OPINION “Faema can rebirth 1960s engineering. Why not us?” Michael Taylor have a mate who develops spinning, lubricated things for Ferrari, and to say any more than that about what he does when he’s not loitering at the Faema E61 [for those not fueled by caffeine, a coffee machine of legendary status – Ed] would reveal too much. We talk about engines a lot, with occasional tears in the corners of our eyes. And, with the infrequent exception of the BMW 1.5-liter turbos in 1980s Brabham F1 cars, the engines we talk about never, ever have turbochargers. In fact, my friend and I had occasion to have exactly this conversation alongside a Faema E61, because he restored one for his own car hole. A marvelous, groundbreaking bit of engineering, the E61, with two-thirds of the name representing the year of its introduction and the E commemorating an eclipse that year, because of course it does. Anyway, the E61 kicked off the global espresso/ cappuccino boom, because it was the first commercial coffee machine with a volumetric pump strong enough to give it a constant 9 bar of pressure across the entire extraction process. Unlike the automotive industry, the rules governing coffee machines haven’t moved on much since the 1960s. Faema, unlike Ferrari and its collection of 1960s classics, could simply find the papyrus scroll with the E61 blueprints on it and start building and selling it again. But they don’t even need to do that, because they already have the E61 Legend, which is the same thing with an addendum name to protect the heritage status of the originals. But, try as he might, my mate could never simply talk Ferrari into re-gestating its best atmo engines or cars, and nor could any amount of public pressure. Ferrari may want to follow Faema and knock out a batch of brand-new 250 SWBs, but they wouldn’t be legal. An English company called GTO Engineering does it, flirting around the edges of the rules and Ferrari’s legal patience, but Ferrari itself can’t. Shame for them, because a nicely preserved 250 GTO goes for around US$8m these days, and even a GTO Engineering version starts at US$1m. No, any company with even Ferrari’s minuscule volumes has to comply with crash and emission laws in Europe and the US. Unlike many in my profession, I’m not swayed by rose-tinted glasses. Ferrari has made some stinkers over the years, and not much of its bodywork has been beautiful in the last three decades. The standout exceptions are the 355 and the 458; the 458 Speciale remains one of the most astounding examples of goal-conflict resolution I’ve driven. I ABOVE: What if Ferrari and other companies with illustrious heritage had dispensation to recreate some of their classic engines? So here it is. I move that every car company be allowed to remake three of its classic cars as they were at the time of production, but with some modern stuff tossed in for either safety (seatbelts, disc brakes) or robustness (so, in a Lamborghini Miura, everything), with the proviso that there be no turbochargers involved. With a tipped cap to Enzo himself, my list will prioritize engines and, more specifically, BMEP, power, revs and the on-road and technical steps up relative to market rivals will act as my guidelines. And I know I shall rebirth the 250 GTO, along with the 458 Speciale and, well, the 250 GTO, if only to knock the stuffing out of the garage-queen pricing of the things. Honda will have to hit the foundry for new versions of the B18C7 in the Integra Type R, and the S2000’s magnificent 2.0-liter four cylinder will be coming back, too (but hopefully in a chassis that’s less, well, wrong). A remake of the McLaren F1 is obvious, and the world would just feel right with more 4A-GE Toyotas and Alfa Romeo 1300 engines in it, plus some small-block Chevs and flat-head Ford V8s. Go on. You have a choice to revive the best atmo cars of any time from any car company, engines first. What’s your money on? 22 www.automotivepowertraintechnologyinternational.com / March 2024