Video: Tiny Offy Roars Like a Real One

At Motor City Garage, we’re suckers for working model engines. And so are you, judging from the huge response. Here’s a quarter-scale Offenhauser that looks, runs, and sounds beautiful—maybe enough to choke you up a little. 

 

Master model maker Ron Colonna built this little miracle. A quarter-scale replica of the classic 270 Offy, it’s approximately 11 inches long and seven inches high, and with a 1.032-in. bore and a 1.094-in. stroke, it displaces 60cc, or a whopping 3.66 cubic inches. Compression ratio is 9.5:1 and the ignition system is solid-state Hall Effect. The project took two years to complete, while the engine has been running for around 10 years now.

Other working miniatures built by Colonna include Gnome and Bentley rotary radial engines and a Harley Panhead. An authority on the construction of operating scale-model engines (now there’s a short list) Colonna has a website, ronsmodelengines.com, and a YouTube channel, where you can learn more about his work.

Colonna has also authored a book on how to build you own scale Offy, Building The 1/4 Scale 270 Offy: A Workshop Manual, which is available here for USD $40.95  Oh, sure. As if. This is a little like Picasso writing a book called Paint Like Me. One suspects there’s a little more to it than fits between covers.

Without further ado, here’s Colonna’s pocket Offy making real Offy noises.

 

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6 thoughts on “Video: Tiny Offy Roars Like a Real One

  1. Like MCG, I’m in awe of these scratch-built, jewel-like creations that are operational. We had a fully functional 1/6 scale Deusenberg at this year’s Glenmoor Gathering whoch was truly mindblowing.

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