Yesterday I noticed another article about the apparent upcoming Duesenberg Torpedo Coupe, where once again, a famous old name is used to give a brand new concept car the aura of a classic. That’s another subject altogether. However, there were two things I didn’t notice before. One, is the company is also designing a motorcycle to carry the name with a scheduled introduction at Daytona Bike Week 2006. Two, the car and motorcycle are both going to be powered by the CEM engine from EP Industries. The reported specs on the engine are somewhat unbelievable so I looked a little further.

The CEM or cylindrical energy module, is a six hole cylinder, sort of like a six shooter, with an opposed piston in each bore giving it a twelve cylinder designation and effective output. The size, 18 inches in diameter and 24 inches long is supposed to deliver 300hp!

The CEM is already being used as a pump and compressor in many applications and appears to be quite successful. Of course, since a piston engine is really only an air pump anyway, turning an air pump into an engine is a logical step. The EP Industries web site has some animations showing the operation of the engine which takes a careful viewing to understand but it looks promising.

Where their power numbers come from isn’t explained though this may be their prototype and if they are planning to introduce a motorcycle and car in the time frame they speak of, I would hope they are well past the theoretical stage. The engine is billed as a supercharged, self-lubricating, air-cooled, multi-fuel, four-stroke cycle engine. Hmm… If it does what it says, they are definitely on to something. There are a lot of alternative engines showing up these days in various stages of development, perhaps this one is a bit further along than the rest.