in Florida famous for car racing. It's where many exciting car events happen, including the famous Daytona 500 race.
The Sunbeam Tiger is a classic British sports car from the 1960s. It has a powerful engine and is known for being fast and fun to drive, making it popular among car enthusiasts.
A V8 engine is a type of engine that has eight cylinders arranged in a V shape. It is known for providing a lot of power, which makes cars with V8 engines very fast.
The AC Cobra is a well-known sports car that was made in the 1960s. Carroll Shelby took a regular AC car and added a strong V8 engine, making it very fast and popular for racing.
A V12 aircraft engine is a type of engine that has 12 cylinders and is shaped like a 'V'. These engines are very powerful and were used in planes, but in this case, they were used in a car.
Car
Sunbeam Montabelle
The Sunbeam Montabelle is a car made by the Sunbeam company in the 1920s. It was designed to go really fast, using engines that were originally made for airplanes.
Engine displacement is how much space the engine's cylinders take up. Bigger engines usually produce more power because they can burn more fuel and air.
Dunlop is a brand that makes tires for cars and motorcycles. They are known for creating tires that can handle high speeds and tough conditions.
Car
Sunbeam 1000 horsepower
The Sunbeam 1000 horsepower is a historic car from 1927 that was famous for being very powerful. It was used to break speed records, showcasing the engineering of that time.
The Chevrolet Corvette is a fast and stylish sports car that many people love. It's famous for being powerful and has been around for a long time, making it a popular choice for car enthusiasts.
LIVE
Well, happy Friday, it's the Brain Buster!
It's the Brain Buster!
This is where we test your brain and get busted with trivia for a car, you person.
Yeah, it's something like that.
So here we are.
We got a couple of Brain Busters for you that we're going to reveal, and then we've got
a couple of new ones.
Yep.
A couple of new ones for you.
That's how it works.
Every week we put out, we answer last week's question and then we put out a new question.
It's like a soap dispenser, you push the button, it comes out, it's like a car fact,
but it's in your hand, and then you rub it together and then you rinse it, and that's
what Thursday is.
Thursday is how you rinse the whole thing, and then Friday we repeat.
The mean one?
Yeah, it's rinse, repeat, and meme.
We do want to mention though that we record on Tuesdays now.
We do?
Yeah.
You're going to tell them though?
Remember what?
You're going to tell them?
Yeah, because they need to know when to have their questions in by.
You're right, the people deserve to know.
Tuesday at like 2.30pm, Pacific Standard Time.
Yeah, if you want to be considered for recording.
I mean if you, let's be honest.
If you think that your answer is studious enough, pedantic enough, enthusiastic enough.
Also if you do reach out to us after Tuesday, we'll probably just read it in the next episode.
Also, if you like accidentally bust your brain, we are not responsible for any brain busting
that happens.
Not even a little bit.
We're not in any trouble at all.
Yeah, by listening to this podcast, you've signed a release.
We're not worried about it.
We're not worried about it.
Nope.
What was your question last week?
My freaking question for all of you Ford gurus on the audience, of which there are several,
they go to the parties and the car shows and they talk about, oh, I know Ford this and
Ford that.
For everything.
Win.
Win.
When did the Ford, when did the Ford 300 in line six a debut?
Oh, you said this was a trick question too.
It is a bit of a trick question.
Okay.
Do you explain?
Well, the, the rub on this engine is that it came out in 1965.
However, for vanners, this is sort of a, you know, it's a source bar for me, but the early
model van 61 to 67 came with a 240.
Now you might be saying that's not a 300 and you're right, except it is, what do you mean?
Interchangeable heads, different rotating assembly, slightly bigger bore, I believe also,
but it might just be a longer stroke and that's it.
I'll check my notes.
But the interesting thing is that the engine was out in 65 and could be put in the van,
but the vans only got 240s and the 110 horsepower Paltry, they're just like tractors.
What got the, was it 300s or 360 300?
What got the 300s?
It went in the F series truck 1965.
So here's the, I'll give you this to you from Wikipedia and they would desperately love
if you would give them $2 and 75 cents.
I did donate the other day, not to toot my own horn.
I have been donating to them monthly for years.
Wow.
Good for you.
Thanks for doing that.
Yeah.
Of course.
$3 a month for years.
Public service.
Thanks.
Well, yeah.
So we've paid to use them.
We're going to use Wikipedia.
All right.
I'm going to read this to you because I think it's full of decent information.
And if you, if you want to argue with that, please write in at your leisure.
The 300 cubic inch six was offered in the F series for 65.
It's essentially a 240 with a longer stroke of 3.98 inches.
