What Has 11 Liters and Makes A Beastly 65 Horsepower?

Since we are on the topic of cool engines today, I figured I would throw some old school technology in your general direction. Over at the Larz Anderson Museum in Brookline MA, is a collection of cars that will make your head actually explode.  Along with their brand new “Curve Appeal’ exhibit is Larz Anderson’s collection which is an unbelievable array of very early 1900’s luxury cars.  

One of the cars in the Anderson collection is a 1907 Fiat with this 11 liter, 6 cylinder engine stuffed in the front.  It was bought during one of their European vacations and brought back to the US shortly after. Back then, with 65 hp, this thing was a supercar. It could smoke all of the 1907 competition, which mainly consisted of horse drawn carriages and steep hills.  In fact, it was so good at climbing hills that Larz and his wife Isabel nicknamed it “Il Conquistador” and gave it a motto of “No Hill Me Pavet”, which apparently translates to “no hill can stop me”.  The craziest part?  This car is 1 of about 86 produced in 1907.  So the chances of seeing another one in “real life” are basically zero.  Larz sure knew how to pick them!