Le magazine et marché mondial pour les passionnés de voitures classiques, par des passionnés.
Le magazine et marché mondial pour les passionnés de voitures classiques, par des passionnés.
What do you get when you mate a quite ordinary Chandler with a V-8 aero engine? Fire, lots of fire! And there’s plenty of that in this Chandler that started its life at a Buenos Aires Chandler dealer. Ermanno Blanchiardi, their sales manager annex racing driver, decided he wanted some publicity by racing one. The Chandler however, was anything but a racing machine, so Blanchiardi fitted one of the overhead valve V-8 Curtiss aero engines that happened to be readily available from military surplus after the Great War. Blanchiardi competed with the Chandler-Curtiss Special until 1923, with considerable successes. A new owner also raced the Chandler-Curtiss, but after a few years pushed it into a corner of his workshop, where it remained forgotten until a couple of years ago. Still bearing many of the scars of its competition life, the Chandler-Curtiss will be auctioned by RM at their Automobiles of London sale on October 29. (photos courtesy RM-auctions)