One hundred years ago, building an engine to challenge the land speed records of the time was an immense undertaking; the builders did not have the ability to slap on a pair of turbos, dial up some timing increases through an electronic fuel injection system, nor datalog any of the vehicle’s important parameters.

Fiat’s engineers did it the old fashioned way during the construction of the company’s S.76 LSR machine, by building an engine with an insane 1,729 cubic-inch displacement from just four cylinders. Yep – you read that correctly. Seven liters – or 432 cubic inches – of displacement from each cylinder, was achieved by way of a 7.480-inch bore and 9.842-inch stroke.

The single-overhead-camshaft engine produced 290 horsepower at 1,900 rpm, running through one of the most rudimentary exhaust systems around, a set of squared-off pipes that are mounted to the side of the cylinder head and exhausting straight to the air.

The car has been under reconstruction for the last three years by Duncan Pittaway and crew of England, who located the single surviving Fiat S.76 chassis in Australia and began the painstaking process of reconditioning parts for which there were no substitute. In fact, the double-chain geardrive transmission needed to be recreated as it was missing, along with the radiator and bodywork. Pittaway and his team referenced original Fiat drawings and photographs of the period to undertake this monster effort.

In December 1913, the car recorded a one-way kilometer of 132.27 mph, unofficially the quickest of the time, and Pittaway has visions of exceeding that record when the car is finally tuned in.

There are dozens of photos in the links from the past three years on TheOldMotor, where you can see the progress as the car has been brought back to life. The sound of this beast makes us long for days gone by – a truly impressive accomplishment! This video is just a teaser; videographer Stefan Marjoram says the full-length video documenting the build will be out in 2015.