Description
Conversion of Italian racing cars to US V8 engines is of course nothing new. As well as Listers, Allards and other ex-Brit racing machines, Several Ferrari Testa Rossa’s as well as Maserati sports cars were converted to “small-block” 327CI engines in the USA once their exotic engines failed and the cost of parts became an obstacle to their repair. A long time ago when these cars were racing, American slot car racers were already making their own conversions that included not only the V8 Chevy (complete with either Corvette fuel injection or Weber 48IDA on home-made manifolds) but changing the twisty Borrani wheels for much more rigid Halibrand magnesium wheels pioneered by pre-war and early post-war Indy cars. Let’s not forget the failure of Ferrari at Indy in 1952 when the Borrani wheels simply broke down.
To illustrate this, here, from the Los Angeles Slot Car Museum, is a 1/32 scale slot car built by Gene Wallingford in 1962, a Ferrari-Chevy. The 1/1 car ran at Nassau as well as at Sebring in the day.
