{"id":461045,"date":"2007-02-01T12:00:26","date_gmt":"2007-02-01T20:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=67254"},"modified":"2024-12-02T19:35:54","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T19:35:54","slug":"mephistopheles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/mephistopheles\/","title":{"rendered":"Automotive Art &#8211; Matthew Stephens&#8217; &#8220;Mephistopheles&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='memberful-global-teaser-content'>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Land Speed Record-Breaking Fiat Artwork<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Artist Matthew Stephens conjures an evocative image of the monstrous 21.7-liter Land Speed Record breaker.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMephistopheles,\u201d the Land Speed record-breaking Fiat, was one of the most fearsome of the aero-engined specials popular in the 1920s. Starting off as a 4-cylinder, 120-hp Grand Prix car with an engine of 18-liters, it was converted by Ernest Eldridge, who purchased it from John Duff after the engine blew up at Brooklands in 1922. Eldridge went on to install a 21.7-liter Fiat airship engine with an overhead camshaft and 4 valves for each of the 6 cylinders. The engine was capable of 320 bhp at a maximum of just 1,800 rpm and tires were often a casualty of the tremendous levels of torque. Installation of this giant engine required the chassis to be lengthened and it gained 16 inches bringing it to 14.5 feet. Famously, the story goes that sections from a London Omnibus were used in the process.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n        .memberful-global-teaser-content > :last-child{\n            -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n            mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n        }\n    <\/style>\n<div class='memberful-global-marketing-content'>\n<div class=\"cs-paywall\">\n<div class=\"cs-paywall__card\">\n<div class=\"cs-paywall__top\"><span class=\"cs-paywall__label\">Members only<\/span><span class=\"cs-paywall__price\">$29 <em>\/ year<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"cs-paywall__title\">Keep going. <span>This is where it gets good.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"cs-paywall__lead\">Supercars.net Membership is for people who&#x27;d rather know the spec sheet by heart than skim ten headlines. 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Cancel anytime, no hoops.<br \/>Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/?memberful_endpoint=auth\">Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"cs-paywall__trust\"><strong>BY CAR PEOPLE, NOT A NAMELESS MEDIA COMPANY.<\/strong> Your membership keeps a small independent team that celebrates the brands and cars that defined this industry doing this.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"cs-paywall__sticky\" href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/checkout?plan=86696\">Join &mdash; Keep Reading <em>$29\/yr<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Land Speed Record-Breaking Fiat Artwork Artist Matthew Stephens conjures an evocative image of the monstrous 21.7-liter Land Speed Record breaker. \u201cMephistopheles,\u201d the Land Speed record-breaking Fiat, was one of the most fearsome of the aero-engined specials popular in the 1920s. Starting off as a 4-cylinder, 120-hp Grand Prix car with an engine of 18-liters, it was converted by Ernest Eldridge, who purchased it from John Duff after the engine blew up at Brooklands in 1922. Eldridge went on to install [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":279,"featured_media":655414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11296,263,1590,11272],"tags":[16904,17152,1591,21708],"class_list":["post-461045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-history","category-car-culture","category-fiat","category-members-only","tag-automotive-art","tag-car-culture","tag-fiat","tag-fiat-featured"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Automotive Art - Matthew Stephens&#039; &quot;Mephistopheles&quot;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Artist Matthew Stephens conjures an evocative image of the monstrous 21.7-liter Land Speed Record breaker.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/mephistopheles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Automotive Art - Matthew Stephens&#039; &quot;Mephistopheles&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Artist Matthew Stephens conjures an evocative image of the monstrous 21.7-liter Land Speed Record breaker.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/mephistopheles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Supercars.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-02-01T20:00:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-02T19:35:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/AH200702.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew Stevens\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matthew Stevens\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/mephistopheles\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/mephistopheles\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matthew Stevens\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/de80536fef7e1e83b27f8a1ab9ab6889\"},\"headline\":\"Automotive Art &#8211; 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