The two engines are nearly identical.
The differences are in the rotating assembly and the combustion chamber size in the head.
The heads are interchangeable.
It produced 170 horse.
In 75, it became the base F series engine at 119 horse, but that's because Ford switched
to net horsepower readings, which we talked about in another episode.
Power outputs were increased roughly to 122 horse during the early 80s.
So sweet.
That's before fuel injection.
Fuel injection brings it up to like 150 horse.
And basically it eclipsed the 240 and the 240 just became trash.
Now the 300 in a metric sense is a 4.9 and then the 240 I think is like a 4.1 or maybe
it's a 3.9.
Okay.
It might be the 3.9.
But the 240 is just junk.
Just.
Wow.
That is a trick question.
That's a tricky.
They drive like shit.
We've had a whole another discussion about how peppy and how zippy the small sixes are.
And I've talked to a lot of people about this, the thrift power six, the 144, the 170, the
200, the 250.
I've had the 200.
I don't think I've ever had a 250.
I guess I think a painted one.
So you know, during the 60s, these were put into like dump trucks and big trucks and stuff.
And there was an HD heavy duty exhaust manifold, forged crankshafts and rods because the engines
constantly were up in the 3, 4,000 RPM range and like those motors do like to be wound
up.
But you know, people like that manifold because it's a high flow manifold.
So they can do that.
And then it says that they can easily add a turbocharger to that manifold.
So that's pretty cool.
78 is when it became metric and it became the 4.9 and then an 87 fuel injection and some
other things changed it to 150 horse 8.8 to one compression ratio.
A lot of the sixes will be in the eights and that makes them easier to start.
They spin quick and they start a little easier.
It was eventually phased out 96.
So it ran from 65 to 96 and it made it the last inline six offered in a Ford car or light
duty truck.
It got replaced by the S6 V6 in 97 and it, you know, there's a list of transmissions
it was made to.
This is a neat note that race car driver Scott Donahue raised a rally truck with a Ford 300
inline six and won the Baja 1,000 three times.
Wow.
So that's pretty insane.
Sounds like a powerful little engine.
Yeah.
This engine is also used by Stuart and Stevenson in the MA baggage tow tractor.
I know somebody that works on these, the tugs, any other all loaded with 300 sixes.
And then on the back wheels, there's just two sets of calipers and no front brakes.
Wait, what?
The, at the airport, at the airport, those little tractors that are used to pull your
luggage around, they all have Ford 300s on them and then like the front wheels are so
small that you can't have brakes on them.
So they instead put two sets of calipers on the back brakes.
Oh, oh yeah.
Cause there's a lot of weight.
Yeah.
There's a caliper in front and the caliper in back.
How do they all have Ford 300s if they don't make them anymore?
They were made a long time ago.
What happens when they also Ford probably still makes it industrially because you can get
a 300 with sleeves and then you just wear the sleeves out, re sleeve the engine and start
over.
Oh, okay.
Interesting.
Yeah.
Dang.
So what year did the actual 300 come out that wasn't a 270?
65.
The two, you're referring to the 240.
Sorry.
The 240.
Excuse me.
Yeah.
The 240.
I just told you a whole story about it.
Yeah.
The 240, the dork motor.
I did a bad job of listening.
I'm sorry.
When I moved away from Kentucky, I took my 240 and scrapped it personally.
And you know what?
I don't feel bad about it.
Nobody wanted it.
The world's better off without that engine.
You didn't put some sodium silicate in it and see how long it would run for?
No.
We drove the balls off that engine.
We drove it to Nationals and it was overheating, the head gasket was going.
We had a last faithful time where we got steamed at the gas station in it with our friend
Chadley leaving Street Rod Nationals.
It was brutal.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
That does sound like it was tired and ready to go.
Yeah.
When we took the oil pan off, the rods were just like sloppy on the crank.
I mean, you can expect some movement, but wow.
It was unreal that it was a running engine.
Up until...
It was a little engine that could.
It really worked hard, but I scrapped it.
All right.
Well, goodbye.
Yeah, it's gone.
My little engine.
Yeah.
That was engines ago.
Did you get anybody that wrote in?
No, I didn't get anyone.
They all responded to the other question about the first production twin turbo car.
We did get a question from Gina, friend of the pod.
Gina says, answer to Rosa's question.
I asked a friend and he said 68.
Well, your friend's wrong.
Yeah.
Maybe get a new friend.
Frankly, he's wrong because he's three years too late.
Yeah.
Well.
But you know what?
I'm not going to be critical of that.
I love that Gina asked somebody.
Yeah.
You went out.
