Great Ideas that never were.....But we sure wish they'd built them!!

GM , Ford, Chrysler and AMC engineers all had great ideas from the 60's to the '90's, that for some reason were killed by the upper management either because they weren't cost-effective, or the bean counters thought they wouldn't sell, or just plain stupidity. Whatever the reasons-I thought you might enjoy reading about some of the best ideas that never came to pass. #1. 1970 and later LS6 Camaro SS and Nova SS. Initially, Chevrolet was going to offer the mighty LS6 454 in the Camaro and the Nova as well as the Chevelle. Since the 396 was already an option on those cars it would have been a drop-in. The low hood line of the Camaro is why the intake manifold on the LS6's was so flat. It actually lost 10-15 hp over the 1969 Corvette 4bbl 427 manifold, but it was made that way to clear the low hood. This is also why, contrary to many people's mistaken beliefs-there were no 1970 LS6 Corvettes. Zora-Arkus Duntov fully expected the more radical LS7 to make production as the 'Vettes top dog, so the LS6 wasn't offered. At the last minute the brass decided to cut down on model proliferation-and the LS6 was offered in the Chevelle line only. Too bad-Motion performance showed us how badass LS6 Camaros and Novas could have been.  # 2. 1972 and later 429 / 460 Mustang and Cougar. When the Mustang was redesigned for 1971-the engine bay was made to fit the big dogs, mainly because Ford knew Pontiac was allowing the 455 in the Firebird line, and they thought Chevrolet was going to allow the 454 in the Camaro. Plus, Chrysler had the 383, 440 and 426 Hemis optional in the 'Cuda / Challenger line. Any of these cars would crush a 351 Mustang in a "Stoplight Gran Prix." There were a very few 429 Mustangs built in 1971 but not many, and for whatever reason, the option wasn't continued for '72. Too Bad-460 Mustangs and Cougars might have given the 400 and 455 T/A's a run for their money a couple years later.  # 3. 1971 and later 440 Magnum Javelin AMX. Althought Mark Donohue won the Trans-Am Championship in a Javelin, on the street the 390 and 401 AMC engines could never compete with the big dogs from GM, Ford and Chrysler. One of the AMC engineers got the bright idea that since AMC used Chrysler transmissions-( The automatic was called "Torque-Command" instead of Torqueflite, but that's what they were.) if they could buy the big 440 Magnum and stuff it in a Javelin, they could finally give the finger to those arrogant GM guys in their 454 Chevelles and 455 Olds 442s and GTO's. Chrysler execs considered it-they could have turned a tidy profit-especially if they also offered it in trucks and Waggoneers. Ultimately, AMC brass decided against it. Too bad- how cool would a 440 Javelin have been?  # 4. 1973 and later Pontiac "366".  Herb Adams and some other Pontiac engineers built a 366 inch Nascar engine and campaigned it in a Grand Am. The reason was the 427s had to have restrictor plates. Engines 366 ci or less did not. This is why Bobby Isaac canpaigned a 351C Torino, and why some teams went to 350 Chevys and 360 Mopars. After racing it, Adams thought it would make a great production engine with all the strengths of the Pontiac V8-massive low-end torque-but without the inherent weaknesses-large-journal cranks that broke under stress. He even built a street-style prototype and dyno'd it, and was right. Built with a 3 inch main crank and 6 inch rods ( slightly shorter than the 6.625 "regular" Pontiac rod ) and Ram Air IV style heads-the 366 made more power and torque than a 400 or a 455, revved higher, and got better economy. Adams and the others wanted this to be Pontiac's flagship engine for the future. Think of how cool an '80's T/A would have been with a 366 inch, 6 inch rod, "Tuned Port Injected" motor? The lazy and skeptical brass didn't believe Adams and associates that the 366 was more powerful and more reliable than the 400 and 455 engines which were based on a 1954 design. They were laughed out of the office. The phenomenal success of the modern GM LS motors tells us Adams was right. # 5. 1989 $30,000 Dodge Viper. After seeing the phenomenal success of the new for 1984 C4 Corvette-Chrysler engineers wanted a Corvette fighter as far back as 1985. They liked the idea of a racy 2-seat sports car-and they thought if they kept the price under 30K they could sell a lot of them and compete with the Corvette, Porsche 944 and Nissan 300ZX Turbo. Using a 360 V8 and a five-speed out of a Dakota pickup with a Hurst shifter, they built a two-seater using off-the-shelf parts. It performed well-about as good as a Corvette in 0-60 and 1/4 mile sprints, and it handled good. But Iaccoca listened to Carroll Shelby and others who wanted the Viper to be "Better" than the 'Vette. Thus all the delays and the development of the V10 and the six-speed, and all the other stuff., including the $65,000 in 1990 dollars pricetag. Considering that a Ferarri 328 Quattrovalve was only 68K at the time, this was not a good move-No one was going to pay Porsche or Ferarri prices for a Dodge Anything-no matter how bad ass it was. That's why Vipers never sold well. If they'd built the 30K two-seater, I'll bet they'd have sold like hot cakes. To all these we say-"We would have liked to know you......."  Mastermind