Sale-proof cars that people butchered......Why?

Ive said before that I hate people butchering classic iron. Now I'm not the type that thinks an SS396 Chevelle is "ruined" because it has an HEI distributor, halogen headlights and radial tires. On the other hand-I hate seeing '58 Corvettes with LS3 engines, six-speed automatics, rack&pinion steering, etc. Ive said many times sports car guys are smarter-you never see a '71 Datsun 240Z with the engine and tranny out of a 2011 370Z or a 1969 Porsche 911S with the drivetrain out of a 2015 Carerra, or a vintage Jag XKE with the motor and tranny out of 2017 F-Type. Ditto for motorcycle enthusiasts-you never see a 1971 Harley Super Glide with the engine and tranny out of a 2009 Softail, or a 1973 Kawasaki Z1 with the engine and tranny out of a 2014 Ninja !! Lately I've seen a bunch of cars in magazines and on the internet that are completely sale-proof. Their owners better love them-because no one else wants them at any price.  #1 This guy put a 389 Pontiac in a '57 T-Bird. Why would you do that? This car outraged GM and Ford guys alike. If he wanted more power than the ancient 292 / 312 "Y-Block" why didn't he swap in a later 302 or 351W? Or even a 390? At least a Ford engine, right? Ugh. # 2. This guy had a Chevy LS engine in a Fox Mustang. Again-Why?  Not performance. I know guys that are running 10s with 302s and 347s. An LS swap into a Mustang is an absolute nightmare, and what do you gain? Ford guys don't want it, Chevy guys don't want it. # 3. Angered the muscle car crowd and the import tuner crowd because he ruined 2 classics. This clown put the engine and tranny out of a 1998 Toyota Supra in a '67 Camaro. And he couldn't understand why people were storming his house with torches. # 4. The all-time more money than brains winner goes to.....The guy who put a 426 Hemi Crate engine in a Ford / DeTomaso Pantera!! Sports car guys lost their minds, Mopar guys lost their minds, and Ford guys lost their minds. A Pantera is a cool car. They look like a Ferarri, and they had a 351 Ford Cleveland V8 mounted mid-engine. And they were really fast. The buff magazines called them the "Poor Man's Lamborghini"-although at $10,000 in 1972 dollars-no poor people bought them. That was more than a Porsche 911S.  A Pontiac Trans-Am was $4,255 in '72. A Corvette was $6,000. Anyhow-again-if he wanted more power there's tons of speed equipment for 351C's-Edelbrock and Trick Flow make heads,Crane, Comp Cams and others make cams, etc. Or a 429 / 460 has the same bellhousing bolt pattern as a 351C and isn't much larger externally. But a Chrysler Freakin' Hemi?? Arrrggghhhh!!!!  # 5. This guy spent $250,000 that's not a typo-I didn't mean 25K, I mean a quarte of a million-putting the Turbo Diesel engine and Allison Transmission out of a 2014 GMC 3500 truck into a 1970 Chevelle. Why? For 100K you can buy numbers-matching LS6 Chevelles and 427 Stingrays all day in any of the 50 states, as well as Boss 302 Mustangs, Ram Air IV Judges,  440 Six-Pack Road Runners, 'Cuda AARs.  For 250K you can buy numbers-matching Boss 429s, or 427 Shelby Cobras. But this guy wants a Chevelle with a Diesel in it.  # 6. This clown spent 100K building a Kit Car-a Porsche 356 Speedster Replica. Now most of these kits cost about $20K for the complete kit which usually includes everything but the engine and tranny. Most guys go with a pumped up VW 4-banger, which will have more oomph than the original Porsche 4-banger, look and sound correct, and be dead-reliable. For $25K you could have a nice replica of a car that sells for 100K+ if it's original. If you wanted to invest a little extra bank-you could put a 6-cylinder 911 motor and matching tranny in it, and it would really rock. And still cost maybe 40-45K. No this genius spent 100K putting the drivetrain out of a Subaru WRX in it!!!  Porschephiles went ballistic. Kit Car guys rolled their eyes. Who in the hell wants a Porsche replica with a Subaru engine in it???  If he had 100K to spend why wouldn't he buy an original?? For 100k he could buy a prisitne '70'sor '80's 911 Turbo Carerra!!! He was shocked that when he tried to sell it he got zero offers. No shit sherlock!!  I don't know what these people were thinking. Mastermind     

New "Bullitt" Mustang.....

