Blastolene Special: 25 Facts About Jay Leno's Cistern

Jay Leno is very famous as an actor and comedian, he is probably best known to most people as the legendary host of The Tonight Show. Fame comes with some benefits, such as a salary that has allowed him to become one of the most famous car collectors in the world.

With an incredible collection of approximately 300-400 vehicles with an estimated value of over $50 million (excluding the future value of vehicles currently under restoration), it's safe to say that there must be truly unique vehicles. parked in his garage near the Burbank airport.

Over the years, Leno has become such a respected car aficionado with an in-depth knowledge of both classic and modern cars that he has his own Popular Mechanics and Sunday Times columns, as well as his own Jay Leno's Garage car show on CNBC. – Where he showed the public part of his incredible collection.

Of all the carefully selected, meticulously restored vehicles that make up his carefully curated collection, there are vehicles that truly stand out as truly special. Perhaps the most unique of these is the hand-crafted work of art Blastolene Special. While it's far from the most expensive car in his collection, it's certainly one of the most attractive. A car that manages to be obscenely huge and powerful, and at the same time seem at ease, may well be the best car for a real car enthusiast.

25 It is now valued at $350,000.

It can be said that Jay Leno got the real deal when he bought the Blastolene Special for just $125,000 in 2003. Especially when he saw today's estimated cost.

However, he also spent a small fortune upgrading the car. I don't even dare to guess how much money was put into this in total.

What the real price will be is absolutely impossible to say. It's a completely unique, one-of-a-kind car, so it could go for the appraised value, maybe more, maybe even less. Everything will depend on the market at the time.

24 They don't call it a cistern for nothing.

While some might think that its nickname "Tank Truck" is due to its sheer size, its huge engine is actually the reason for its nickname. The AV-1790-5B is a 1792 cubic inch engine that was originally used in a tank, the 1950 ton M51 Patton tank of the 47s.

Patton weighed 92,883 101,775 pounds - empty. The fully armed tank weighed 233 pounds. With 80 gallons of fuel on board, the Patton will be able to cover about 6 miles on the ground. That's about one-third of a mpg, which really makes Blastolene's XNUMX miles per gallon seem big in comparison. It also means that the clump under the hood has a lot less weight to haul around.

23 It's absolutely massive

The car weighs 9,500 pounds, of which 2500 pounds is from the engine—virtually the entire weight of the small hatchback. However, the overall weight of the car is only 1/11 of the weight of the original tank the engine was used from, so I guess that makes it the Lotus Elise of the world of tanks?

The Blastolene Special also has a 190-inch wheelbase with 3/4 of the car in front of the driver. It probably has the longest hood of any car ever made, but it still doesn't reach the front axle. This may follow the concept of a sports car with a wheel on every corner, but for a car of this size, it's a must for it to handle at all.

22 It was inspired by land speed record cars

The Blastolene Special was actually built to resemble the Bonneville Land Speed ​​record cars of the 1930s. Although none of these cars had a power plant like this one, they had less weight to carry. Much less weight.

So while the inspiration for the Blastolene Special may come from land speed record cars, it's actually nowhere near as fast as the fastest cars out of those cars, even with its high horsepower.

Again, speed probably wasn't the main concern when it was made, and it's still an incredible homage to Bonneville's speed legends.

21 Parts were stolen from several manufacturers

The Chrysler engine is taken from a Patton tank and the original gearbox is from a Greyhound bus. Jay Leno later replaced the transmission with a 4060-speed Allison HD6.

It uses a Ki-Gas system to inject raw fuel and bleed the engine before starting. The rear has a Rockwell 3.78:1 airbox and the rear suspension is a rigid parallel drive link. The front also features rigid parallel linkage suspension using 1/4 ellipse leaf springs and a dead axle from a Ford semi trailer. And of course it is combined with air suspension on Koni shock absorbers for large trucks. Sounds pretty expensive.

