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Looking Back at Tinker Toy, the 4.2-Liter, 48-Cylinder Kawasaki Motorcycle

Simon Whitelock’s Tinker Toy is a road-legal, 4,200 cc two-stroke motorcycle built from sixteen Kawasaki KH250 triples. Its Guinness record is for a vehicle engine with 48 cylinders.
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The 48-cylinder Kawasaki is Tinker Toy, a one-off, road-legal motorcycle built by Simon Whitelock from sixteen Kawasaki KH250 three-cylinder engines. Its Guinness World Records title is for the most cylinders in a vehicle engine—not for speed or power.

How many cylinders does the Kawasaki have?

Tinker Toy’s record-setting engine has 48 cylinders and a capacity of 4,200 cc (256 cu in), according to Guinness World Records. It is a two-stroke engine. The record category is “Vehicle engine with the most cylinders”; it does not establish a speed or power record.

How was the 48-cylinder Kawasaki built?

The main engine combines sixteen Kawasaki KH250 triple-cylinder engines. Guinness describes the cylinders as arranged in six banks of eight, while Bonhams’ catalogue also identifies the sixteen KH250 donor engines. Whitelock built the motorcycle around those engines rather than producing a Kawasaki factory model.

New Atlas reports that an auxiliary starter engine was fitted to crank the main engine. That starter’s role is distinct from the 48-cylinder configuration cited for the record.

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What is the 48-cylinder Kawasaki called?

The motorcycle is called Tinker Toy. Bonhams catalogued it as the “2003 Whitelock 4200cc Tinker Toy” and described the record as the project’s purpose. Guinness identifies Whitelock as the builder.

When was Tinker Toy built?

Whitelock began the project in 1998 and completed it in 2003, according to New Atlas. Guinness describes the finished motorcycle as road-legal; Bonhams’ catalogue likewise identifies it as road-legal.

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What happened to the motorcycle?

New Atlas reported that Tinker Toy sold at Bonhams’ Spring Stafford Sale in April 2024 for £92,000 including buyer’s premium. That figure is a historical auction result, not a current valuation or confirmation of the motorcycle’s present ownership.

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What the record does—and does not—tell you

The documented claims establish the cylinder count, displacement, two-stroke configuration, donor-engine model, and broad bank arrangement. The cited sources do not establish a verified power output, controlled top-speed result, comprehensive bill of materials, or measured road-test result. Tinker Toy’s significance is its unusual engineering and cylinder-count record, not a demonstrated performance figure.

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Quick Recap

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