The light tan colour is spot on, and I definitely prefer it with the top on, as it makes the hood look even longer. - Photo from allcarz.ru
This thing reminds me of that, mainly because it started life as the same vehicle in the same colour, but I think that scene is one of the main reasons I like it so much. I also like it because it looks like an off-road Rolls-Royce, with the long hood and exposed header tubes. It’s the Bell Aurens Longnose, and it’s the only one, although that wasn’t the plan, originally.
The Bell Aurens Longnose has a pretty cool history, really, but a rather unfortunate reality. Initially, a couple of Land Rover enthusiasts from Germany decided to modify an old Land Rover into an off-road luxury vehicle capable of going anywhere. Thomas Bell and Holger Kalvelage said, “Lawrence of Arabia would have stormed in the Bell Aurens Longnose towards Akaba, and General Montgomery would have roamed across the sand dunes of North Africa in pursuit of Rommel.” That’s a bold, confident statement, but they had faith in what they were doing, and the Land Rover itself, even in stock form, was already more than capable. Under the hood lies a basic Rover V8 making two-hundred-and-some-odd horsepower, which is fairly unimpressive for a vehicle built to storm. Why the long hood? Room for expansion. From what I can gather, they planned to offer the Longnose with one of three engines, the smallest being the Rover V8. The next step up was a twenty-seven-litre V12 Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine making fifteen-hundred horsepower. That’s a fair jump between the two, and I can’t comment on the powertrain upgrades that would have been necessary to hold it together. Better yet, there was a V16 option that was going to be offered, as well. Why doesn’t the concept have the big, attention-catching aircraft engine in it?
Simply put, it’s because the German government didn’t want a fifteen-hundred horsepower, off-road death machine to be readily available to anyone who could afford it, so to licence it, they had to stick with the V8. Unfortunately, laws didn’t matter in the end, as the company ran out of money in the late 2000s and never built a second one. This single example has traded hands a couple of times, and even though it’s rare, I’d still like to see someone install the aircraft engine in it. Rarity doesn’t always go hand-in-hand with value or desirability. Still, a set of knobby Mickey Thompson tires turned by fifteen hundred horses would definitely appeal to a niche market. Just think what Ace Ventura could have done with something like that.
Have a question or comment for Kelly? Post it at lmtimes.ca/kirk