The word “more” is arguably responsible for most of the improvements in the automotive world. Whether it was more displacement, more power, more torque, more speed, or more noise, gearheads always want the next big thing. Luckily for those people, there’s usually an automaker who’s just as happy to provide that as they are to buy it. In the car world, this can range from performance sub-brands like AMG all the way through to dedicated engineering and tuning companies like Hennessey, Brabus, and Shelby, who take existing cars and make them wilder, unbound by the constraints of being owned by the parent company.In the motorcycle world, these extra-performance versions are usually provided by the brands themselves under the guise of homologation specials. However, there’s one brand that blurs the lines between cars and bikes, creating a bike around a V8 sports car engine, and making something devastatingly powerful in the process, and truly honoring that “more” automotive mantra. Motorcycles With Car Engines Aren’t A New Phenomenon Mecum Van Veen OCR 1000 While rare, replacing a motorcycle engine with a car engine isn’t exactly unheard of, as it’s happened before. All the way back in the 1970s, Dutch company Van Veen had the idea of putting a rotary engine into a motorcycle. The engine – a 1000cc twin-rotor Wankel engine – was originally developed by Comotor, which was a joint venture between NSU and Citroën, and was supposedly good for 100 hp.The bike was produced in a very limited run of 38 and cost $15,000 new in 1978 (the equivalent of $74,568 today). Between the exceedingly high price, poor press reviews, and reliability issues associated with a rotary engine, it didn’t exactly fly out of showrooms, and it effectively fell into anonymity. Millyard Viper V10 MPW57 Via Wikimedia CommonsBritish engineer Allen Millyard has made some crazy bikes in his time. From the Tinker Toy, a 4.2-liter, 48-cylinder Kawasaki, to the Flying Millyard which uses an aviation engine, he’s responsible for bikes that shouldn’t really exist. The most relevant here, though, is his Millyard Viper V10 – a hand-made, street-legal motorcycle with a 500-bhp 8-liter Dodge Viper V10 engine in it, capable of reaching over 200 mph.Millyard actually used the bike to set the fastest tandem motorcycle world speed record in 2023. With TV presenter Henry Cole on the back, the pair went 183.5 mph. Münch Mammut 2000 Classic TraderOne of the weirder-looking bikes with car engines, the German-engineered Münch Mammut 2000 had a two-liter Opel EcoTech engine inside of it, which was good for 260 hp and an electronically-limited top speed of 156 mph. Only 15 of the planned 250 bikes were officially made before Munch realized that the production cost exceeded the retail price, so it goes down as one of the most expensive and rare car-engined motorcycles ever.While many brands have tried and failed, there’s one company that made it their mission to take Corvette engines and mount them in motorcycles – and they’ve made a success of it for over 25 years. Meet The Boss Hoss: A Corvette-Powered Chopper MecumThe Boss Hoss was started by Monte Warne in 1990 with the goal of creating a bike with three to four times more horsepower than any other bike available.He created that first bike for himself using a Chevy V8 engine from a StockCar and, after a successful showing at Daytona Bike Week, he turned it into a business.The first bikes were somewhat primitive and crude, but hints at what was possible. A 1992 model — one of the first couple dozen to roll out the factory — had a gas tank made from two wideboy tanks split and welded together, creating a massive 8-gallon tank at a time when 5-gallons was large.Youtube: SrkcyclesIt was needed, though, as the V8 Chevy 350 crate motor the bike had wasn’t going to be easy on fuel. For comparison, cars with the same engine at the time — like the Silverado — had 25-gallon tanks. Sure, there’s more weight in a car, but these bikes aren’t light — you’re easily looking at over 1,000lbs on one.As you can imagine for a bike with such massive weight and power, finding motorcycle tires that could cope with all that heft was impossible. So they didn’t — they used a car tire on the rear instead.Youtube: SrkcyclesHarley-Davidson parts were also repurposed, with the bike emulating the prototypical cruiser design. Far from being limited-run machines, though, there was instantly a market for the bikes, as the company was selling 300 bikes per year by the mid-1990s.From there, they iterated, adapted, and became more of a production company than a radical engineering one, manufacturing bikes for people who want the biggest bike on the block. Boss Hoss BHC-3 ZZ4 SS MecumBy the late 1990s, Boss Hoss had evolved from the original designs and into a more professional setup, making changes like swapping the one-speed bikes for a two-speed automatic transmission, improving build quality, inverting the suspension to improve handling, and refining their offering.In 1998, it looked like the Boss Hoss BHC-3 ZZ4 SS — a 5.7-liter V8, making 355 hp and 405 lb-ft of torque. Boss Hoss Cruiser Bike Boss HossOne of the two types that Boss Hoss sells now (in addition to a range of trikes), the Cruiser has a few engine options, including a 376 cubic inch GM LS3 engine, as used in the 2008–2013 Corvette, while the top option is a 496 cubic inch Big Block engine, pushing 600 hp.With a dry weight of 1,100 lbs and a wet weight of 1,226 lbs and an 80” wheelbase, it’s not the most maneuverable, so the bike actually has a reverse gear to help riders. Boss Hoss Touring Bagger Bike Boss HossIf Harley Davidsons are the King of the Baggers, this must be the Emperor of the Baggers. Like the Cruiser, it comes with multiple engine options, this time stopping at the 454 cubic inch Small Block that sits beneath the 496 ci Big Block. The Bagger also has a reverse gear — helpful, given the even-larger 84” wheelbase — while the 43.5” width (thanks to the panniers at the rear) mean that even a Small Block engine doesn’t look out of place in this behemoth. Boss Hoss Continues The Search For “More” MecumThe quest for “more” is one which can never truly be completed — it can only be temporarily satisfied. It’s led to some of the greatest machines on the planet, and keeps people guessing what the next iteration could be.At least, that would be the case for most situations. Sure, engines can get bigger, top speeds can be faster, power can be increased, but to what end?Boss Hoss was born from that pursuit of “more”, and has chased it ever since — to the point of creating great 8-liter motorcycles with more power than a Porsche GT3RS. What the future holds for them and their bikes remains to be seen, however, it seems that they’re far from alone in wanting to see what the next iteration of “more” looks like.Sources: Srkcycles, Yesterdays.nl, Boss Hoss Cycles Germany, Motorcycle Cruiser, Auto Evolution