Awesome Kong: King Of The Kongs

Flip open the hood of a new truck on the lot today, and you might find fewer cylinders in the block than there are fingers on your left paw. We get it; new-age tech gives us better fuel economy, which means more spending change available for the other money-hungry 4x4s in our lives. Jeff Dane evidently had no plans for fuel savings, or modesty of any kind, when constructing his monster truck—”Awesome Kong II” stomped its way onto Four Wheeler’s cover in June of 1985.

The truck was an instant crowd-pleaser with its Competition Orange paint and 73-inch tires, but the real hook was the engine. Before finding its home inside Awesome Kong II, the V-12 Allison airplane engine powered a World War II P-51 Mustang, and later, an Unlimited Class hydroplane named “Miss Madison.” Both of those vehicles boasted top speeds north of 200 mph. Packing about as many pounds as a typical 18-hand Clydesdale, the mill was good for 3,000 hp at 4,500 rpm and 2,500 lb-ft of torque at 3,000 rpm—that’s 1.75 horses per cubic inch of engine and 2.2 horses per pound of engine weight. Want more specs? Awesome Kong II chugged 1.7 gallons of 100-plus octane fuel per minute; the gas was mixed by four 930cfm Predator carbs and was ignited by 24 spark plugs. Jeff claimed he could smoke all four tires from a standstill using only a quarter-throttle. It took 10 gallons of oil to keep the engine lubricated, and cooling was courtesy of the 33-gallon-capacity system consisting of two radiators and a hydraulic fan… read more >