Cross-Breeding is ok if it's period correct, and not a classic......

Hot Rodders have been cross-breeding for decades. Ever since the late '50's when someone swapped a small-block Chevy into a '32 Ford or a Cadillac V8 into a Studebaker coupe and instantly doubled their power output. A popular swap in the late'60's and '70's was guys with '53-56 Ford F100 pickups would put a Chevelle or Camaro front clip under them. This gave them modern disc brakes and power steering and allowed the installation of a small-block Chevy V8. These mods drastically improved performance and handling for low bucks. Purists griped, but it was easier to do than swapping in a Mustang II front clip and a 302. That's why it was so popular. GM guys have been doing it for 40 years. I know a guy that had an 11 second Pontiac Tempest powered by a STRONG 425 Olds engine. Another guy had an Olds Cutlass with a 454 Chevy in it. A friend in high school had a '66 El Camino with a 400 Pontiac under the hood that was a terror. A friend of my brother's put a 472 Cadillac V8 in a Firebird. These were all low-budget, "Backyard" swaps, but the cars were brutally quick and didn't cost a lot to build. A lot of times guys just transplanted a motor they had laying around into a body that needed a powertrain. Now some people are going to call me a hypocrite and say that I'm always railing about people putting LS engines into vintage iron, but I think this stuff is ok. I'm ok with these low-budget "Cross-breeds" because the Tempest with the Olds engine, was exactly that-a beater '66 Tempest that the guy stuffed a big motor in, not a numbers-matching Tri-Power. 4-speed GTO convertible, or a '69 Judge. The Pontiac powered Elky was a strippy, rough-but-running base model El Camino, not a pristine SS396. The Firebird was a 301 powered '79 model, not a 455 HO Trans-Am. That's the point I've tried to make until I'm blue in the face-I don't care if somebody slaps an LS3 into a beater Malibu or Camaro or Firebird. What drives me up the wall is it's always a numbers-matching, 4-speed, SS396, or a pristine '73 Trans-Am, or a numbers-matching Judge!!  I wouldn't throw a GMPP 454 or 572 crate motor into a one of the 678 1970 Buick GSX's. Anyone who even thinks that should be summarily executed. But if somebody wants to drop a snarling Rat motor and a TH400 into a beater '68-'72 Skylark who cares?  Super Chevy recently had an offensive one. A guy bought a pristine '71 Z/28 Camaro, yanked out the numbers-matching 4-bolt main, steel-cranked, forged pistoned, "202" headed, aluminum intaked,780 Holley carbed, solid-lifter cammed LT-1 and put in the LS!!!  Now why couldn't this guy have bought one of the literally millions of beater '70-81 Camaros or Firebirds out there? No it had to be a for-real, rare, Z/28 that he had to butcher. The most offensive one was a guy who'd put a 389 Pontiac into a '57 T-Bird!!  What I'm saying is, use some common sense. You like Pontiac bodystyles and Chevy engines? No problem. No one cares if you throw a 454 into a '69 LeMans, or a 383 into a '77 Firebird. Just don't do it to a Ram Air III Judge or a 400, 4-speed, T-topped "Smokey and the Bandit" Black and Gold SE T/A. So if you want to buy a "cross-breed" it might be a good deal, especially if it's a base model. If you buy a Pontiac Ventura with a 350 Chevy in it, then figure you have a Nova. Or if you have to have "Real" Pontiac power, playing musical engines with GM stuff is cake. You might to have chase some parts, but it won't cost you a mint. So that '58 Olds with the Chevy in it might be a good "Gasser" tribute project....Mastermind