Ford is releasing a "Bullitt" edition Mustang for 2020. It looks pretty cool. It's available in Dark Highland Green of course, and Black. It's got Torq-Thrust style wheels,and a 480 hp Coyote motor backed by a 6 speed. It's got Recaro seats. I'm waiting to see if Car&Driver or Motor Trend or Road&Track tests one. I'm also wondering if Chrysler is going to counter with a "Bullitt" edition Charger-with a 465 hp Hemi, and black paint and special suspension.  The magazines could race around San Francisco. Now that would be cool. Mastermind

Childhood influences....

I guess Freud was right-childhood influences form your preferences as an adult. Maybe it's true with cars. My dad had a '64 GTO. It was a 389 / 4-speed. It was a 4-barrel model, not a tri-power, but it had 4.33:1 gears which made it really quick in a drag race. I remember my dad's buddy Dave coming to our house with his brand-new-1967, 400, 4-speed Firebird convertible. Like Waylon Jennings said in the "Devil's Right Hand" about guns-"I thought it was the finest thing I ever had seen." I didn't give a shit that my dad's GTO beat it in a drag race ( the Firebird had 3.36:1 gears ). I thought it was the coolest car ever. My dad's friends were all gearheads. Paul had a split-window '63 Corvette Stingray. Jan had a 289 Cobra. Sonny had an SS396 Chevelle. I grew up with musclecars. When my parents took me to see "Bullitt" I didn't care about the hero's Mustang. I loved that ominous black Charger. When I saw "Vanishing Point" in 1971-my dream car was an Alpine White Challenger. My mom's driver was a 1965 Pontiac Catalina 2+2 with the tri-power 421. My dad was a carburator wizard. He was great at tuning multiple carbs. Besides musclecar owners, he had Porsche, Datsun Z and Ferarri owners lined up to have him syncronize multi-carb setups. I remember the two guys who had the fastest cars in town-one was a 440 / Six-Pack GTX and the other was a 426 Hemi Road Runner, agreed to race after a bunch of people bet a bunch of money. It was like "American Graffiti" on crack. The stipulation was one mechanic would tune both cars. The best in town. My old man. I was at the shop at midnight the night before when this was being done. I was at the race. The hemi won, by half the length of the front fender. It was that close. Both parties agreed that my dad was the "Man" that both cars performed as good as they possibly could have. Tuning wasn't an issue. My first car was a 1969 Ram Air III, 4-speed, 4.33:1 geared GTO Judge. Who buys that for a 16 year old? My old man. I think he wanted it as much for himself as he did me. I lost my driver's liscence in less than a year. My dad was a Pontiac guy since 1959 when he bought his Tri-Power 389 Catalina. He later had the Goat, the 2+2. I remember as early as 1970 he wanted a Trans-Am. "Smokey and the Bandit" sold millions. My dad had a 400, 4-speed, WS6 1978 T/A my junior year if high school. I thought it was the finest thing I ever had seen. Like Waylon said. I bought one used, in 1983. I loved that car. It looked cool, the seats were comfortable, the engine idled smoothly,the suspension didn't rattle your fillings loose, and it was fast enough to back up the image. I didn't have to take crap from Corvette owners or "5.0" Mustang owners. It's weird, because even though I liked the "Transporter" movies-I have no desire to have a hot BMW or Audi. Their's just something about an old school-musclecar. My brother is a lifelong Pontiac Guy. He has a '69 GTO. But now his obsession is a 428 Mustang. He's been scouring the internet looking for a deal. I told him-you'll have to sell the goat and pony up some big cash-they don't give those away. He's still searching. Mastermind