More on what upgrades are ok....

Had some more debates about modifications to musclecars. Here's my take-everybody did something to their cars back in the day. Just like now. If you bought a new 5.0 Mustang or Hemi Challenger today would you leave it bone-stock for the next 20 years?  Probably not-chances are you'd add a Cat-Back Flowmaster exhaust, a Hurst shifter, a K&N air filter. Maybe some aftermarket wheels. More hardcore guys might add a Magnussen blower. So a '68 Camaro with a 327 that has an Edelbrock "Tarantula" manifold, a 650 Holley, headers, and some Cragar S/S mags is just as "Right" today as it was in 1971. Now a '68 Camaro with an LS3, a 4L80E, and 20 inch Center Lines is not cool. See what I'm saying? As long as the mods are "Period Correct" and don't irreversibly damage the value of the car-like cutting up the trunk for wheel tubs-I'd say it's ok. This includes changing engines and transmissions. A guy I know bought a six-cylinder, 3-speed Camaro at an auction. He dropped in a mild 350, a Saginaw 4-speed, added some rally wheels, spoilers and stripes, and now everyone "oohs" and "aahs" over his "Z/28".  Another guy bought a gorgeous '64 Cutlass convertible. He chucked the 330 V8 / ST300 2-speed, and dropped in a 403 / TH350 combo. He also added front disc brakes and front and rear sway bars pirated from a '75 Gran Prix. The improvement in performance and handling was stunning. And to the casual observer-they wouldn't notice an HEI distributor-the car looks stock. Now again-if he'd stuffed an LS motor and a 6-speed in it, I'd be griping about him messing up a nice car. I'd even say a little cross-breeding is ok if it's "Period Correct". A few examples I've seen-a guy had a '71 Pontiac Ventura-Pontiac's version of the Nova. A lot of them had 250 inch Chevy Sixes, or 307 Chevy V8s. Some had 350 Pontiacs. His was a 307 version. He chucked the 307 and dropped in a stompin' 383 inch Small-block Chevy. Now for him to put "Real" Pontiac power in it-he'd not only have to change the engine-but the transmission as well-Chevys and BOP engines have different bellhousing bolt-patterns. Further-all the accessories-power steering, alternator, water pump, fuel pump. belt pulleys-are all different. So dropping in the Chevy motor was the path of least resistance. And who cares if a 307 Ventura now has a 383 in it? Another guy had a '64 Tempest with a stompin' 425 Olds V8 in it. He had 11 second time slips for it. Now if it was a numbers-matching Tri-Power GTO with an Olds engine in it, I would take issue. But a 326 Tempest? What? There's one less Fake GTO running around?  Thank god for that. Another guy had a '66 El Camino with a 389 Pontiac in it, that was a rocket. And no, it was not an SS396. I read an article in a magazine-I think it was "Street Rodder"-about a guy that bought a '57 Chevy that had been a race car since 1962, and had always been campaigned with a Pontiac engine. I thought it was really cool that instead of spending a gazillion dolars returning it to "Just as it left the Factory" he was restoring it as a race car-complete with "incorrect" Pontiac engine and he was going to run it at vintage drag events. In the same issue a guy had a beautiful 1961 Impala-that had a 500 Cadillac / TH400 powertrain. Moved the big car way quicker than the 283 / Powerglide combo it replaced. Chevy purists will gripe-but again-it's an Impala-not a Split-Window Fuel-Injected Stingray!! And at least it doesn't have F%^&in' LS motor in it!!!  Like everything in every magazine.  Mastermind