Cool cars that were killed before they were launched....

There are a lot of cool rides that manufacturers considered and then, for whatever reason-fear of insurance and safety nazis, resistance from bean counters, whatever-caused them to change their mind at the last minute, which denied enthusiasts of some really cool stuff.  #1. Pontiac Banshee. In 1966 Pontiac was developing a two-seat sports car code-named XP-833 that closely resembled the Mako Shark show car-which basically became the 1968 Corvette. Two prototypes were built one with the 230 inch overhead cam six that was later available in the Firebird and one with a 326 V8. The one with the 326 was noteworthy because Pontiac V8s are externally identical from a 326 to a 455. This means they could have easily dropped in the mighty 421 into the light fiberglass roadster-which would certainly have been a competitor for the 427 Corvette, and would have undoubtedly cut into 'Vette sales. Chevrolet brass howled to the high heavens, and the project was killed. One good thing that came from this-when work began on the Mustang fighter-i.e. the Camaro-John DeLorean-then president of Pontiac- loudly protested and said since Pontiac had been screwed on the XP-833 / Banshee-that they damn sure should have a piece of the Camaro program. The Firebird was born-and the rest is history. If the XP-833 hadn't been killed, we might never have had the Trans-Am. Still, a 421 powered two seat Poncho sportster would have been cool.... # 2. 1970 LS6 Camaro SS and Nova SS. Initially the mighty 450 hp LS6 454 was slated to be optional in the Nova SS and the Camaro SS as well as the Chevelle. Since both cars already had the 396 as an option-it would have been a bolt-in. Development got so far as production LS6 Chevelles had a flat intake manifold designed to clear the low hood of the new for 1970 Camaro. Fuel actually had to flow uphill from the carb to the intake ports. The taller 1966-69 396 / 427 manifold is said to be worth 15-20 hp more than the low-rise LS6 intake. Also-Zora-Arkus Duntov-chief Corvette engineer-fully expected the much more radical LS7-( 12.25:1 compression, ultra-hot L88 cam, etc ) to make production as the 'Vette's top option, so he saw no need to offer the LS6. At the last minute, the brass decided to cut down on "model proliferation"-whatever that means-and the LS7 was nixed. It was sold as a crate engine over the counter to racers and enthusiasts for years. They also killed the LS6 for the Camaro and Nova, leaving only the Chevelle SS and and a Few El Caminos with the LS6. Oddly-things were reversed in 1971-the LS6 now rated at 425 hp with 9:01 compression instead of 450 and 11:1-was only available in the Corvette. It was listed in early 1971 Chevelle sales literature but never made production. Anyhow-since a Nova weighs 600 lbs less than a Chevelle-how badass would an LS6 Nova have been? Can you say 12s off the showroom floor?  11s with headers and slicks? Sadly-we'll never know. # 3. 1971 Boss 429 Mustang. 1969-70 Boss 429s were actually 428 models that were converted by Kar Kraft and Ford lost money on every one. The larger 1971 Mustang was designed to swallow a 429. The Boss Nine would have fit easily and could have been built on Ford Production lines. However-Ford decided to cut back on it's racing programs-both in Trans-Am and NASCAR. With no need to sell cars to the public to homologate the engines for racing-the Boss 302 and 429 were killed. Since you could get a 426 Hemi or a 440 in a Challenger or 'Cuda, and a 455 in a Firebird Formula and Trans-Am, Ford offered the "regular" 429 CJ in the '71 Mustang-but very few were built. For '72 the largest engine in a Mach 1 was the 351C. Too bad. The larger, longer, better balanced '71-73 Mustang would have awesome with a Boss 429. Damn.  # 4. 1977 AMX. By 1975-the GTO and Chevelle SS were no more, the 'Cuda and Challenger were gone, the Road Runner was an apperance option on the large Sport Fury, the Charger was a re-badged Chrysler Cordoba-yuk-and the Mustang was more Pinto than Mustang. The Javelin was no more-which was a mystery-like Pontiac did with the T/A-the Javelin could have continued unchanged until 1979-with a 401 V8 and a 4-speed or an auto and no competition!! But AMC stepped on their dick twice-once in 1975 when they dropped the Javelin and again in 1977 when they nixed a T/A fighter that would have succeeded. The largest engine available in a Corvette was a 350-and the Z/28 took a 2 1/2 year hiatus from 1974-77. Musclecar buyers didn't magically go away after 1974-the manufacturers stopped making cars that they wanted to buy. This was why Pontiac Trans-Am sales doubled or tripled every year since 1973. They sold 50,000 in 1976-and 68,000 in 1977-and that was BEFORE "Smokey and the Bandit" which was released in May 1977-it's impact on sales wouldn't be felt until the 1978 model year when they sold 93,000 units. Anyhow in April 1977-Chevrolet quickly resurected the Z/28 Camaro-with T/A style graphics and spoilers and a 350 V8 and a 4-speed with 3.73:1 gears or a TH350 with 3.42:1 gears to fight back. 1978 was actually a record year for Camaro sales.  Every automaker was scrambling to find a Trans-Am fighter. AMC came out with a handling and appearance package on the compact Hornet. Since AMC engines are like Pontiacs-externally identical from a 290 to a 401-the engineers got a brilliant idea-the 304 was available in the Hornet. The 401 was available in big cars like the Ambassador and Jeep Pickups and Waggonneers. If they stuffed the 401 into the compact Hornet-which weighed about 3,000 lbs-it would have blown the doors off a 400 powered Trans-Am that weighed about 3,800. It wouldn't have been sexy-but like the '68 Road Runner-it would have been a badass, stripped down street fighter. The AMC brass nixed it-saying the public only cared about appearance. The Hornet AMX was released with cool graphics and a great heandling chassis and a 258 inch six cylinder or a 2bbl 304 V8 that wheezed out about 120 hp. There wasn't even a manual transmission option. And they were perplexed that they didn't sell. Decisions like this are why AMC went bankrupt. #5. 1977 Hurst /Olds. A prototype was actually built with a 403 V8, a TH350 with a 2,400 rpm converter, 3.42:1 gears,NASCAR inspired styling-ala Richard Petty's Cutlass-and Trans-Am front and rear sway bars, and a killer silver and black paint job recalling the legendary '68 model. The buff magazines raved-saying it was faster and better handling than a T/A or a Z/28. Sadly- for whatever reason-it was never released by Oldsmobile.  # 5. 1989 Buick Reatta. Buick engineers wanted to make the swoopy Reatta rear-wheel drive and put the badass Turbo GN powerplant-which lived on in the 20th Anniversary T/A in it. Again-Chevrolet brass lost their mind-that would certainly hurt Corvette sales. The GM brass caved and killed it.  And again-like Delorean griped in 1966-the public lost. The Reatta was released as a front wheel drive two-seater with a normally aspirated 3.8 V6 that wheezed out about 140 hp. And they wondered why they didn't sell.  Anyhow-too bad ome of these cool cars didn't come to market. Mastermind            

More on avoiding the hard way.....

I thought I'd share some more stories of people who almost dove into impossible projects, mainly because their simply uninformed. One guy had a 1981 Turbo Trans-Am that he wanted more power out of. I suggested that he buy a 400 or 455 Pontiac for an instant power infusion. The motor mounts are in the same place, and all the tin and accesories would fit provided the bigger engine was a 1970 or later model. ( '69 and earlier use different motor mounts).  This would be the easiest and cheapest way. The 2nd easiest way would be go to a junkyard and get a supercharged 3.8 V6 out of a wrecked Bonneville SSEI or Gran Prix or Riviera. Get the wiring harness, and the fuel pump, and you'd be good to go. These engines had 240 hp stock-more than the ill-fated 301 he was replacing-and could easily be upped by changing the pulleys on the Roots-type supercharger. Of course he asked about hopping up the 301. 1st off- they were a lightweight "economy" motor that other than external dimensions and the valve covers, oil pan, and timing cover-absolutely nothing interchanges with a traditional-i.e.-326-455 Pontiac V8. There is zero aftermarket parts available for these engines. I mean nothing-no heads, intakes, headers, cams- nothing. He said why couldn't you just turn up the boost?  If they wouldn't hold up to seven lbs of boost when they were new-how is one 36 years old going to hold up to 15 lbs or more?  There's no forged pistons available, no heavy duty rods, nothing you could do to beef one up to handle a large amount of boost. My other suggestion was if he didn't like the first two-he'd have to get a Chevy bolt-pattern transmission-was drop a small or big block Chevy crate motor into it. I also suggested that if he absolutely had to have a Turbocharged engine that he buy a fuel-injected 3800 V6 and the wiring harness out of a late-model Buick Lesabre or Olds or Pontiac and contact Kenne-Bell or T/A performance. Both companies do extensive work with Buick Grand Nationals and could probably set him up with a Turbo setup fairly easily. I also suggested contacting Gale Banks-he's had great success Turbocharging big-block Chevys. What about turbocharging a 400 Pontiac? Part of the reason the 301 Turbo was a dog-as were pre-'85 Buick Regal T-Types-was it was nearly impossible to make the turbos work with a carburator and avoid detonation on cheap gas. Grand Nationals only got badass when Multi-Port Fuel Injection was adopted in 1985. It's much easier to map a Turbo fuel curve with electronic fuel injection than it is with a carburator. I might as well have been talking to the wall. "There's got to be a way to turbo a "real" Pontiac engine." Like there was a way for Harrah to put a Ferarri engine in a Jeep....The other guy I think I mentioned in an earlier post-wanted to buy his neighbors pristine 4-cylinder '89 Mustang and hop that up, by putting a V8 in it. I told him it would be much easier to just go buy a "5.0" Mustang. There's millions of them out there at reasonable prices-and swapping the 4-banger for a V8 would be a huge hassle and expensive-much more expensive than just buying a car with a V8 already in it!  Then he asks about turbocharging the 4-banger. Again-the easy way would be just go buy an '84-86 SVO Mustang that already has a turbocharged 4 in it-with between 175 and 205 hp depending on year-and you could turn the boost up and get 100 more easily. The 2.3 Ford 4-banger has a bulletproof bottom end and can handle it. So why couldn't he Turbo the normally aspirated '89? Because the myriad of parts you'd have to chase down-again the time and cost factor would be so prohibitive-plus-again this guys is not a dealership mechanic-he's a grocery clerk-who has no Idea how to map a fuel curve or set up a knock sensor-etc- would be better off just buying an SVO. Why he was obsessed with taking on this project I don't know-I have over 30 years experience as a mechanic and service manager-and If I wanted to play with a Fox Mustang, I would just go buy a "5.0" or an SVO!!!  Why amateurs want to attempt things that would make a pro cringe, I don't know. Like I said-I sometimes think sports-car guys are smarter-If they want a Datsun Z or a Porsche 944 with a Turbo-they scour the want ads and the internet and go buy one!! They don't buy a normally aspirated one and try to "convert" it!!  If they want a 6-cylinder 911 or a 914 / 6-they pay the price. They don't buy a 4-banger 912 or 914 and try to "build their own"!!  That's all I'm saying-don't bring untold frustration and financial disaster into your life when you don't have to. Mastermind        

