Ultima V12

[Mesa]

I don't follow the Ultima stuff so some may know of this car already, anyway I was out at a car show in Danville California yesterday and came across this ride. Sweet engine compartment! Could not find the owner, so I don't have any details on this great piece of work. The possibility of hearing it run kept me loitering a bit although the 100+ heat and high humidity scuttled that idea. An interesting note is that he moved all the cooling to the nose and just used the side scoops to vent the engine. Sorry about the color, somewhere along the line my camera got set on some weird setting.

 

[Simon]

I'm guessing that's some sort of BMW engine?

 

[JackW]

The Ultima is a car that has grown on em over the years. That one looks flat out bad ass. For a car that is already a rocket that would be scary fast.

 

[JohnC]

I don't know the car in the photos, but Jay Esterer up in Canada built an Ultima years ago and powered it with the BMW V12. Here's a link to his site: Untitled Document He really went above & beyond in his search for lightness in his build.

Caveat emptor: these motors are a dime a dozen on eBay, but are real money pits when you start trying to make them go fast (AMHIK). Having 4 more cylinders and not having a huge aftermarket of go fast parts and suppliers doesn't help.

 

[Mesa]

I know Jay, I contacted him about his car (just after he had it on the road) with the thought of doing something along the same lines. In the end his information and opinions kept me looking for a different candidate for my goals.

Years later - I was talking to a guy at Sears Point vintage races...one topic turned to another .... eventually we came to the conclusion we already knew each other! Turns out this "guy" was Jay, since we had only email communication we didnt know what the other looked or sounded like.