Barn find, restoration and tuning: a '58 Brivio Vieste, the “Punisher”.
(Props to @CadillacDave for lending me the car!)
Hi, I’m Nathan García and this is my latest creation. A 1958 Brivio Vieste I like to call “Punisher”.
The car in its original state.
I found this antique a couple of weeks ago, back from a roadtrip in my beloved rat rod Erin Visto Mk3. I stopped at my local dinner to get a burger and some fries when I saw this thing abandoned at the parking lot, inside a sea of Shromets, Kimuras and the ocassional Nohda and Cavallera, with a “for sale” sign on it, and couldn’t help but approach the car. Seeing as the car was pretty rusty and the tyres deflated, I called the number on the sign and managed to buy it for only $2000. I brought it to the shop and I started working on it.
The first thing I did to it was removing the rust. A couple hours of scrubbing with a chemical agent later, the chassis was free of rust. The next thing I did was take the engine out and see if it would run, but unfortunately it wouldn’t, so I left it for later. I replaced the worn shocks and springs for stiffer springs and gas dampers; I replaced each and every corner of the car, and the worst part was the rear end (them Europeans insisting on fancy independent systems).
I then removed the rear seats, replaced the front ones with leather bucket seats (the American way!) and removed the radio and safety systems. And to top it all off, I gave the front a nice lip to generate some downforce and a splitter at the rear with the same purpose. After all these modifications, it was time to give the car a nice new set of shoes, so I shoved some nice radials there and swapped the wire rims with some nice alloy American Racings.
So naturally the engine was the next step. And I was going to do it proper: carburetors and natural aspiration. No turbo bullshit here. The original engine was pushing 114 horsepower approximately from its 2.5 liters of displacement; I started by replacing the crank, conrods and pistons for forged components, installing a custom high end cam, and replacing the alternator and deleting the mufflers. The jewel of the crown, though, were the three Weber carburetors feeding the engine; I tuned them to deliver around 1 part of fuel for each 13,8 parts of air, then gave the engine quite a few degrees of advancement and shaved off the head until the gas was compressed in a 11.0:1 compression, roughly. The previously 92 octane leaded fuel was replaced with 95 octane premium unleaded. To top it all off, I extended the rev range, hell yeah!
When the moment of truth came, the engine was placed back into the car and on the dyno. The engine was producing 230 horses at 7100rpm. Might not have the low end of a big block, but it sure packs quite a punch. With all that sorted, I replaced the old 4 speed trans with a 5 speed manual from a Caliban Thunder kit car, and played around with the ratios. The last two things were a Quaife LSD and a British green paintjob. Why British green on an Italian car? Because I felt it could give it that “posh” touch.
So I took it for a ride, and while it’s not too powerful, this thing pulls! The LSD and 5 speed box make it capable of going from 0 to 62 in just 5.9 seconds, and top out at 145, which is more than a lot of classic muscle cars can achieve.
The cornering was also greatly enhanced by the shocks and springs. The Punisher was now pulling 1.12Gs at 20 metres and 1.08Gs at 250m.
In retrospect, modifying the car was very much worth it. While hard to work with due to its sheer age, the car greatly rewarded me with a quick, corner happy experience, while at the same time being as classy as only a 50s car can be.
Would I modify another Brivio? Goddamn right I would, but probably a different one from a different era. Perhaps I could try to see what these guys made back in the day and see if I can get my hands on any of them machines? Who knows. But for now, I’ll just enjoy this grand tourer turned rocket.