I always suggest the easy way, not the hard way....

I was talking to some guys who had mid-80's GM "G" bodies. One was an '85 Pontiac Grand Prix and the other was an '86 Buick Regal. They asked my opinion on what I would do for more power. I told the GP owner to swap in a 350 or a 350-based 383 stroker Chevy and the Regal owner to swap in a 350 or 403 Olds. The reason for this is the GP had a 305 Chevy under the hood and the Buick had a 307 Olds. Both of these would be literally bolt-ins. Of course, they had to ask the questions of why didn't I recommend a 400 Pontiac or a 455 Buick. Because returning these cars to "real" Pontiac and Buick power would be more trouble and time than it would be worth. 1st off-Chevy and BOP engines have a different bellhousing bolt-pattern, so the GP owner would need a new transmission as well. Secondly-none of the accessories would interchange-a Pontiac engine uses a different starter,fuel pump, and water pump. The brackets for the alternator, power steering pump and a/c compressor are totally different. So is the oil pan, timing cover, valve covers, etc. Trying to chase all that stuff down through junkyards or parts stores would be expensive and almost impossible. Remember-the last 400 Pontiac was built in November 1977-40 years ago. ( They were stockpiled for use in 1978-79 Trans-Ams ) If he was dead set on "Real" Pontiac power-he'd have to find a car with a running Pontiac engine and get EVERYTHING. Except any decent '60's or '70's Pontiac is going to be fairly pricey. And I'm not just talking about GTO's and Firebirds. Anything from Say-a '67 Catalina to a '77 Gran Prix-is going to be fairly pricey if it's in any kind of drivable condition. So your going to spend anywhere from 5 to 10 grand on up so you can remove the engine and tranny and stuff it your '84 Gran Prix that's worth maybe 3 grand if it's nice??  Wouldn't it be a lot easier and cheaper to just buy a 350 Chevy crate motor and bolt it in in like 4 hrs and use all the accesories that are already on the 305 that's in the car?  As for the Buick guy-he wouldn't need a different tranny-the car already has a BOP bolt-pattern  trans. But otherwise he's in the same boat. A 455 Buick's accesories-the fuel pump, starter, water pump oil pan, valve covers, power steering and alternator brakcets, etc are completely different from the 307 Olds. However-the 350 / 403 Olds engines, are externally identical-and can use everything off their little brother.      And again-he's going to do what-buy a '60's or '70's Century or Riviera or LeSabre for major bucks-and then dump the motor into your worthless '80's Regal?  I mean seriously-who want's a non-Grand National '80s Regal?  I was simply telling them to take the path of least resistance, both financially and in terms of mechanical grief.  It's funny-people who come up with these ideas are never mechanics by trade. An experienced mechanic would know not to attempt it!  Another one is people see something in a magazine and want to copy it. Yes it's possible to put a 460 into a Fox-Bodied Mustang. But why? I know guys that are running 11s with 302s!! Besides being horribly expensive-again nothing from a 302 interchanges with anything on a 460, including the transmission-it's not going to run any faster than you could with a hot 302 / 347, and it's going to be nose-heavy and ill-handling. So why do it?  I don't mean to be cynical all the time-but I do try save people from taking on projects that are much beyond their mechanical abilities-stuff that would be hard for a professional mechanic in a state of the art shop-you definitely don't want to attempt in your home garage or driveway. Casino Magnate Bill Harrah once put a Ferarri engine in a Jeep Wagonneer. Yes, anything is possible-but it's almost never cheap or easy!!  I try to always recommend the path of least resistance in terms of both money and grief. I'm trying to help. Really. Mastermind  

"Rare" doesn't always mean "Valuable"....Some cars aren't collectible, just weird....

I get all kinds of emails from people asking me what I think think their "Ultra-Rare" car is worth. 99% of the time I have to disappoint them and tell them that their car is not collectible, it's just weird. This problem stemmed from the big three-( GM, Ford & Chrysler ) having huge options lists and many overlapping models, and dealers ordering "Price Leaders"-i.e. strippy models with weird option combinations. For example-you hardly ever see one-but the standard drivetrain on a Monte Carlo in the '70s was a 250 inch straight six and a 3-speed manual trans with a column shifter. I remember my dad worked at EZ Daivies Chevrolet in Redwood City, California in 1972-and Al Davies-the owner-bought a bunch of these strippy Monte Carlos from Chevrolet and sold them for $2999!!  Now who but a complete mooch wants a Monte Carlo with a six and a manual trans, and no A/C, no radio, etc??  He sold every one they had!!  A guy I knew bought a '72 Formula 350 Firebird off an old man back in the early '80's. It had no guages, no a/c, no radio, and dog-dish hubcaps on steel wheels. It had a 350 V8 with a 2bbl, and a 3-speed manual trans. Turns out the old guy wanted a "Sports Car" back in '72-and loved the look of the twin-scooped hood that Formula Firebirds had. He wanted a strippy base-model Firebird-and would have took one with the standard 250 inch six. The salesman told him-correctly-that the scooped hood was not available on base-model or Esprit Firebirds, and if he had to have it-he'd have to step up to the Formula line. The salesman tried to sell him a nice Formula 400 that he had on the lot-that had guages, a/c, an automatic, etc. Nope. Cheap old bastard ordered a strippy Formula 350-because they were cheaper than the 400 models by a couple hundred bucks-and would not order any options whatsoever-not even an am radio!! He kept it ten years, put very low miles on it-and then sold it to my pal when he failed his driver's test. My buddy swapped in a 400 and a 4-speed and had a nice, lightweight drag racer. One of the few times in my life I've ever seen a car with not a single extra-cost option, not even floor mats!  For some odd reason-back in 1967-68-the height of the musclecar era when gas was 30 cents a gallon some genius decided that replacing the GTO's and 442's 350 hp 400 4bbl engines with 265hp 2bbl models and swapping the standard 3.36:1 axle for 2.93:1 was a great idea. They called them "Turnpike" specials and lowered the price a couple hundred bucks. They were shocked when they didn't sell. Duh!!  No one wanted a GTO or 442 that didn't have any balls and got 16 mpg instead of 12!!  If you run across one today-they aren't worth anything-other than being a clean GTO or 442 body. And putting a 4bbl carb and intake on it, and changing the gears isn't going to "harm" it's value!!  For some odd reason-while GM and Ford were putting front disc brakes and power steering on nearly all their musclecars-if it wasn't standard-it was a low-cost option-like $42-Chrysler didn't. You see all kinds of GTX's with a 440 and a Torqueflite-with no power steering and 4-wheel drum brakes!! Ditto for Chargers and Road Runners. Why would you sell a 4,000 lb car with a 375 hp engine, and NOT have power steering or power brakes??  I spoke to a guy once who had a 1966 Corvette with the 390 hp 427 and a Powerglide!!  Now what moronic dealer ordered that?? And what was Chevrolet thinking in even offereing that combo?  From 1965 on in an Impala you got the excellent TH400 with the 327 or the 396 or 427. Yet the awful 2-speed "Powerslide" was the only auto you could get, even in a 396 Chevelle or the mighty 'Vette. The TH400 wasn't available in a Chevelle til 1967 or a 'Vette until 1968!!  Anyhow-when I suggested to this guy that swapping in a TH350 would be easy and would greatly increase the car's performance-he was aghast. "And ruin it's value??!!!"  Sorry pal-true, it has some value just being a 427 Stingray-but it's not worth anywhere near what a 4-speed, L68,L71,L72,or L88 or L89 model is, and it's not worth anywhere near what you think it is. I've had this argument with Mustang and Charger owners. No one cares about your 2bbl 351C or 2bbl 390 coupe, or your 2bbl 383 or 400 Charger that's "rare". Shut up and put a f&*%ing 4bbl on it!!  This crap continued up until the '80's. I've argued with people that their 301 powered Trans-Ams and 305 powered Corvettes, while admittedly rare, are not worth anywhere near what their 400 and 350 brothers are !!!  So let's be clear-two-speed automatics and 3-speed sticks,column-shifted bucket seat cars,4-speed bench seat cars, two-barrel step-down engines,radio and heater delete cars, etc are not cool, their just weird. If you have one or can buy one cheap and want to play with it-good for you. But it's not an "Investment". Mastermind      

I miss low-budget engine swaps and home-built nasty hot rods.....

