I was reading Hemmings' Motor News the other day and I saw a 1971 Boss 351 Mustang for sale. It was priced at $79,995. Even for a restored Boss 351, I felt this was exorbitant. In the same issue they had two other Boss 351s for sale that were also restored and pristine, and one was priced at $42,000 and the other was $58,000. In reading the ads, the guy selling the one for 80K boasted that he'd paid $5000 for an original Autolite 4300 Boss 351 carburator. To me that's absolutely insane. That's the price of a whole car ( not a Boss 351, but you know what I mean ) that needs restoration, or a high performance crate motor at the very least. I mean, think about it, If a 1971 Boss 351 Mustang was your dream car and you found a pristine, numbers-matching Boss 351 that was even the color you wanted, and you could afford the asking price, would you NOT buy it because it had a non-original Autolite 4300 4bbl, or even say a 750 Holley or Edelbrock on it? Of course not!! You'd lay down the cash in a heartbeat, as would anybody with common sense. Even Concours show organizations have realized that our beloved musclecars are all 40 or 50 years old and expecting every nut and bolt to be numbers-matching is unrealistic. Most of them, whether their a GM, Ford or Mopar organization have amended the rules to make competing easier and less expensive. Let's take carburators since we started there. Most Concours show judging organizations say that the carb has to be the original "type." This means if you have a 1970 Z/28 Camaro, you can call Summit Racing and buy a new #3310 780 cfm Holley, put it on the car, and not lose points because it doesn't have a Chevrolet part number or 1970 date codes. Ditto for putting a Jet rebuilt Quadrajet on your 442 or L34 SS396 Chevelle, or a later-model Carter AFB on your 1964 GTO-it doesn't have to have 1964 or whatever date codes on it. The same for intake manifolds. If your restoring a 1969 Six-Pack Super Bee-and the tri-power setup is missing-you can buy a new manifold from Edelbrock and new carbs from Holley, and the linkage and air cleaner from Mopar Performance and not lose points because the parts don't have Chrysler part numbers or 1969 date codes. This also gives you a little leeway even if your just doing a generic engine. The manifold has to be the original "type."
This means that if the 400 your '68 GTO has a Quadrajet carb and manifold that came off a '72 Gran Prix, you won't lose any points because their the same as the original except for the part # and the date codes. The same goes for distributors and exhaust manifolds, and alternators and starters. Some have even relaxed the rules for engines. In other words-if your restoring say a 1969 SS396 Nova-all they require is that the engine block have late 1968 or early 1969 date codes. This means you can use an engine that came out of a 1968 Impala or 1969 Chevy pickup or Chevelle wagon. It doesn't have to be one that corresponds with only a '69 Nova SS. For transmissions they've gone the same way as carbs and intakes-in other words, you can buy a TH400 from TCI or B&M or your local Aamco, put it in your GM car and not lose points because of the numbers on the case. Or if your restoring a 1957 Corvette or 1962-63 Super Duty Catalina you can buy a new BW T10 4-speed from Summit and not lose points because the case doesn't have 1957 or 1962 date codes. The Pure Stock drag races only require that something be an OPTION on that model, that year. This means if you want to throw a Mopar Performance crate Hemi in a 1970 Challenger that originally had a 383, and race it, it's legal. Or if you want to build a W31 -spec 350 Olds for your 1969 Cutlass and race it, it doesn't have to be anm original W31 car. That means you could take a 350 1971 Chevelle and put a 454 in it and race it because the 454 was an option on the Chevelle that year. If your not competing in Concours shows or the Pure Stock drags, then things really open up. If you want to throw a 455 Pontiac into a '79 Trans-Am that originally had a 403 Olds in it ( the TH350 will bolt right up; BOP engines share the same bellhousing bolt-pattern, only Chevys are different ) who cares? Don't go crazy and spend a bunch of unnecessary money chasing stuff with a certain part number on it, when you don't really need it!!. Mastermind
No comments:
Post a Comment