You put yourself out there.
That's so close.
You love it.
In the range of years that you could have guessed, which I would say would be like 44
up.
That's a lot of years to pick.
That's good.
Yeah.
So it's within three years.
That's good.
Yeah.
I'd say that's knowing it.
It's knowing something.
I mean, yeah.
Before the 70s.
Yeah.
That is before the 70s.
Partial credit.
I would give partial credit.
Nice work.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And credit to Gina for asking someone.
Yeah.
Thanks.
Thanks for writing in.
Yeah.
Thanks for playing our game.
Thanks for playing the brain buster.
Brain buster.
So I had a question for you.
Oh, I remember it was horrible.
I had a question for you and then people thought it was a question for them.
So they answered it.
And that's fine.
Oh, good.
Because I didn't answer.
I answered it with a...
Somebody asked me.
They were like...
Wrong answer.
They asked...
They said, I asked you what was the first twin turbo production car.
And somebody wrote me and said, is it a Chrysler product?
And I said, well, I'll have to check and see who owned Chrysler at the time.
Oh.
And then I checked and I said, no, they weren't multinational corporation at that point.
And he was like, oh, intriguing answer.
But didn't respond back.
Thank you.
Either way, for interacting and trying.
But your non-answer didn't bring you to Maserati bi-turbo.
Oh.
It's bi.
Oh, wait.
Didn't you tell me that in the episode?
I don't think I did.
Oh, okay.
I thought I kept it a secret.
Maybe, maybe.
I don't think I told you.
I don't think I revealed that.
I'm not going to go back and try to find out.
I think it was a mystery.
Because I know I remember Maserati.
Anyway.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Isn't that something?
That is something.
Big jump from Chrysler.
But I just was like, I don't know.
They could have been all a part of the same thing.
Yeah.
Sometimes, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sometimes.
And what year was that?
But Daimler didn't buy Chrysler till 88.
So.
Yeah.
I mean, I didn't know if they were.
I just thought it could be possible.
I had to check.
It made me question the answer.
Another trick question.
Yeah.
So what about you?
A tricky question.
Well, my question.
What's your tricky brain, Buster?
My question was, what was the first 200 mile per hour car?
Oh, really?
Oh, really?
And.
Are we talking about a production car or a land speed car?
Well, and see, here's where it gets tricky.
Oh, okay.
I didn't specify.
Okay.
If it was a production car or like a land speed car.
And in my mind, I had pictured like a land speed thing, but I didn't specify.
So what I did is I went ahead and found out which one was the like land speed record.
Okay.
Holder, which was, of course, miles ahead of a production car.
Oh.
Yeah.
Okay.
So the first 200 mile per hour car is a land speed race car.
Yes.
Okay.
Yep.
I like where this is going.
Oh, it's so cool.
The story is really cool.
Is it a Mickey Thompson car?
No.
Okay.
It was driven by English gentleman, Harry Seagrave.
Oh.
He was driving the 1000 horsepower Sunbeam, a.k.a. the Slug, a.k.a. Mystery.
And it happened at Daytona Beach.
Okay.
So let's go back to Sunbeam car company.
Sunbeam Tiger?
Sunbeam, I don't, what's that?
The Sunbeam Tiger, it's a car.
Maybe.
Is that like a race car?
It's just a car.
It's like a sports car.
Oh yeah, probably then.
Is it an old English car?
Yeah.
Yeah, that's probably their car then.
I didn't get the entire history of the company, Rose.
Why not?
You're trying to stump me up here?
I'm sorry.
You're not sorry.
I mean, listen, I didn't mean to make you look like a schoolboy, Johnny.
Sunbeam Tiger is made from 64 to 7.
It was by the Sunbeam Motor Car Company?
Shelby had carried out a similar V8 conversion on the AC Cobra.
So it's Sunbeam Tiger is a high-performance V8 version of the British Roots Group Sunbeam Alpine Roadster.
Hmm.
It is that same company though, Sunbeam Motor Car Company, I think is what they were called?
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, let's talk about Sunbeam Motor Car Company, which was in Wolverhampton, England.
They sprung out of a successful bike business in 19...
Going back to Wolverhampton.
Wolverhampton.
Haven't been in so many years.
Yeah.
Have you been there?
No.
Oh, okay.
Frankly, I haven't.
Yeah, me either, but it sounds quite lovely.
It sounds like a small seaside.
So we're in a bike shop on the seaside?
We're in a bike shop on the seaside, and in 1905, it becomes the Sunbeam Motor Car Company.
Okay.
Or something like that.
The bike's just through Evolution sprouted two more wheels.
Yes.