It seems that people can't get enough of megabuck projects-if you believe the buff magazines-even Street Rodder who always clung to "old school" hot rodding is doing more and more features on high-dollar stuff. I get that they have to do what's popular to stay in business and please their advertisers but the same-old cookie-cutter cars every month gets old. I remember back in the '80's a lot of guys built low-buck hot rods that were really quick. I built a V8 Vega and I knew a girl who had a V8 Pinto. My cousin had an SPL311-The Datsun 2-seat convertible that looks like an MGB-that someone had put a 215 inch aluminum Buick V8 and a Muncie 4-speed into. It had homebuilt, fenderwell exit headers, and a 600 Holley on an Offenhauser intake. It sounded badass, and it was blisteringly quick. And, since the aluminum V8 only weighed about 20 lbs more than the 4-banger it replaced, it handled good too. Another guy we knew had a '65 GMC pickup with a 389 Pontiac under the hood that was really quick. Sometimes guys would just stuff an engine they had into a car they had. One guy I knew stuffed a 472 inch Cadillac V8 into an '81 Firebird. It was fast. Another guy put a 440 Chrysler into a '73 Javelin. AMC's used Torqueflite transmissions anyway-so he didn't have to swap trannys-it was relatively easy and the car was a LOT faster than it was with the 360 AMC that spun a bearing. I saw a Camaro with a 455 Olds under the hood, and an El Camino with a 455 Buick in it. If I remember correctly the 455 Buick powered Elky won the burnout contest at Hot August Nights one year. Another guy I worked with had a 2wd '78 Chevy Stepside pickup that was lowered and looked mean. With a 500 inch Cadillac V8 under the hood, it was mean. People might say these cars were "bastardized" but they were unique and a lot of fun to see, drive and drag race and bench race with. And who or what did we hurt? It's not like we cut up the trunk of a Hemi 'Cuda for wheel tubs, or chopped up a '63 Split-Window Stingray. Someone stuffed a Cad V8 into a Chevy pickup-who cares?  Carroll Shelby did it when he stuffed a 260 Ford V8 into an AC Ace and made the first Cobra. Plenty of guys my dad knew had 327 Chevys in Austin-Healey 3000s. The buff magazines called them "The Poor Man's Cobra".  I'd like to see more homebuilt engineering like this. Just a thought. Mastermind    

I miss Light,and lightning fast hot rods....

All the buff magazine lately seem to be embracing the "Bigger is Better" theory. Every car that is featured has a 500+ inch stroker motor. The "small-block" cars are 392 and 427 inch Fords based on 351Ws, 383,400,and 427 and 454 inch small block Chevys, 410 inch Chrysler "LA" engines, and 350 inch Olds engines stroked to 440 inches. Just because something is possible, doesn't mean it's worth doing. If you want a 454 inch Chevy-there's millions of them in junkyards in 80's and '90's trucks, as well as GMPP selling them as crate engines. Why bore and stroke a 350 to get 454 inches? Rather than getting a 350 Olds Diesel block and and spending bookoo bucks on machine work and cutting down a 425 crank, and using special rods and custom pistons to get 440 inches-I'd just buy a 455. They were used in every Olds model from 1968-76, so their not exactly a moon rock. The point I'm trying to make is I remember a lot of guys who had lightweight cars with small or medium sized engines that were blisteringly fast. My cousin had a '63 Nova that had a 283 bored to 301 inches that had a 4-speed and 4.56:1 gears that was an absolute rocket. He showed his taillights to many big-block cars. Another guy had a '64 Falcon with a 289 that was badass. A buddy of mine that had a restored 440 Road Runner got his doors blown off by a hot 302 powered '72 Maverick one night. I had 2 Pontiac Venturas ( Pontiac's version of the Nova ) that were great street racers. Venturas only weighed about 3,100 lbs. About 700 lbs less than most '70's Firebirds.  One was a '73 Hatchback with a 350 Pontiac. Dual exhausts and an Edelbrock P4B manifold and a rebuilt Q-Jet, and a shift kit in the trans made everyone think I dropped in a 400. I blew the doors off a buddy's '70 Chevelle that had a 300 hp 350 in it, and another buddys '66 Chevelle that had a 327 and a 4-speed. Because of the power to weight ratio, it was deceptively quick. I totally shocked a guy with a 351C powered '72 Mustang. The other one was a '71 model that had been a six-cylinder model. This one was really light-it had no power steering, no power brakes,no a/c and had small bumpers-the heavy 5mph bumpers weren't introduced until 1973. This one weighed about 2,900 lbs. I dropped the 400 and TH350 out of my wrecked Trans-Am in it. Weighing 900 lbs less than the T/A-( which weighed about 3,800 ) it was quite the pocket rocket. Many a challenger who thought they were up against a small-block Nova got quite a surprise.  Speaking of small-block Novas-another friend bought a little-old lady, pristine, six-cylinder / 3-speed '66 Nova. He swapped in the 350 out of his wrecked El Camino and a Saginaw 4-speed. With 3.31:1 gears and the 3.11 1st gear and 2.02 2nd-it was a rocket off the line. I did the math once-the torque multiplication was equivalent to having a 2.20 low Rock-Crusher and 4.88:1!s  And once he got 2 or 3 car lengths on you off the line-unless you had a really strong big-block-you weren't getting it back. Another friend of mine had a 1970 340 Dart Swinger that was really quick. He gave quite a few 396 Chevelles, 383 Chargers, and 389 GTOs runs for the money they never forgot, if he didn't win outright. His brother had a '64 Barracuda with a pumped-up 273 V8 and a 4-speed that was brutally quick. Don't get me wrong-I love big-block torque-I loved my GTO Judge, I loved my T/A's and I loved my Hurst / Olds. I always wanted a 427 Stingray. But I also appreciate a lightweight contender that can run with the big dogs. I'd like to see the buff mags feature a really quick '66 Mustang with a hot 289 or a '68 Nova with a 327,or a 340 Duster- rather than another Chevelle with a 572 inch Rat or a Charger with a 528 Hemi!!  Just once in a while. Mastermind        

Still more on budget building....

I hate to keep harping on the same point, but I thought of some more people who built cool cars for very low bucks. One guy bought a '71 Camaro that was a six-cylinder / 3-speed model. He dropped a 350 V8 in it, that a buddy had taken out of a wrecked "Hobby Stock" race car. It had headers and a hotter than stock cam, and because of the class rules, had a 2bbl carb!  He kept the 3-speed, but did add a Hurst shifter. We always joked that he could say he had an automatic with a high-stall converter and a manual valve body. It worked great-he could pop the clutch about 3,500 rpm and get the car moving with just enough wheelspin to get the engine up on its torque curve, yet not fry the tires too much, and then he'd shift about 5,800 rpm. It would lay 10-15 feet of rubber into 2nd,and really start pulling. The car was fast and fun. He never did change to a 4bbl carb or a 4-speed trans, because it was so much fun the way it was!  Another friend bought a '66 LeMans Convertible with the 326 / ST300 powertrain. He bought GTO emblems and trim from Year One. He also got the 400 and TH350 out of a '77 Trans-Am. Since Pontiac engines are externally identical from a 326 to a 455 the engine swap was a no-brainer. Since a TH350 is the exact same length and uses the same rear trans mount and driveshaft yoke as a Powerglide / ST300,the tranny swap was cake too. He even used the stock shifter, although he couldn't manually engage low gear. With his excellent TransGo shift kit that would automatically kick down to low gear below 15 or 20 mph, this wasn't an issue. He found a Tri-Power setup at a swap meet. The car was a great cruiser and fast enough to back up the image. Everywhere he went, people "oohed" and "ahhed" over his "GTO" ragtop. Another guy bought a '69 Camaro at an auction for $900. It was a 307 / Powerglide model. He bought a $699 "Long Block" 350 from a Pep Boys store, and added headers and an Edelbrock Torker II intake and a 625 cfm Carter AFB that he bought from a buddy. He bought a rebuilt TH350 from a local tranny shop, and got the proper "Horseshoe" shifter and console from Year One. He also bought a cowl induction hood and Z/28 emblems and painted it blue with white stripes and added Wheel Vintiques 15" rally wheels shod with BFG T/A radials. Total investment-$4,500, and everyone "oohs" and "ahhs" over his "Z/28". Even though "real" '69 Z/28's were only available with a 302 and a 4-speed, not a 350 and a slushbox. It's still a nice car, that's fun to drive and turns heads wherever he goes, that he built for a fraction of what a "real" Z/28 that needed restoration would cost!!  Another guy I know had a '73 Duster with the 318 / 3-speed powertrain. He went and got a 360 out of a wrecked police car. Through "Direct Connection" ( That's what Mopar Performance was called back then ) he bought the original 340 cam, lifters and springs, and the Edelbrock 340 "Six-Pack" manifold and 3 holley carbs, and throttle linkage and air cleaner. He also swapped the 3.21:1 gears for some 3.91:1s. This "360 Six-Pack" Duster was blisteringly fast. It would spin the tires most of low gear, but when it hit 2nd with those end carbs opened up, it pulled like a freight train. He always intended to put in a 4-speed, but I don't think he ever did. It was so freakin' quick the way it was, there was no need to.  Anyhow-those are the kinds of builds I'd like to see more of, not 100K trailer queens.  Mastermind    