20 body aluminum

The unique, classic, retro style aluminum sheet cabinet is handcrafted and mounted on a steel ladder frame.

The aluminum has been polished to achieve an almost chrome look, making the Blastolene Special shine from every angle.

The rivets used to hold the panels together are visible throughout the structure, and there are openings on the side to showcase the air-cooled engine and also help keep it cool while driving.

Exhaust pipes of large diameter stick out from under the long hood before finally appearing on the side of the car. The hood also has slats for cooling, and just in case that's not enough, a nicely crafted grille should help the Blastolene breathe properly.

19 Suspension components nickel plated

All suspension components have been nickel-plated to keep the rest of the car looking shiny. Jay has stated in an interview that he prefers it over chrome and it's easy to see why. It just pairs perfectly with the shiny polished aluminum body without being too shiny.

It's things like this that really make a car stand out from the crowd, not that it wouldn't stand out without it... it's huge! But when attention is paid to every little detail, it makes the car even more impressive when you step back and let everything sink into it.

18 It was conceived, designed and built in one year

Yes, it is true. This incredible creation went from an idea in someone's head to a finished car in less than 365 days. I personally built show cars where we started with an existing car and I have to say it's just amazing.

To put things in perspective; they had to come up with a concept, draw sketches, build a framework, and find all the necessary details. Then they had to figure out how to make it all work together, and the handmade aluminum bodywork and the interior... all of this was done before a year had passed. It's pretty unbelievable if you ask me.

17 Leno changed him a lot

When Jay Leno first bought the Blastolene Special, it had no rear brakes, no headlights, no turn signals, and was far from legal road condition. It has since been converted to a roadworthy condition, but that's not all...

After a test drive that ended with the car pouring all the oil onto the freeway, a new engine was needed. And decided to add turbochargers. Almost doubling the power from almost 900 horsepower to 1,600 horsepower.

Of course, this meant the frame had to be beefed up and a lot of other things had to be upgraded to handle the huge increase in power.

16 He once dumped 17 gallons of oil on the freeway.

Right after the Blastolene Special was ready and road legal, Jay took the car for a test drive. Coming down the freeway for the first time, he did what any of us would do: he pressed the gas pedal to the floor. The problem was that someone thought it was a good idea to use a radiator hose as an oil line.

BOOM! The 90 psi oil pressure was too much for that radiator hose, and within 10 seconds it was spitting every last drop of that 70 liters of oil all over the road. Luckily, the story had a happy ending as it now needed to be rebuilt... and improved upon.

15 Jay Leno brought it to Jiffy Lube

Yes, you read it right. He brought a car to Jiffy Lube that needs 70 liters of oil. I'm guessing it was more of a publicity stunt than a necessity, especially since Leno has both the equipment and the staff to handle the job on his own.

PR stunt or not, but it's still a cool story, and the guys who worked on it will definitely have something to tell. And it's definitely a wiser move to take the car there to get an oil change than to just dump all 17 gallons of oil right on the road.

14 It was not originally designed for road use.

When Leno first bought the car and told Jay Leno's Garage builder Bernard Joukley to turn the Blastolene into a roadworthy car, he apparently looked at him and replied; “Just shoot me right now!”

Bernard has built many race winning cars and worked on countless projects over the years, so his response should be indicative of how much work went into getting the Blastolene Special apart and ready to drive legally on California roads. Apparently, he managed to do this, since both Jay and the car were regularly spotted on public roads.

13 Leno regularly rides it on the road

Video Youtube – CaliSuperSports

There are numerous reports of sightings of Leno and his Blastolene Special in their natural habitat, on the roads in sunny California. Considering Leno believes in using all of his vehicles, there's no reason why "Tank Truck" should be anything else. Besides, who wouldn't want to control this beast? Um, if you could afford to pay for all the fuel. that is.

If you're attending a car show or meeting, such as one of the car and coffee meetups, in the Greater Los Angeles area, keep an eye out for this massive silver monster as it's often on display for the public to see. closer.

