On this page you will find pictures of the remaining motors.
(11 Sorianos, 3 Hors-Bords Jean Dupuy, 4 Romanis, 1 Romani Soriano mix)
This 4 Cylinder was one of two that made it to Sweden in 1931. It was used in 1931 and 1932 by Swedish racer Eric Pehrson. He decided to buy a 6 cylinder in 1932, but never brought one back to Sweden. This 4 cylinder was sold and later droped in a wall as it was being poured. Sweden (buried in wall)
Ex Gar Wood's Soriano. Nr 1060. This Soriano made its way from Europe (ex-Forbes, UK) to the USA. Wood lended it to the Army Corps of engineers to have it reversed engineered. It was destroyed then repaired and found it's way to Australia... it's the only Soriano 6 with the original exhaust muffler. It is mounted on a Walker Bauman lower unit.
Len Melly's Soriano. (England).
This Single cam motor is very intresting. It nicely shows
the transition from a stock "Soriano" to a Romani-Soriano. It still has the original Soriano heads and Lower Unit. The rest notably the crankcase, the supercharger, the driveshaft casing (oil
tank) have already been modified by Romani.
(See Len's story below)
" Len Melly acquired this Soriano motor from Toby Sutton Snr. in June 1957 complete with a single step sit in style hydroplane. According to Toby it had just been
returned from Italy from a complete overhaul at great expense. However it never really reached its full potential due to consistent missing at high speed which turned out to be a cracked
head.
Barimars had tow goes at repairing the head without success and when Len was at Lugano with Normal Buckley later in 1957 he went to see Augusto Romani in Milan, who by that time had taken over the
production of the Soriano. Unfortunately the models being produced at that time had twin cam heads.
In spite of everything (then mounted on a big Dee hull) this Soriano did manage to break the existing National X class in May 1958 at 59.83 mph without the cracked head.
Shortly afterwards Len Melly acquired a Mercury 75hp and this Soriano was put to rest. At the time the engine had a complete cosmetic restoration and kept in a showroom where it remained for some
time.
(This was told by Len Melly)
This is also a Dual Cam Motor. Jean Dupuy heads, Romani Super charger, Soriano Lower unit. This one was raced in
the 40's and 50's by French racer Auguste Gerbaud. Hors-Bord Jean Dupuy (with Romani Supercharger)
in 2016 the motor was acquired by a Spanish collector.
This is a Dual Cam Romani Motor. It is equipped with a Romani Lower unit, and a Romani Super Charger. It was raced in the European Class X championships by German racer Robert Richter. In a Museum... Deutschland
Another one of Romani's master piece. Lower unit removed to prevent injury.
This was the most successfull engine. Raced in the late 40's and 50's by two italian brothers Renzo and Augusto Romani. It has a Romani crankcase, Romani lower unit, Alfa Romeo super charger specialy built for Romani by it's racing department, and Jean Dupuy heads. it was also equipped with dual carbs. Most of this Romani engine ( 95 %) was built post war by Romani. It even bears the name "ROMANI" on the back of it's crankcase. During class X races it was refered to as a Romani-Soriano.
This late 40's Romani motor was the spare engine used as a backup. it's original lower unit was removed and sold... it is now mounted to a French made 30's Dupuy 4ft drive for looks...