More on budget customizing.....

In the last post I talked about customizing your car with junkyard parts. The other thing my friends and I did back in the '70's and '80's was adapt cool stuff-even if it came from another manufacturer. Some examples a guy I knew had a Firebird that had a "Pistol Grip" Hurst shifter ala "Vanishing Point". The stick would bolt up to any Hurst linkage, so it was pretty easy. It looked cool in the Firebird interior. Another guy had a Pontiac GTO / Firebird style Hood Tach on his Nova, and inside had a '70's T/A style console with a Hurst Dual / Gate shifter in it, and the T/A's "Formula" steering wheel. A guy I went to school with had swivel bucket seats out of a Cutlass in his '74 Challenger. Another guy bought a wrecked '72 El Camino and put a LeMans / GTO "Endura" front end on it, and dropped in the 400 Pontiac and TH400 out of the donor LeMans. He even transplanted the Pontiac dash and bucket seats and had a "GTO" Elky. It was unique, and cool and fast. And cheap to build. A Ford guy did the same thing with a '68 Ranchero. He put a '68 Cougar front clip on it with the hidden headlights and everything. It looked mean, and with a warmed-over 390 under the hood it was mean. I knew two guys-one had a '64 LeMans with a stompin' 425 Olds V8 under the hood-which had a Thunderbolt-style teardrop scoop on it-and a sinister black paint job and Cragar SST wheels, while the other guy had a '65 Cutlass with a tunnel-rammed 454 in it that was definitely Jules' wallet from Pulp Fiction!  A neighbor had a '61 Impala that was originally a 283 / 3-speed car. He swapped in a 396 and a 4-speed. It was seriously quick. Then there was the kid that had a 304 V8 Gremlin X. Since AMC engines are like Pontiacs-their all externally identical-putting in a 401 V8 out of a wrecked Matador Police car was a bolt-in swap. With it's short wheelbase and good weight distribution, it made a great drag racer. He shocked many supposedly badass Camaro,Chevelle, Firebird, Charger and Mustang drivers!! One guy built the slickest Ford Torino I've ever seen. It was a '70 or '71 model with the hidden headlights. He removed all the chrome trim and filled the holes in, and blacked out the bumpers and window moldings. He removed the chrome door handles and installed flush-fitting, body-colored Honda Accord door handles. They looked like they grew there. He installed a Pontiac Fiero GT rear wing-which was exactly the right width and looked like it belonged. It was jet-black and had black modular wheels and fat tires and a 'Cuda AAR-style side-exit exhaust that sounded wicked. With a pumped up 351C under that long hood-it could back up the image. The car was subtle, yet totally badass. I thought it was cooler looking than Mel Gibsons Falcon XB Interceptor from "Mad Max" and "The Road Warrior". The point I'm making is something doesn't have to cost a gazillion dollars to be cool. I groan every time I read a magazine and they say the guy's invested a 100 grand in the car their featuring. If you can afford that-good for you. But a lot of us dont' have an extra 30 grand on up to spend on a toy-that is probably a 3rd or 4th or 5th car in a household-especially if you have teenagers or college-age kids. Let's work to keep low-budget hot rodding going for the next generation. Mastermind          

Cheap Customizing is getting to be a lost art....

When I was younger a lot of "Do it Yourself" guys modified their cars and not always with conventional speed parts. Often we found stuff in Junkyards that really improved a cars performance. The Hollander Interchange Manual-the "Bible" that Junkyards use to know which parts interchange and fit different models was an invaluable tool. I've said it before-but I get sick of every magazine project car getting a custom Currie-built 9 inch Ford rear end and Wildwood or Brembo 4-wheel disc brake system worthy of a NASCAR racer, and Rack&Pinion steering, etc. I'm all for improving handling and stopping power,but we didn't do it by writing big checks. A buddy of mine had a '65 GTO that was really fast with a warmed over 421. However we all know the 9.5 inch drum brakes were woefully inadequate, and they weren't super handlers. He used '70's Firebird spindles-which will fit '60's and '70's "A" bodys-as well as the 11" rotors,calipers,booster and master cylinder. He now had the braking power of a '70's Trans-Am. He also installed front and rear stabilizer bars from the donor 'Bird, and used the "quick ratio" power steering box off an '80's WS6 T/A. It had a 12.7:1 ratio-which is even quicker than the 14:1 of '70's T/A's and way better than the 17.5:1 of a '65 GTO. This steering box will fit all GM "A", "F", and "G" bodies from 1964-1987. With Junkyard parts he made a '65 GTO into a corner carver that could challenge Corvettes and Porsches in the twisties as well as in a drag race. Another friend had a '69 Nova that he did in Trans-Am style-'60's SCCA racing style. Since anything that fits a Camaro or Firebird will fit the "X" bodies-Nova, Ventura, Omega, etc-it was easy. He used the sway bars from a '78 Z/28 Camaro and the disc-braked posi rear end from an '81 T/A. Another guy built an 12 second '72 Nova drag racer / street machine for peanuts that was originally a six-cylinder / 3-speed car. He found that a '70 Cougar uses a 9 inch Ford rearend-and that it's the same width and the multi-leaf springs are in the same place as the weak GM unit with monoleaf springs. It was practically a bolt-in,and eliminated any chance of axle breakage and wheel hop. He swapped the Saginaw 3-speed for a Saginaw 4-speed out of a '77 Vega. ( They are exactly the same length and use the same rear trans mount and driveshaft yoke ) These had a 3.11 1st gear ratio and a 2.02 second which really helped it rocket out off the line. The 350 he built used 58cc '81-86 305 heads-which bumped compression from 8.2:1 to about 9.7:1. He used the old "350hp" 327 cam and a used Edelbrock Scorpion intake and a 750 Holley, along with some used Hooker headers. With drag radials it ripped of a string of 12.40s with a best of 12.24. He had $3,500 in the car-including it's $850 purchase price. Even by '80's dollars-that was remarkably cheap. I knew another guy who built a V8 Pinto. The 302, C4 tranny and 8 inch rear end came out of a Maverick that had a front-end collision. The Maverick rear was an exact bolt-in, and was obviously much tougher than the Pinto unit. I had previously mentioned a couple guys who had hot rod '53-56 Ford F100s. The one guy infuriated Ford Purists-he used a Chevelle front clip-which allowed him to have modern power steering and front disc brakes-and install a stompin' 427 Chevy backed by a TH400. This truck was seriously quick. The other guy stuck with Ford stuff-using the front disc brakes and rack&pinion steering from a Mustang II as well as the 302 / C4 combo. It wasn't as fast as the Rat-Powered one, but it was a really nice cruiser. A couple guys built Cadillac-powered hot rods cheaply. One stuffed a 500 inch Cadillac V8 into an '81 Firebird. The other guy put a 472 Cad V8 into a '78 Buick Regal. Both were seriously fast for very low bucks. Another guy I knew put a 350 V8 into a Chevy LUV pickup that was brutally quick. The point I'm making is magazines used to feature stuff like that that regular guys built in their driveways. Now it's all megabuck stuff. Yes, guys like Boyd Coddington and Troy Trepainer are undeniably talented, and the cars they build are way cool. But I think it's much cooler for a young man or an old one-to scour boneyards and do research and build something cool on a tight budget than it is to just write a big check and polish your new trophy. I'd like to see the mags feature an old Falcon or Maverick done in '70's Pro Stock style or a '60's Olds or Pontiac done in Nascar style. Instead of another old Mustang with a Coyote or Camaro with an LS engine or a Charger with an SRT8 Hemi, and a DSE subframe and rack&pinion steering, and 4-wheel discs...please, no more. So pass on your knowledge to your sons and daughters so grassroots hot-rodding stays alive. Mastermind      

Some "Smog Dogs" that can really run with the right stuff....

