Michel Mokrycki, who designed some of the radical prototypes that faced the Dakar Rally in the 1980s, died on December 17 at the age of 80. Robert Sarrailh of Autonewsinfo reported the news on Wednesday.

Mokrycki was the mastermind behind “Jules”, a Rolls-Royce Corniche that entered the 1981 Paris-Dakar Rally with Thierry de Montcorgé. As de Montcorgé’s mechanic, Mokrycki applied the body of a Corniche onto a Toyota Land Cruiser HJ45 chassis with a 5.7-liter V8 engine from a Chevrolet Corvette. The car was eventually disqualified after crashing and making an illegal modification. Earlier in December, Jules was auctioned off for approximately $600,000.

While that was Jules’ only Dakar, Mokrycki was eventually hired by Citroën to build prototype cars for Dakar such as the Citroën BX, CX, and Visa.

Jules’ Corvette engine was one of his many projects focused on American motors. Sarrailh, a close friend of Mokrycki, recalled he ran a garage in Ballainvilliers for American muscle cars, particularly a Corvette that he restored and shared with Le Mans veteran Henri Greder at the 1998 Tour Auto.

In 1994, he was drafted into the Dodge Viper sports car racing program, who wanted him to analyze and develop the chassis for the Viper RT/10. His contributions culminated in the RT/10 and eventually Viper GTS becoming one of the top American sports cars of the decade onward.

“On the topic of risky engines, Michel nicknamed them ‘Countdown Engines’. Why is that? Because after a few seconds, these fragile engines would give out quite dramatically, often because the mechanic had overlooked something,” wrote Sarrailh. “Save a place for us by your side, Michel, because we will miss you and our lively Saturday gatherings dearly.

“My deepest condolences to his family and close friends.”

Featured image credit: ATS