12 It becomes a terrible MPG (but it's twice as good as before)

Once the turbos have been installed, the Blastolene actually goes twice as many miles per gallon as it did with the old engine. This may sound very impressive, but it really isn't.

Thanks to its massive weight and huge engine with tons of power, it now manages to get 5-6 mpg, at least it's better than the 3 mpg it was capable of before.

You'll need a small fortune in the bank just to pay for the fuel if you're going to take this little one for a nice weekend ride. Again, knowing who the owner is, he probably set aside money for just that.

11 Enough torque to turn wheels in 3rd gear

According to Jay Leno himself, this is the only car he has ever owned with an engine powerful enough to overcome the brakes. When his foot presses down on the brake pedal as hard as possible, the car will still pull when you step on the gas.

In fact, it has so much torque that the frame had to be heavily reinforced to stop it from twisting and flexing as if it were made of cardboard. To handle all that torque, a Rockwell 3.78:1 airbox was installed in the rear, the same type used on those huge dump trucks. Jay says it's made from "unbreakable billium" - and with a $4,200 price tag, that rings true.

10 Arnold was told it was a Terminator car

When Jay Leno hosted The Tonight Show, he brought the car over and introduced it as the "Terminator Car" to his guest, Arnold himself. There are some similarities between this car and the car that Arnold portrayed in these films. They're both oversized and muscular, and the T-800 also really shines when not wearing a "skin suit."

Apparently, Arnie liked it, which is strange given the low fuel consumption per gallon of this monster - it's pretty much the exact opposite of the cars that Arnold favors on environmental grounds. I'm guessing he was never told about fuel consumption, or maybe Leno told him he runs on smileys and rainbows?

9 It gives new meaning to the term "hot" car.

While I'm sure everyone will agree that the Blastolene Special is an eye-catching part of the car, the design isn't the only thing that's popular here.

With a big air-cooled engine, huge fins and cam-driven fans, driving a Blastolene Special can best be described as driving with a huge hair dryer.

Even on cold winter days, Leno can enjoy the car in a T-shirt because of the 100-degree wind on his face from the engine. It sounds like the perfect cruising car when it's cold outside, if you ask me. Although I'm not sure if I'll be riding it in the middle of summer.

8 It's not fast, but it's still faster than most people think.

While the Blastolene Special doesn't come close to speeding like the cars it was inspired by, it's definitely no fool. Looking at a massive car, it's hard to believe that this car can go faster than the average truck, but looks can be deceiving.

This 2,900-liter twin-turbocharged V30 engine, which hits the red mark at 12 rpm, produces approximately 1,600 horsepower and an even more impressive 3,000 lb/ft of torque. This powerplant manages to accelerate the car from 0 to 60 in just 6.2 seconds and reach a top speed of over 140 mph, while covering the quarter mile in 14.7 seconds at 93 mph.

7 Turbines are insanely expensive.

The two turbos used in the Blastolene Special are not the usual type of turbos you can just buy from any performance store. Like everything else in the car, they are special, which I suppose is quite appropriate, but it would be different if what everyone can get is used.

The turbos were sourced directly from Honeywell/Garrett Turbo Technologies, and what makes them special is that they are magnesium-hulled units that were originally designed and used for the Toyota CART effort. They are not officially for sale, but if they were, you would have to pay around $10,000 per unit.

6 It has been shown in video games

Fans of Polyphony Digital's successful Gran Turismo series have been able to take a virtual ride in Jay Leno's Blastolene Special ever since the fourth GT game was released.

The car ended up in Gran Turismo 4 "accidentally". The game's development team visited Jay's garage to record the engine noise, and upon seeing the car, they were so amazed that they ended up using it in the game.

So if you have a copy of Gran Turismo and want to try it out for yourself, it's called Jay Leno's Tank Truck. 900 horsepower.