There's a lot of '70's and '80's cars out there that have a reputation as "Dogs", that actually have a ton of potential. Here's a few "Diamonds in the rough" that could really rock with very little work and expense. # 1. 1971-73 Mustang / Cougar, 1971-74 Torino / Montego.  Almost all of these have 351C power under the hood. The problem is most of them were saddled with 2bbl carburation,single exhaust, and salt-flats gearing like 2.80:1. Edelbrock offers 4bbl intakes that are compatible with 2V heads. The 2V heads are much better for low-end torque than the 4V heads anyway. A 4bbl carb and intake, headers and dual exhaust ( or even just duals behind the stock manifolds ) will make a huge difference in performance. So will a simple axle-ratio swap. Changing the 2.80:1 gears for something in the 3.25:1-3.50:1 range will cut as much as 1/2 a second off your 0-60 and 1/4 mile time without hurting drivability or freeway cruising rpm too much. These simple mods will make your kitten into a tiger.  If you want to get really badass Edelbrock and Trick Flow offer high-performance aluminum heads, and Crane, Lunati, Comp Cams and others offer cams,springs, roller rockers,etc. # 2. 1971-1980 Camaro / Type LT / Berlinetta. There are millions of base-model ( i.e.-non-Z/28 / SS models ) Camaros out there from the '70s. Almost all of them have the workhorse L48 350 small-block in them, that was considered a "dog", mainly because they were saddled with 8:1 compression, a lazy cam, and 2.56:1 or 2.73:1 gearing. The upside is there's more speed equipment for a small-block Chevy than anything else on the planet. Scoggin-Dickey offers complete, brand-new Iron Vortec heads for $650 a pair. Vortec heads breathe better than any other factory head and many aftermarket ones. Their 64cc combustion chambers ( most '70's 350's are 76cc ) will bump compression from 8.2:1 to about 9.5:1. The compression boost, and the increased breathing will easily give you 40-50 more hp. You'll need a Vortec style intake manifold, but you were going to have to replace the stocker anyway-so that's a no-brainer. Edelbrock and Weiand offer performance Vortec-4bbl intakes for about $200. GMPP still sells the L46 / L82 cam-which has 224 duration ( @ .050 ) and .450 / .460 lift. This cam pulls hard to 6,000 rpm and will work with a stock torque converter and power accesories. Headers and dual exhausts will complete the package-and you'll have an honest 375 hp and 400+ lbs of torque with a good idle and great drivability. Swapping the 2.56:1 gears for something in the 3.23:1-3.73:1 range will help you put all that power to the ground. With drag radials or some sticky street tires these simple changes will have you running very low 13s or very high 12s in the 1/4 for very low bucks. # 3. 1971-77 Firebird. T/A's and Formula 400s get all the glory, but the fact is there are hundreds of thousands of base-model and Esprit Firebirds out there with 350 Pontiac motivation. The tune is the same-they were saddled with 2bbl carburation, single exhausts, and salt-flats gearing like 2.56:1. A factory or aftermarket 4bbl carb and intake and headers and /or dual exhausts will make a huge difference in performance. A mild cam upgrade-the Edelbrock Performer grind works great in a low-compression Pontiac and will really "wake up" a 350. The factory "068" cam works nicely too. Swap the 2.56:1 gears for some 3.23:1-3.42:1s and people who drove or rode in the car before will ask you if you swapped in a 400 or 455!!  The improvement will be that immense. # 4. 1977-79 Firebird Formula / Trans-Am. A lot of these cars had 403 Olds motivation. They got a bad rap. The L78 400 / 4-speed "real" Pontiac models that the buff magazines worshipped also had 3.23:1 or 3.42:1 gears. The L80 403 models had TH350's and 2.41:1 gears!!  Think that'll make a difference in acceleration?  I had a 403 powered Trans-Am that really rocked with a few simple mods. An Edelbrock Performer intake and headers and dual exhausts will really wake up some ponies. You'll have to re-jet the carb to compensate for the increased breathing-I'd start by going .003 richer on the primary jets and the secondary metering rods and go from there. Edelbrock and Summit sell Q-jet parts and accessories. The other thing is change the plugs. They come with R46SZ AC plugs which have an .080 gap. Even GM's mighty HEI can't bridge that at high rpm. My T/A had headers and a Holley Street Dominator single-plane intake and it would not rev past 4,700 rpm. Simply switching to R45S plugs ( one range colder and a .040 gap ) caused it to pull hard to 5,400 rpm!! A gain of 700 rpm on the top end. Switch the 2.41:1 gears for some 3.23:1-3.42:1s and hang on!  # 5. 1982-87 Camaro / Firebird. The L69 / LB9 / L98 Z/28's, IROC-Z's and Formula and T/A models are sought after, but the fact is there are millions of base-model Camaros and Firebirds of this vintage out there that have the ubiquitous LG4 305 Chevy V8 that wheezed out about 165 hp. Most people's first instinct is to simply swap in a stompin' 350 or 383. You can certainly do that-it's a bolt-in swap-but many people don't have the money or the ability to do an engine swap. And some may not want a huge power infusion, but would like a little more oomph-just enough to not have to take crap from little boys in Honda Civics and soccer moms in Hemi Cherokees. For those I've got just the ticket. An Edelbrock Performer intake and matching cam will give you a huge boost in power and torque all through the range. Some shorty headers and a cat-back exhaust will really help. 5-speed models usually had 3.23:1-3.73:1 gears which is perfect. Automatics had 2.73:1s which isn't. Swap to some 3.42:1s. The other thing for automatics is they tend to stick in 2nd and 3rd gear under hard acceleration. B&M and TransGo offer kits ( it's usually a valve-body plate and some governor springs ) that will allow automatic kickdown to low gear at speeds less than 15 mph and full-throttle upshifts, especially from 2nd to 3rd to 4th. These simple changes will allow you to show your taillights to those smug '80's and '90's "5.0" Mustang owners. So if you have or want to buy one of the cars on this list-you now know you can put some hair on it's chest pretty easily and cheaply. Mastermind       

Sports-car guys and Motorcycle guys are smarter and more tolerant.....

There's always been a lot of heated debate in magazines and on websites including this one about "Restification" -i.e. Restoration / Modification of Musclecars. I've said many times I'm fine with something aftermarket if it's period correct. 14 or 15 inch American Racing Torq-Thrusts or Cragar S/S mags look great on a '65 GTO or a '68 Road Runner. 20 inch Center Lines-yuck. Ditto for mechanical mods-a '68 Mustang with a 600 Holley sitting on top of a "Torker 289" intake is just fine in my book. A '68 Mustang with a fuel-injected "5.0" out of a '92 model-not cool. Anyhow I've been doing research at sports-car shows and motorcycle shows and vintage racing events and I've found that sports-car enthusiasts and motorcycle enthusiasts are far more reasonable on this subject. Almost every single restored Datsun 240Z I see has dual or triple Weber carbs in place of those awful SUs they came with. The Webers make more power, get better gas mileage, and hold a tune much longer. Ditto for British sports cars. Practially every MGB, Triumph Spitfire, or Austin-Healey Sprite I see has a Weber carb(s) on it and a Vertex magneto or an aftermarket distributor. The reason is the Webers offer much more performance, reliability, and tunability than the SUs or Zenith-Strombergs that they came with. And anyone who's ever been around British cars-Lucas-the prince of darkness-is a running joke. Their distributors, and light switches, etc were AWFUL. Another running joke is the reason the British drink warm beer is because of Lucas refrigerators!!  The same with Motorcycle enthusiasts. Doesn't matter if it's a '47 Knucklehead or a 2017 Softail-you almost never see a Harley that's bone-stock. They've always got different exhausts, different wheels, different handlebars,air cleaners, seats, gas tanks,forks, whatever. And it's not just Harleys. The British bikes-Triumphs and BSAs-their ignitions were terrible. My dad had a BSA Victor 441 and a 650 Triumph Bonneville and it was always a crapshoot on whether or not they would start. Until he put Joe Hunt Magnetos on both of them and then they'd start every time! It's rare to see a running vintage British motorcycle today without a magneto!  And again-you see 500cc BSA thumpers and 650 Triumph engines in Rickman Matisse frames that look like dirt-track racers, you see them made into choppers-all the things guys did when they were just bikes-nothing special. Ditto for the Japanese bikes. I can't recall the last time I saw a '70's Kawasaki KZ1000 or GS750 Suzuki or CB750 Honda without a Kerker header on it!!  But the mods are always period correct. You don't see a 1970 240Z with the engine and 7-speed automatic out a 2011 370Z!!  You don't see a 1967 Jaguar XKE with the powertrain out of a 2005 XK8!!  You don't see a 1973 Kawasaki Z1 with the engine out of a ZX14 Ninja!!  And yes, you see some pristine, restored, bone-stock bikes and sports-cars at these shows as well, but their owners don't deride or make fun of the modified ones or say that they've "Butchered" or "Ruined" a classic. Unlike the stink-eyes you get at a musclecar show-n-shine if your '70 Chevelle has headers and a HEI distributor on it!  Anyhow-I think we should take a cue from the sports-car and motorcycle crowds and all stick together to protect our hobby from the EPA and the safety nazis and the smog nazis and all the other groups that want to crush any vehicle made before 1990!!  Mastermind        

"Day Two" options add value as well.....

