The prototype Lancia Triflux engine was built by Abarth for rallying. The prototype Johnny 5 sentient robot was built for use by the U.S. military in the 1986 movie Short Circuit. What a resemblance these two unrelated pieces of machinery share.
There they are, splay-armed brothers of another engineer-mother. The Triflux is a 600-hp, 16v, 1,759 cc twin-turbocharged version of the venerable Aurelio Lampredi-designed Fiat twin-cam to power the Lancia ECV2. That's the canceled successor to the Delta S4 in Group S rallying (the proposed replacement to Group B that never happened). Johnny 5 is a "Strategic Artificially Intelligent Nuclear Transport" capable of speech and self-perpetuation (he builds a copy of himself to fool the bad guys). And yet, could two entirely unrelated pieces of machinery look any more alike?
Coincidentally, the Lancia ECV and Short Circuit both debuted in 1986. Not coincidentally, the Triflux was named after its novel three-intake design, while Johnny 5 named himself after the El Debarge song, "Who's Johnny."
Reunited, and it feels so good.