There was a Veyron on loan for a a while. It was "owned" by that SOB Timothy Durham who put a serious black eye on the museum and greatly affected my friend who was the curator.

Consider this, the J engine is 265HP from 420cu. in. (6.9L). Not impressive by today's standards, but that was done with only a 5:1 compression ratio!!! The SJ was simply bolt-on super charger for 8:1 compression ratio to boost the power to 325HP. Last year at the festival some of the J owners went to a local drag strip and raced. Many people could not believe that anyone would do that. I would tell them 'that engine is not even working itself for its power'.

The Model A Duesenberg was an 88HP engine from a 251 cu. in. (4.1L) block. That was unheard of power from displacement off of the race track in its day.

Years ago I asked an old mechanic what was the reason for the V-12 and V-16's. Power? Nope. According to him it was smoothness.

Back in the 30's spark plugs just did not last more than than 8,000 miles if even that much. If a plug stopped firing and you had a four you could really feel the engine shake. If you had a six not so much and if you had an eight cylinder you could feel it but it was not that bad.

However, if you had a v-12 you could not feel it at all since you had 11 other cylinders firing. With a v-16 the smoothness of the engine was almost perfect, but the pistons were starting to get rather small which led to problems of its' own.

All in all it is amazing that Cord could get so much right when all he had to work stuff out with was a slide-rule. I guess they made up for a lack of modern tech with good old craftsmanship.

Last year they were drag racing on a temperarly closed airport runway. If I remember corectly, the FAA required that their had to be some planes on exhibet in order for the air strip to be closed.

The concern about running them hard, according to several owners, was the crankshafts are know to become "brittle" from their age and breaking one could get quite expensive.

They are casting new heads for them again. Cost a small fortune!

Leno seems to be a driving force around getting parts available for them again, since he drives his and they break.

He was commuting to work for awhile in his X.

But when you have that kind of money......

I love the sound of a Model J gearbox at hard acceleration. That gearbox whine is music.:D

Two years ago I had a ride in an 810 Cord that belonged to its designer Gordon Buehrig. This one was one of the early hand built 'production' sedan. The curator gave the ride which was just in town, but he was not easy on her. That preselect shifting requires some rethinking because as so as you let out on the clutch you shift the level to the next gear.

The burgendy and black one does it for me, I know it does't have anything to do with these beaut's but I know where a lincoln flathead V12 is for $1000.00 And think the block is good.

Sounds of glory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is7APtnD8-o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3UNH4Hs-n4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W55q-pQQDCM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxdZRVg2diE&feature=related