In the last post I talked about how adding a Tri-Power setup to a '60s GTO or a Six-Pack setup to a Mopar would add to a cars value, not hurt it. We also discussed how changing from Rally II wheels to Snowflakes won't change the value of your '70's T/A and so forth. When I was young all my friends drove musclecars and not one of them was bone-stock. They all had aftermarket wheels, Hurst or B&M shfiters,a Sun Tach on the steering column, headers, traction bars, etc.  As gearheads we were always looking for ways to increase the car's performance or it's "Cool" factor. And that hasn't changed over the years. If you bought a new Mustang or Challenger or Camaro right now, would you leave it bone-stock for the next 20 years?  No-chances are you'd add a K&N air filter, a Flowmaster Cat-Back exhaust system, a Hurst shifter, and maybe some aftermarket wheels. More adventurous sorts might even add an Edelbrock or Magnussen blower. And once it was out of warranty-if it blew a radiator hose on a Friday night-would you park the car and wait until Monday and go to the dealer to get a genuine Ford or GM or Chrysler hose, or would you go to Autozone and get a Gates or Dayco replacement and be able to drive the car all weekend?  I saw a couple of great examples this past weekend. One was a '67 Camaro that had a warmed-over 327 and a 4-speed. It had headers on it and a Holley 650 Double-Pumper on an Edelbrock intake. The owner told me it also had a Comp Cams solid-lifter cam. The interior was clean and stock, except for two things to snap you right back into a banzai mode: a huge Auto Meter tach on the steering column and a T-handled Hurst Compettion Plus shifter protruding from the console. It also had Competition Engineering traction bars. This was exactly the kind of hot rod that millions of people had in the '70's and '80's and that magazines used to feature. Stuff the average guy could build in his driveway not the megabuck one-off stuff they feature now. The other one was a '68 Dodge Coronet R/T. It had a 440 with headers on it and a two 625 cfm Carter AFBs on an Edelbrock dual-quad intake. It had a 4-speed and the owner had installed a "Pistol Grip" Hurst shifter. It had Lakewood traction bars on it and Cragar S/S mags with skinny front tires and big meats on the rear. The owner said at full-throttle the intake roar of the AFBs was louder than the exhaust, that it sounded sweeter than the "Bullitt" or "Vanishing Point" soundtrack. I believe him-my Judge had two AFBs on an Offenhsuser intake and that sound is awesome. Both these guys had nailed the quintessential '70's street machine-a car that looks and performs better way than stock, but can still be driven to work every day. Now some people are going to rail that these guys "ruined" these cars with their modifications. How did they "ruin" anything?  1st off-the cars were a 327 Camaro and a two-door Dodge Coronet that originally had a 383 in it. One of many thousands.  Not one of the 602 '67 Z/28s ever built or a Hemi Super Bee. And even if it was one of those, what did they do that's irreversible damage?  Headers and an aftermarket intake are easy mods that almost everyone did to their cars in the '70's and '80's. If someone wanted it stock, it wouldn't take much to put stock intake and exhaust manifolds back on. Traction bars bolt onto leaf springs and can be easily unbolted. You think an aftermarket tach hose-clamped to the steering column is ugly? Unscrew it. It's not like they took a Judge convertible or a Boss 302 and cut up the trunk for wheel tubs and 4-link rear, and cut up the hood to clear a tunnel ram because they wanted a "Pro Street" look!!  I've said it before and I'll say it again here- '69 Z/28 Camaro with a LS3 / 4L80E powertrain, rack and pinion steering, and 20 inch Center Lines is an aberration and it's owner / builder should be dragged out into the street and shot. A '69 Z/28 with a 750 Holley Double Pumper on an Edelbrock Tarantula manifold and headers on the 302, with traction bars and 15 inch Cragar S/S mags is just as "Right" now as it was in 1971. I have no problem with modifications as long as their period correct. Like I've said before-if you were a gun collector you wouldn't buy a WWII vintage Colt .45 and put laser sights on it!  If it you were a motorcycle enthusiast you wouldn't buy a 1965 650 Triumph Bonneville and put the fuel-injected 1200cc engine out of a 2016 model in it!!  So next time your at a "Show&Shine" and you see a Firebird with a Hurst Dual / Gate shifter protruding from the console or a 'Vette with chrome sidepipes on it, smile instead of screwing up your face like you just smelled a rank beer fart. Mastermind      

Options add value, they don't hurt it!! Even if the option isn't "Orignal!!"...

Went to some car shows the past couple weekends and had some interesting conversations. The one that got under my skin was with a guy who had a nice 1969 Plymouth GTX. It was a 440 / 4bbl / Torqueflite model ( The standard GTX powertrain; a 4 speed was an option, as was the 440 / Six-Pack and the Hemi ). It was a nicely restored car. While we were talking he said he loved the car but he wished it was a Six-Pack model with front disc brakes. ( The car had 4-wheel drums. ) Those are both options that are easy enough to add. Summitt and Mopar Performance carry the Edelbrock manifold, the Holley carbs and the linkage and air cleaner. CPP and many other companies offer front disc brake conversion kits for Mopar B-bodies. When I pointed this fact out he responded with words I always dread. "But then it wouldn't be original."  Ugh. I said-"Unless your competing in Concours shows that doesn't matter." " And even some Concours organizations are allowing parts to be the "Original Type". "In other words-a 1969 Z/ 28 can have a 3310 Holley carb on it that you bought at Summitt or Jeg's last week." "You won't lose points if it doesn't have 1969 date codes on it." "They don't expect a car to have a working 48 year old carburator." "And a lot of events like the Pure Stock drag races and some Concours shows are allowing changes that were optional on that model, that year." "Like putting Tri-Power on a '66 GTO or a Six-Pack setup on a car like yours." "The guy that won the Pure Stock drags last year had an L88 Corvette that ran a blistering 11.43." "But it wasn't an original L88 car. It was a 390 hp model, and the engine was built to L88 specs-heads,cam, compression ratio,carb and intake, etc." These show orgainizations are acknowledging that upgrades add to a car's value, rather than diminish it."  He shook his head and muttered those words again. He was fully entrenched in the "Just as it left the factory" brainwash that some pipe-smoking, tweed cap wearing British sports car snob / enthusiast who got into musclecars in the late '80's started. And the effects are still lingering. Like I pointed out to a Boss 302 owner one time-his "Autolite" battery is an Exide battery in a repro case. His Firestone Wide Oval tires are Coker tire repros as well. Will he really lose points or the car be worth less if it has a Fram Oil filter on it instead of a phony Autolite one? ( Genuine Ford Parts have been called "Motorcraft" for 30+ years; the "Autolite" moniker was dropped in the late '70's and sold. That's why you can go to Autozone and buy Autolite spark plugs and wires ). I thought it was sad that this guy wouldn't spend a couple thousand dollars and a few hours labor to make his car exactly the way he wanted it, because some other asshole-who probably can't afford to buy the car if it was for sale-might say something negative!!  Get over yourselves, people!!!  I've said it before, but I'll say it again, because it's true. Adding upgrades, add value. Do you really think if you put a Tri-Power setup and throw a Muncie 4-speed into a '65 GTO that was originally a 389 4bbl / 3-speed car-that a prospective buyer is going to contact Pontiac historical services and get the original window sticker, and then say to you- "I always wanted a red '65 GTO with a black vinyl top and Tri-Power and a 4-speed, and this one is beautiful and runs like a scalded cat." "And the price your asking is eminently reasonable." "But PHS says it was originally green with a 4bbl and a 3-speed." "I'm going to have to pass."  Never in a million years would anyone be that stupid, and if they are, then they deserve to never find a car!!!  Trust me, you'd find someone who would overlook these small changes!!  If you have a '68 Road Runner for sale that has a Hemi in it-do you really think someone buying it is going to read the vin tag and go-" I always wanted a Hemi Road Runner, but this was originally a 383 car." "Damn!" Not going to happen. You laugh because it's funny, but you also laugh because you know it's true. The other sad thing is-I used induction systems and engines and transmissions to drive home the point-but I've heard this shit about absolutely trivial options. Like the guy with a '71 Trans-Am who wanted Honeycomb wheels but wouldn't buy them because the car originally had Rally II's!! Or the guy who really liked the rear window lovers or "Sport Slats" on Mustangs but wouldn't buy a set for his Mach 1 because the Marti report said his didn't come with them from the factory. Ditto for the dumb-ass with a beautiful '68 Firebird who wouldn't put a hood tach on it,because it wouldn't be "Original". My personal favorite was the guy who had a 403 Olds / TH350 1979 Trans-Am that needed a paint job and pointed to a centerfold of a DKM "Macho T/A" in High-Performance Pontiac magazine and said "I love the look of that car." "I'd love to have one of those". "When I said that Dennis Mecham had given his permission to Phoenix Graphics to reproduce the stencils for anyone who wanted to restore a "Macho" or just liked the look, that he could certainly paint his car that way if he wanted to-He looked at me like he'd smelled a rank fart and sneered-"But then it won't be original" When I pointed out that the Real "Macho T/A's" were modified by the Mecham brothers at Mecham Pontiac and then sold to other dealers as used cars-that GM never authorized the package, and wouldn't grant DKM an MSO-a manufacturer's certificate of originality-like they did for George Hurst and the Hurst / Olds-which is why "Machos" weren't allowed to be sold in Colorado and a few other states. If you wanted to verify a "Macho" Pontiac Historical Services couldn't help, you'd have to have to contact Dennis Mecham and see if the car in question was in his records. I jokingly said that I seriously doubted that Dennis Mecham would sue him if he bought the stencils from Phoenix Graphics and put a Macho paint scheme on his car. "Doesn't matter! I'm not going to ruin the value of MY car!". he yelled. I didn't have the heart to tell him that except for the ill-fated '80-81 Turbo 301 models, a 403 powered '79 model is  the LEAST valuable of all second generation T/A's!!! He couldn't lessen it's value if he painted it pink and purple!!  So if you want to add or remove a vinyl top, or add or remove rally stripes or want snowflake wheels instead of Rally II's on your car-then go ahead and do it. And even if it's not a same-year factory option-a '69 SS396 Chevelle is not "ruined" because it has headers on it and a 750 Holly on a Torker intake and Cragar mags and BFG T/A Radials on it instead of Magnum 500's and Coker Wide Ovals!! For God's sake people, build your damn car the way YOU want it, not the way you think you think some other asshole would want it, if or when you ever sell it!!  Mastermind

