Canadian bought a 70-year-old unused Rolls-Royce crate engine with no idea what to expect

When this man bought a 70-year-old Rolls-Royce crate engine at a public auction, he had no idea what to expect from the ‘mystery’ box.

The brand-new engine had been placed in a box shortly after it was made and forgotten about for seven decades. 

However, when it went up for auction last year, YouTuber Pacific Northwest Hillbilly decided to snap it up. 

He bought the sealed box for scrap money, but had no idea what he was actually buying.

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There’s always a risk buying a car or engine sight-unseen from auction, like this man who took a chance on a $130,000 Plymouth Superbird only to later find it had numerous issues, or this guy who flew from the US to Germany to pick up his dream 1966 Corvette only to find the car in parts when he arrived.

Nonetheless, YouTuber and car enthusiast Pacific Northwest Hillbilly decided to take a punt on a 70-year-old Rolls-Royce crate engine after it went under the hammer. 

The Rolls-Royce crate engine was listed for scrap money, and the YouTuber was unable to resist. 

“It was advertised only as a four-cylinder crate engine, but clearly from this crate it’s something old and probably unique,” he said in a clip uploaded to YouTube. 

“So there was one grainy picture of the engine, and I like a mystery.”  

After snapping up the old crate engine, the YouTuber had to use a tractor to get off his truck, and at times it looked as though the engine might be too large a task for the tractor. 

As he tried to remove it from the truck, parts of the wooden box even began to fall off into his hands.

With a lot of time, effort, and patience, the engine was finally taken off the truck, and it was time for it to be unboxed. 

Inside, he found a Rolls-Royce military engine, part of its ‘B Range’. 

The B Range was developed during the 1940s and had five different versions. 

The one inside the crate was the B40, a 2.8-liter inline-four engine, putting out only 80 horsepower. It was the smallest military engine Rolls-Royce made. 

Incredibly, despite spending so long locked away and having never been used before, the YouTuber managed to get it going, and it didn’t even require much work.

He fitted a new carburetor, added fresh fuel and oil, and – ta dah – the 70-year-old engine roared to life. 

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