Okay.
Yep.
Now they got four.
And by 1909, they were having success on and off the track.
And then in World War I, they made a copious amount of aircraft engines.
Okay.
So they were in the War Heffert.
War Heffert.
War Heffert.
Is that like war pigs?
Yeah, it is.
You've got the war pigs, you've got the war cows, and then you've got war horses.
The war snakes are, they're pretty wily bunch.
So in 1926, the Sunbeam Motor Car Company wants to go 200 miles an hour.
Okay.
Reasonable.
Who wouldn't want to go that fast?
Well, not the shareholders.
Oh.
They think it's L-A-M-E lame.
So Sunbeam had to build the car with garbage parts.
Oh.
In fact, they got the two Sunbeam Montabelle V12 aircraft engines.
They salvaged them from a sunken boat.
Oh my God.
So that's pretty garbage.
Oh my God.
So he salvaged them from a sunken boat.
They're 22.4 liters each, which adds up to, in one engine, is 1,366.932 cubic inches.
What?
Yeah.
I did it.
I did a conversion, like a calculator conversion on the internet.
A diva diva diva.
Yeah.
So it had a two frame, and there was one engine in front, and there was one engine in back,
and then the driver was offset so that the driveshaft could connect the two engines.
They were building a monster.
Yeah.
When the building shook when it started.
How many cubes?
1,366.932.
Just give it to me without the fractionals.
1,366.
But it's a 0.9, so you might as well just round up to 1,367.
Oh, well, that's too much.
That's just one too many.
Yeah.
The driver, Seagrave, here he comes again, he said, it's the only time I can honestly say
when I have stood in front of a car and doubted human ability to control it.
And he's like, I'm going to get in this fucking drive at 200 miles an hour.
So first of all, he's obviously a psycho.
I was going to say, what's wrong with him?
Yeah, everything.
There's nowhere in Britain that's big enough to run it.
Okay.
And what year is this again?
1920, by the time they get to run it, it's 1927.
Oh my goodness.
It's a long time ago.
It's before World War II.
27.
Yeah, 1926.
And they want to go 200 miles an hour?
200 miles an hour.
Oh my goodness.
Psychos.
Okay.
Total psychos.
So anyway, in Britain, they couldn't run it.
There's not enough space.
Okay.
You know, they're a little island country there.
Yeah.
The car is 23.5 feet long and six feet wide, and it weighs four tons.
And it drinks a gallon of fuel per minute.
Okay.
That's pretty good.
There's 28 instruments, including six oil pressure and four tachometers.
And Seagrave said, I guess I won't be bored.
Okay.
Yeah.
So already we're off to a good start.
That's a lot.
And then the tube frame had a slab-sided body, and they had all of the latest aerodynamic
like figures and shapes.
It sounds like a streamliner.
Yeah, it's a streamliner.
It's streamlined.
So it was revolutionary in 1926, and the drag coefficient was 0.34, which I guess is good
by today's standards.
Yeah, is that really low?
Yeah.
I don't know anything about drag coefficient, so.
I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I do.
Yeah, but in the video.
I take the yarn to a car, and we drove it.
In the video I watched, it said it was impressive.
Okay.
So there.
Yeah, right.
So the engines both made 450 horsepower at 2,000 RPM, but it was publicized as being
a 1,000 horsepower car.
So, you know what I mean?
They fudged it a little bit.
Okay.
Sure.
They fudged it a little bit.
Okay.
900 just doesn't have the same ring as 1,000.
Yeah.
Like, why not?
It's over 500.
They fudged it up to 1,000.
Pardon me for thinking you have to get there through honest means.
It's what?
What?
Get there through honest means.
Yeah, it's the 20s.
Everybody's, you know, playing laps.
Flap and in line about their engine displacement.
Yeah, exactly.
Three slappers.
They thought that for the horsepower of the car, they couldn't use the regular, like,
drive shafts or like the regular axles that they used.
So they used a three speed gearbox that drove chains.
When they put it on the test stand, the chains glowed red from how fast it was going.
Ridiculous.
Again, how crazy are these people?
Yeah.
I mean, that's like 1,700 degrees, like glowing oranges, like 1,700.
Yeah.
Well, it said red.
Well, what's red?
I don't know.
Okay, fine.
Does it go red, then orange, or orange, then red?
I'm not sure, actually.
Okay.
All right.
Well, never mind.
I think white is the hottest.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Yeah.
White hot.
Yeah.
White heat, red hot.
Yeah.
A Judas Priest little lyric there for you.
Wow.
Nice.
Dunlop tires came out with some tires for them to use and it was guaranteed for 3.5 minutes
at 200 miles per hour.