Beware of what you want....Because you might get it....

The old proverb in the title really applies to buying and owning a classic musclecar. I talk to so many people who spend major bucks on a classic car and then are disappointed in it's performance and drivability. There are several causes of this, and most can avoided with some forethought. # 1. Realize that anything built before 1960 is going to be primitive and bare bones, and seem slugginsh compared to later cars. For example- you may think a '57 T-Bird is a cool ride,-hey Dan Tanna drove one in "Vegas" and they've been featured in countless other movies and T.V. shows. A '62 T-Bird is light years ahead in performance, comfort and handling. The '62 model will have the torquey 390 V8 that was used in millions of cars and trucks through 1976, which has way more power, and gets better gas mileage than the boat anchor 292 / 312 inch Y-Blocks. They will have power steering and brakes, and better handling and riding suspension and factory A/ C and power windows, etc. In just 5 years of development. This is not an isolated example. I had a friend who bought a '55 Pontiac and hated it. It had no power steering, no power brakes, the 287 inch V8 was underpowered in the heavy car and he said driving it was like driving a big dump truck. He sold it and on my recommendation bought a '63 Gran Prix. He loved it. The interior was luxurious, it handled like a dream, especially on the highway and the 389 V8 would literally spin it's tires as long as he wanted to stay on the throttle. Things improved exponentially through the later '60's. Chrysler found a huge increase in performance and drivability not in the engine but with the transmission when they introduced the Torqueflite automatic in 1962. GM replaced the horrible old "Slim Jim" hydromatics with the excellent TH400 in 1965. By 1965 front disc brakes were optional on some cars, ( Corvettes had 4-wheel discs ) and by 1967 were standard, or at least optional on almost everything. I'm not saying don't buy a '55 Buick Roadmaster or a '57 Chevy or a '50 Merc coupe or whatever your dream car is-I'm just saying-realize that the 60+ year old technology is not going to be up to things just a few years later. The aforementioned '55 Buick doesn't even have a modern, open driveline-it has the old "Torque Tube" and a huge pumpkin at the rear., The Kingpin front suspension rides and handles like an old dump truck-like the old Pontiac owner said.  My buddy's '63 Riviera is an awesome car to this day. Besides the cool, hidden headlight styling, the 401 V8 has way more power than the old 322, the ball-joint / control arm suspension is light-years ahead in ride and handling quality, the power steering and brakes feel like a modern car, and it has factory a/c, power windows, tilt wheel, etc. My buddy says-he likes it because it has Cadillac like luxury and GTO like performance. In just 8 years. If it's a show car- that's only going to be driven on and off the trailer, then do whatever you want. But if you plan to drive the car at all-you may be much happier in a '65 Impala than you will be in a '58!!  # 2. The "Biggest and Baddest" isn't for everyone. I mentioned an older gentleman who had bought a 435 hp, 11:1 compression, solid-lifter, 4-speed, 4.11:1 geared 1969 427 Stingray. And hated it. It pinged even on premium gas,got 5-8 mpg, the clutch was stiff, his wife burned her legs on the sidepipes everytime she got in or out of it, and the motor buzzing at 3,500 rpm on the freeway was annoying. Since it was a premium model he was able to recoup his investment when he sold it, and is much happier in the low-compression, L82 350 / TH350 Silver Anniversary 1978 model that he bought. He and his wife love taking it on weekend trips to Lake Tahoe or the wine country with the t-tops out, or if it's too hot, with the t-tops in and the A/C blasting. The seats are comfortable, the engine idles smoothly on 87 octane pump gas, and the suspension doesn't rattle your fillings loose. It looks cool, and it's fast enough to back up the image-he doesn't have to take crap from little boys in Honda Civics or soccer moms in Hemi Cherokees. He's much happier now. Again-this is not an isolated example. If your a Mopar guy-you may be much happier in a 3.23:1 geared, 440 / Torqueflite GTX with power steering, front disc brakes, bucket seats, and factory A/C than you would be in a stripped-down, manual steering, drum braked, 4-speed Hemi Road Runner with 4.30:1 gears!!  Everyone loves a Boss 302. They are undenaibly badass. But they have very little torque below 3,000 rpm and there's a reason they were only available with a 4-speed and 3.90:1 or 4.30:1 gears!! If your going to drive the car at all-you might be better off with one of the 70,000 other '69 Mach 1s that are 351W powered. It's a much better street engine, with gobs of low-end torque, and will be much more pleasant in city traffic than the 11;1, solid-lifter, fire-breathing "Boss". I mentioned this in another earlier post. Edelbrocks "Performer" Package for Pontiacs made 387 hp and 439 lbs of torque on a 400, and had 15 inches of vacuum at idle. The "Performer RPM" package-( which has a cam that's an exact replica of the factory RAIV ) makes 422 hp and 441 lbs of torque and only has 10 inches of vacuum at idle. That's a gain of 35 hp and only 2 lbs of torque. Your giving up a lot of idle quality and low-end and mid-range torque for top-end rush. There's a reason RAIV's were only available with 3.90:1 or 4.33:1 gears! On street tires, in the real world, all other things being equal-is a car with 422 hp going to be noticably faster than one with 387 hp? Probably not. Like I said, your giving up a lot of good drivability for a little top-end gain. If all your doing is drag-racing it, then 2 or 3 tenths in the 1/4 mile might be worth the compromise to you. But again-if your going to drive the car at all-the one with slightly less power and a much smoother idle and broader torque curve will work better 99% of the time!  If you just "Gotta Have" a Hemi ' Cuda, or an LS6 Chevelle, an L88 'Vette, or a Boss 429, or 427 Fairlane or an RAIV Judge, etc-and can afford it, more power to you. But for 95% of the rest of us-you may be happier with  less than the biggest and baddest model.  Which brings up # 3. Be honest about what you really want. I've said it before, but it's worth re-iterating here. If you live where it gets very hot in the summer-it might behoove you to get a car with factory A / C. If you live in a big city like San Francisco or Los Angeles with a lot of stop-n-go traffic, an automatic transmission might be a better choice than a 4-speed. If you live in the country 30 miles from the nearest town-a car with 3.23:1 gears is going to be a lot more pleasant on the highway than one with 4.10:1s!!  If you follow these simple guidelines, you'll be a lot happier with your investment in the long run. Mastermind           

A VIN tag doesn't make a car....

