Monster vehicle has Timaru link

This 106-year-old car’s claim to fame is that it once backfired and blew out the windows at Timaru’s fire station.

The car, based on a 1913 Mercedes 28/95 sits in the Southwards Car Museum in Paraparaumu north of Wellington, was spied by a Stuff reader with the ‘‘Did you know? This vehicle backfired and blew out all the windows of the Timaru Fire Station’’ plaque standing in front of it.

But did it actually blow the windows out of the fire station? While Stuff hasn’t been able to confirm it did, we do know it was owned in the 1960s by Timaru firefighter Darcy Nicholson.

Another firefighter from that time could remember the car, which is almost a copy of the famous racing cars of Count Zborowski, whose cars became known in the 1920s as ‘‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’’.

‘‘I don’t ever remember hearing about the windows though. To me, it never blew out the windows,’’ Tony Roddick said.

‘‘It did, however, used to vibrate and rattle the windows of the St John building over the road.’’

That is no surprise considering it is powered by a six-cylinder 24-litre Zeppelin engine. Each cylinder had three spark plugs and four valves and produced four litres of power.

The engine is believed to be one of only two built and was similar to those that powered the Zeppelin air ships during World War I.

It was originally fitted with a six-cylinder Mercedes Knight engine but during restoration work Nicholson reportedly heard about a 24-litre motor that had arrived in New Zealand for a boat and eventually purchased it.

The massive engine apparently travel just three miles per gallon or burns 94 litres per 100 kilometres. The 35-gallon petrol tank gave the car a range of only 140 miles. It also consumed a gallon (4.5 litres) of oil every 25 miles (40 kilometres).

The car, believed to have been a German staff vehicle in World War I, arrived in New Zealand in 1928.

The power of the 5.79-metre long beast is such that it was reported it had to be driven everywhere in fourth (top) gear because it would spin the tyres in all ratios.