Fiat presents Mefistofele

Filed under:Fiat, European,
1908 was the year when the fabulous story of the Mefistofele started, with the introduction of the SB4 chain-driven Grand Prix racer. Aiming to turn this car into a speed record breaker, Sir Ernest Elridge from Britain bought the car after he had seen it in the race and had been impressed with it. The only problem encountered was that most of the enthusiasts, together with Elridge, considered the original engine of the car, an 18.0-liter one, to be rather small. Thus, he took the decision of replacing it with a massive airplane powerplant. His choice was related to a liquid-cooled Fiat-built 21.7-liter inline six-cylinder engine, delivering 320HP at 1,800 rpm and added some upgrades, including the fitting of four valves and four spark plugs on each cylinder. Using parts from a London bus, the SB4's chassis was lengthened by Elridge in order to accommodate the heavy and long engine. Even the most experienced of drivers considered the vehicle to be a handful as the brakes were only at the rear and the car was chain-driven. Surprisingly enough, there are still specialists who claim that they find it difficult to understand, even at the present moment, the mechanism which allowed the car to reverse, since there appears to be no trace of it left.
The name Mefistofele was given by the press, on July 12,1924, after they had been impressed with the explosions and smoke produced, setting the world land speed record in Arpajon, France. Elridge drove the 5.1-meter long, 2-tonne car and obtained an officially recorded maximum speed of 234,980 km/h. Everyone stated that it represented the last land speed record event, which was organized on public roads. Despite the record, which lasted only 32 days, the fame of the Fiat Mefistofele lasted more than a century. Giovanni Agnelli, Fiat's boss, bought the car from Elridge in 1969, shipped it to Italy, where it was added to the company's historical collection, after undergoing a major restoration. Even today, the car seems to be perfectly functional and it can be admired at the Centro Storico Fiat in Turin.