Controversial – but great: Ferrari with Honda engine

That’s what my boss Madeleine says spontaneously when I tell her the premise of this story.

And in the same way, hundreds of thousands of car fans got the news that Mike Burroughs of Stanceworks ripped the V8 engine from his 1981 Ferrari and replaced it with a Honda 4-cylinder engine. The car portal jalopnik said that “the news broke the car internet”.

But first from the beginning:

So there’s mr. Mike Burroughs, a well-known eccentric in the American tuning and custom car scene. His company Stanceworks has already built several award-winning custom builds. There was a great international echo for this Ford Model A Hot Rod:

And logically, no one in the custom scene has a problem with changing everything, really everything, on a 1930s Ford – starting with the engine. But if a Hotrodder also applies the same approach to certain other car brands… uiuiui!

‹Certain car brands›? Oh, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. Modifying an old Jaguar… nooooo! An old Porsche… sacrilege!! Tinkering with an old Ferrari… DEATH AND DEVIL!!!

But that same Mike Burroughs bought a 1981 Ferrari 308 GTBi… with the stated intention of converting it into a 1000 horsepower Time Attack car. Yes, he says he always liked the design of this model, and yes, the one he bought was in pretty good condition. But a hot rodder like Burroughs always sees one thing in a vehicle: potential. There is still a lot of room for improvement with every car.

In the case of Ferrari, not least in the engine, which is a bit unremarkable to say the least. Now you could unscrew, clean, optimize the Ferrari 2.9 liter engine in hours of detailed work and in the end you might have got a few more horsepower out of it. Or you can use a more modern, lighter, more efficient and above all more powerful engine. One that can be easily adjusted thanks to the modern engine control, so that the car can be used exactly according to its purpose. The K24 Honda four-cylinder for example. And some turbos.

Burroughs saves weight, handling is better (by the way, consumption too – although it certainly is here .) Not about it) – and it sounds great too. In the end, he has a much better car.

Well, with this action he has it car internet angry at himself. At the thought of Honda standing on the engine under a Ferrari hood, people cried out in horror and murder.

They’re all little snobs.

In this case, I admire Burroughs’ pragmatism and inventiveness more than the iconic tribute of a top-class Ferrari restorer. Sometimes also because this is only the latest example of a decades-long cultural dispute about car culture.

On the one hand, there were the European luxury brands – Ferrari as an extreme example – which have always claimed expert status for themselves. The latter not without reason, because their cars were impressive and also had racing successes that proved them right. On the other hand, Enzo Ferrari’s sparkling designers were contemptuous garage owner were called – garage workers, so to speak: people like Carroll Shelby, who gave an English sports car an American Ford V8 … and made Ferrari hell with it. haha! seen? replace engine! Mike Burrough’s approach with his current project is exactly the same as that of Carroll Shelby with his AC Cobra.

The history of European motorsport has long been shaped by the European social structure of the interwar period. The racers in those early days were eccentric aristocrats (because racing was already ridiculously expensive back then). Thus, the European sports car tradition reflects the European class system. Sports cars were upper class toys. American motorsport tradition, on the other hand, Büezer history, popular culture. The automotive industry built high-powered cars that were factory configured to be tuned. As early as the early 1960s, Chevrolet and Ford were building cars that had Ferrari performance but cost a fraction.

The insistence on not being allowed to modify a Ferrari is thus a tribute to outdated class structures. The brand takes on the appearance of an aristocrat, as it were. Mike Burroughs, on the other hand, doesn’t bow to a Gessler hat for cars. Land of the free, home of the brave and so – can you? pursuit of happiness. His 1000 hp Ferrari is great, just wait and see.

Hey guys, don’t get me wrong: I have nothing against type-appropriate and historically correct car restoration. On the contrary. There is hardly anything better than, say, a 3.8-litre Jaguar engine. A historically correct full restoration is like renovating a work of art. Cultural heritage should be preserved here for posterity. It is a look back into the past. Restomods and hotrods represent the forward-looking; the creation of a completely new work of art. Both approaches can co-exist. And hey – Mike Burroughs’ vehicle spoils no rarity in the car. It is not a 288GTO or Daytona, but an example of the common 308 model range. There are plenty of 308s in original condition and with original engines. This one copy of Frankenstein will not take anything away from anyone.

To return to Madeleine’s statement: No, cars have no soul. They are vending machines. But the people who drive, design and build cars – they all have a soul. It’s about how the car makes the driver feel. This is soul. And this Honda-Ferrari certainly feels great.