This is a big deal.
Yeah.
But also, how do you test for that?
How do they know that these tires are going to be good at 200 miles an hour?
Science.
Mathematics.
I guess so.
Yeah.
I guess you're right, because they did.
Some egg head somewhere.
Yeah.
Well, and they were excited about getting this car to go to 200 miles an hour.
Some pocket-protected nerd.
Said, listen.
He's like, ugh, you want to go do their battles an hour?
It'll go for 3.5 minutes.
Well, it's good they get down with all the flavin' because that's how you go fast.
Yeah.
And the wheels and tires had to be changed after each run.
And the tires were, they're pretty big.
I can't remember the size and they were spoked.
Wow.
Yeah.
And so now it's time to go off to Daytona via a steamboat.
A steamboat?
Yeah.
What?
I think it's a steamboat.
Oh, a steamboat.
I think it's a steamboat.
I was like, what?
They're going on like drug stings.
A steamboat.
And they didn't, before they, all he, all they did before they put the car in the crate
is Seagrave drove it around the block of the factory.
And then they stuck it right in the crate.
That's not enough.
Well, that's what they did.
Okay.
And the second right in the crate, the crate weighed eight tons.
And they also had 18 crates of spare parts, three crates of tires, and eight mechanics.
And then like a representative.
Who's paying for this?
Because Dunlop, well,
Sunbeam didn't want to do it.
Here is we, here is we go.
Here is we go.
Here is we go.
The British sponsors were not stoked that they weren't doing it in England.
So they kind of pulled out and Seagrave paid the bulk of it himself.
Whoa.
Yeah.
So he must have been doing pretty good.
I guess he's loaded.
Yeah.
Party's on him.
The US was super stoked because it was the first of the British speed kinks to come to
America.
Yeah.
I'm surprised.
When they got there, they took two plastic.
I can't talk.
They took two plastic forts.
They took two plastic forts.
They rubbed them together and they prayed for the best.
They took two practice runs.
Seagrave's helmet was almost torn off.
So they added a deflector and then the aluminum brakes melted.
So they fixed those.
So that was it.
And they had 4.5 miles to start, one mile to officiate, and then 4.5 miles to stop.
Wow.
So the first run, the car skidded out for 400 yards, knocking over a bunch of flags before
he could get it under control.
So just the flags.
Everything's fine, but still scary.
And then the brakes failed and he drove into the surf to slow it down.
Oh my God.
And it worked.
So he was fine.
Oh my God.
He was fine.
This was March 29th of 1927.
He did two runs averaging 203.792 miles an hour.
He raised the record by the biggest margin in history.
The previous record of 174.88 was set days before the slug sale for the U.S.
And here's one more.
This is a really fun fact about this.
So when they're restoring it, this happened like pretty recently, like in modern times.
So it had a dry sump.
Oil system.
Oil system.
So that means they have oil tanks, right?
Yeah.
So they found in one of the oil tanks.
Yeah, they have a lot.
They take a lot of oil to do that.
Okay.
So in one of the oil tanks, they found a period correct screwdriver.
Oh, cool.
One of the mechanics had dropped into the oil tank on accident.
That's cool.
Yeah.
Awesome.
Yeah.
So that's the answer.
It was a 1927, and it was Henry Seagrave, and he was driving the 1000 horsepower Sunbeam,
aka the slug.
I like the slug better than it kind of looks like a slug.
Wow.
Okay.
So the first, first 200 mile per hour car was a landscape car.
Yeah.
Not a production car.
Yeah.
But that puts me into my question for next week.
Okay.
Because I do want to know what the 200 mile per hour production car was.
Okay.
So that's it.
What is the first 200 mile per hour production car?
Okay.
And it's a little bit murky, I'm going to say.
Okay.
First 200 mile per hour production car.
Yeah.
Okay.
I'm going to ask a similar question.
What is the lowest horsepower Corvette ever produced?
That's the 19, I mean, sorry, oh my God, I almost answered.
It's not for you, Emily.
I can cut that out.
Yeah.
We want the lowest power producing Corvette.
Wow.
Okay.
See you next time.
Bye.
Bye.
Even busted brain busted brain.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
About this episode
Trivia takes center stage as the hosts dive into car-related brain busters, revealing the history of the Ford 300 inline six engine and its debut in 1965. They discuss its evolution, applications, and notable achievements, including its use in race trucks. The episode also features a fascinating story about the first car to break the 200 mph barrier, the Sunbeam, and its unique engineering challenges. Listeners can expect a mix of humor, trivia, and engaging automotive history.
