Junk in the Trunk – Five Rear-Engined Legends
June 4, 2021
The Porsche 911 is, let’s not lie to ourselves here, a brilliant car. Not only has it become an icon of design, it also stands as proof that daring to be different is no bad thing. The 911 has been a motoring mainstay for over fifty years, and in all that time the engine has never once been tempted to migrate to somewhere more traditional like the middle or the front. Nope, for fifty-odd years it has been out back, further back than the rear wheels. It shouldn’t work. But it did, it does, and for as long as Porsche keeps making the 911, it will continue to. But, hanging so far rearward they’re intimate with the reverse lights aren’t the reserve of Porsche. There are plenty of other classics that can claim stake to this most peculiar of engine locales.
For this list of five unusual rear-engined classics, we have elected to put in a caveat; every car must have an engine behind the rear axle. As per the 911. There are plenty of mid-rear engine cars, but they can’t play here. Instead, we want maximum pendulum. Oh, and you won’t find the Volkswagen Beetle here, because that’s basically a 911, right? Ahem.
Hillman Imp
You can’t have a list like this and not include the Hillman Imp. It was a revolutionary, clever, cheeky little car that – on paper at least – had the cojones to take on the Mini. While the Mini may have been a revolution thanks to the way in which the gearbox and engine were arranged, so too was the Imp. The all-aluminium engine was light and powerful, the inclusion of a diaphragm spring clutch made it a joy to drive, and, well, it was brilliant. Or it would have been had it been built properly. The quality was utterly abysmal, and many simply fell to bits. Had been just a bit better, it would have been a surefire sales sensation. What could have been, eh?
Skoda Estelle
Today, Skoda is nothing short of being a premium brand. It is, after all, under the wing of the Volkswagen Audi Group. However, back before the Germans took over, Skoda was quite happy doing its own thing its own way, as cars like the Estelle – as we knew it – went to prove. At first glance, it was a traditional three-box saloon. Look closer though, and you saw vents in the rear. Because that’s where the engine was. A little four-cylinder petrol mated to a transaxle. A fifes-speed in later cars, no less. It was quirky, it was different but it worked. It also made the Estelle an unlikely rally success!
Alpine A110
Speaking of rally cars, we should throw a mention to the Alpine A110. This small, sexy coupe was the result of Alpine and Renault coming together along with the pencil of Giovanni Michelotti. It was, and still is, an utterly beautiful little thing. However, it wasn’t all about the aesthetics. The A110 was, thanks to the engine from an R8 Gordini, quite the performer, too. I\t scooped up many a trophy over the 1970 to 1972 rally seasons, competing in the International Championship for Manufacturers. This included a win at the 1971 Monte Carlo Rally. The A110 started its career with a cast-iron engine, but finished with a new, upgraded, aluminium block engine, which pushed the power to 125bhp. In a 700kg car, that was… a lot.
Tatra 77
Skoda weren’t the only Czech car company to be fond of a bit of rear-engine action. Tatra was quite keen, too. And the country’s flagship brand didn’t do things by half. The car we’re looking at here – the Type 77 – was created by Hans Ledwinka and Paul Jaray. Jaray had previous form as the zeppelin’s aerodynamic engineer, and it shows in the 77. Thought of as being one fo the first car to be truly styled by aerodynamics, this 1934 machine was years ahead of anything else in terms of the thought process behind it. Coachbuilt around a platform chassis, it was powered by an air-cooled, rear-mounted, 3.0 V8 with hemispherical combustion chambers and a dry sump. It was a spaceship on wheels. And it was utterly, utterly brilliant.
Chevrolet Corvair
The Chevrolet Corvair. The car that annoyed Ralph Nader to a point where his blood pressure was higher than a Karcher. He said it was unsafe, and he was onto something seeing as at first it was a bit… crashy. But Chevrolet soon got on top of it, they sorted the once wayward suspension out and they made it work. And when it did work, it was a thing of wonder. The air-cooled flat-six engine was a decent, characterful power plant. The car itself was a reasonably good-looking thing, and Chevrolet was clever enough to offer it in every guise. Wagon, convertible, coupe, sedan or even a ramp-side pickup – the Corvair was all things to all men. They even built a turbo one with 180hp, the lunatics!