Read a disturbing article in Musclecar Review the other day. Don't get me wrong, I love the magazine, and I correspond with the editor all the time, and he publishes my stuff occasionally. I guess I should have said the subject matter of the article was disturbing. Someone had found the remains of a "Bullitt" Mustang in a junkyard in Mexico. To call this rusting, engineless,transmissionless, inteirorless, hulk a "basket case" would have been an understatement. However, the cowl and the VIN tag were intact, and upon running a Marti report and checking with Ford historical services, it was verified as one of the cars used in the movie. The new owner excitedly said he was going to restore it to it's former glory. How? I mean all that's left of the original car is the VIN tag and part of the rusting body shell!!  I know Dynacorn and other companies sell complete Mustang bodies ( they also sell Camaros, '55-57 Chevys, and other stuff. ). I know you can buy replacement front and rear subframes, and all the interior trim. It probably wouldn't be too hard to find a 390 V8 and a Top-Loader 4-speed with 1967 or 68 date codes. But in reality-if he follows through on the project he's going to have a completely new car built around an old VIN tag. Does that make it "original?" No, because virtually nothing on the car is original!!  Does that make it restored?  I don't think so-because again-how much of the original vehicle was "restored?" The dash pad, the firewall and the left front fender?  The editor asked it another way-which I think is relevant. The Smithsonian supposedley has George Washington's ax-the one he chopped down the Cherry Tree with. It looks pretty damn good for being 200+ years old. That's because it's been "restored" several times since 1757 or whenever young George's father confronted him about the tree. If the handle's been refinished or replaced several times and the head has been re-sharpened or replaced several times, how much of the original ax exists? If you bought Jimi Hendrix's guitar and the neck had been replaced and the strings had been replaced, and the electronic pickups had been replaced-how much of the original Fender Stratocaster is left?  Doubtless, since you can prove Hendrix's ownership that makes it a valuable piece of rock-n-roll history; but it still doesn't make it original. I think this opens a "Pandora's Box" that's going to cause a lot of lawsuits over high-end car sales. I've talked many times about the Judge I had in high school. Think about this scenario. What if, Instead of my parents forcing me to sell it after losing my drvier's liscence, I kept it several more years and then totalled it in the early 80's. I buy the wreck from the insurance company. I put the RAIII engine and 4-speed in plastic bags in my garage. The crumpled body sits in my backyard for years. I just can't bring myself to haul it to the crusher. Then the '90's happen and musclecar values go into the stratosphere. I go buy a '69 LeMans that's in pretty good shape. I put my VIN tag on it, install the RAIII and the Muncie tranny and get the stripes and spoilers and maybe a new Endura front bumper from Year One or the Goat Farm. I have all my original paperwork, and the numbers on the engine and tranny match. If the prospective buyer contacts Pontiac Historical Services with the VIN and the casting numbers on the block, heads and tranny-it's going to come back as a for-real GTO Judge. I sell it for megabucks. Has the buyer got an original numbers matching RAIII / 4-speed Judge?  Certianly with the RAIII heart there's some Judge DNA in there, but it's not the same car that rolled off the assembly line in 1969 and that I bought in 1978!!  How would the buyer prove this? And if he could-let's say for arguments sake-my neighbors told him what I did and he decides to sue me for fraud and get his money back. If I had been smart enough to keep the salvage title of my car and re-register the cobbled up one as "rebuilt" with that title and the original VIN tag-the guy wouldn't have a leg to stand on in court. The Judge- ( Pun Intended ) would rule that he knowingly and willingly bought a "rebuilt" car and that since it did have the proper VIN and corresponding powertrain numbers, and especially since Pontiac Historical services verified the VIN, no crime was committed. The guy would be out whatever dollar amount I fleeced him for and I laugh all the way to the bank. Could the guy sell the car to someone else and recoup his investment? Probably, but the point I'm making is the car still isn't original, and the guy did kinda get screwed, regardless of the court's ruling!!  You can see how this kind of stuff would really complicate things for collectors. A buddy of mine had a 440 / Six-Pack Super Bee in high school. One night he missed a shift and grenaded the engine. I mean, rods out the side of the block, grenaded. We went to a junkyard and got a low-mileage 440 out of a wrecked '73 Chrysler Imperial for $250 and put that in the car. The only reason he did that instead of taking a FREE 383 from another buddy was the intake manifolds on "B" and "RB" engines don't interchange and he wanted to keep the Tri-Power on it. He drove it several more years and then sold it. Wherever that car is now-if it hasn't been wrecked or extensively modified-it's 99% original except for the engine!!  Back to the car in the article-I don't think a VIN tag makes a car, escpecially if everything on the car has been replaced. He can claim some link to the Movie, and has an interesting story to go with the car if or when he sells it, but Original?  No way.  That's where the old saying "Buyer Beware" really rings true. Mastermind               

It's okay to "Run What You Brung".....

Everyone is so enamored of the premium musclecars that we often forget that there's a lot of base models out there in good condition that would make great drivers or show cars or race cars if you wanted. For example of the 400,000 Chevelles produced in 1968 alone-only 58,000 were SS396 models. What that means is you can buy a 2 dr small-block Malibu a lot easier and cheaper than you can an SS396! And since it's not a numbers-matching premium piece of history-no one cares if you modify it. Swap in a 383 stroker, or a supercharged LS motor. There's tons of suspension upgrades out there for '64-77 GM "A" bodies-so you can build a corner-carving "G" machine, or a drag racer that will pull the front tires on launch. Of the 243,000 Camaros sold in 1969, only 19,000 were Z/28 models. Of the 299,000 Mustangs Ford sold in 1969, only 1,603 were Boss 302's, and only 13,000 were 428 CJ models. What I'm getting at here is there are a lot more base-models out there than there are "primo" models. So if you get a deal on a 318 Challenger, or a 350 Camaro, Chevelle, Firebird or LeMans, or a 302 or 351 Mustang or whatever-don't despair that it's not a big-block, and immediately start plotting how to clone the "big brothers". If that's what you want, fine. But not everyone needs or even wants a 500 hp fire-breathing monster. Like I said-if you have a 318 / Torqueflite Challenger and you'd like a just a little more zip-an Edelbrock Performer intake and a 4bbl carb, some dual exhausts and a shift kit in the trans will "wake up" the car's performance like you wouldn't believe. And that may be all you want. Drive it that way the next 20 years. Ditto for all the other makes. 302 and 351W / C Fords, 350 Pontiacs and Olds engines, 304 and 360 AMC's, 327 and 350 Chevys, all respond well to basic hot-rod tricks-a 4bbl carb and intake, headers and / or dual exhausts, a mild cam upgrade, etc. I've mentioned it before, but I know a guy who was looking for a '64-66 GTO, that bought a '64 442 that had a later-model 350 in it. He was torn between hunting down a 330 to make it Concours Original or swapping in a 455 to make it really badass. Five years and one paint job later, he's still driving it on sunny days and during Hot August Nights with the "unoriginal" 350 because-in his own words-"It runs so good and it's so damn much fun to drive that I can't bring myself to tear it apart."  And there's nothing wrong with that. Mastermind

Some full-size cars that can be great sleepers.....

Since everyone is chasing Camaros, Chevelles, GTOs, Firebirds,Chargers, Road Runners, Challengers, 442s,Mustangs, Cougars, etc-people often forget that there are a lot of full-size cars out there that are great performers, and because they were usually the top of the line-have cool options like factory A/C, power windows and seats, upgraded interiors, and bigger engines. Here's some alternative bodystyles that offer tremendous bang for the buck. # 1. 1969-76 Pontiac Gran Prix. These cars are dynamite. 400 cubes standard all years, and a fair number of '70-76 "SJ" models have 455s. Any suspension or brake upgrades that fit a Chevelle will fit these cars so the potential is huge. My sister had a '72 GP in high school. It had power everything, and it felt like a GTO. She showed her taillights to many shocked Camaro, Chevelle and Mustang drivers.  # 2. 1960-68 Pontiacs. While 99% of Impalas and Caprices built in this period have 283 or 327 small-block motivation, every single Pontiac Catalina, Bonneville, or Gran Prix had at least 389 cubes under the hood, and some had 400, 421 or 428!  Any suspension or brake upgrades that fit an Impala will fit these as well. # 3. 1966-69 Buick Riviera. I personally think the '66-67 Riviera is one of the best looking cars GM ever produced. They have the swoopy, fastback, hidden headlight styling of the Olds Toronado, but with less chrome and doo-dads, and are still rear-wheel drive. And with 430 cubes under that long hood, they move pretty good too. The '68-69 models are gorgeous too, but they changed the front bumper, and I don't like it as well as the cleaner '66-67 models. You can't go wrong either way. Buick guys will gripe, but I envision one jet-black with 17" Torq-Thrust mags and fat tires, and a snarling 572 inch Chevy Rat Motor under the hood. All you'd need are some Chevy motor mounts and a Chevy bolt-pattern TH400....# 4. 1967-69 Oldsmobile 88 / 98. When I was a kid, my mom had a gorgeous '67 88 Convertible. It was blue with white interior and had Torq-Thrust mags on it, and with 425 cubes under the hood, could lay rubber all the way across an intersection. The coupes have fastback styling, and either 425 or 455 cubes under the bonnet. Again-one of the things great about GM stuff-interchangeability-any suspension or brake upgrades that fit an Impala will fit these. # 5. 1969-78 Plymouth Sport Fury. In the immortal words of Dan Ackroyd / Elwood Blues-"It's got cop tires, cop shocks, a cop motor..." Most have 383, 400 or 440 cubes under the hood, and the 2 door models are pretty good-looking. Peter Graves drove one on "Mission Impossible". Fred Dryer wrecked a bunch on "Hunter". # 6. 1965-72 Ford Galaxie / LTD. The '65-67 Galaxie is one of the best-looking cars Ford ever produced. They closely resemble a '65 Pontiac in profile, which are also near and dear to my heart. Their interiors are awesome with bucket seats, consoles, lots of chrome. And with 390 cubes under the hood, they move. Later models may have 428s or 429s, which is, if anything, a bonus. Some '71-72 models may have 400C's, but they have great potential.  # 7. 1967-71 Ford Thunderbird. I like the '67-69 models best with their hidden headlights and clean styling, but their all beautiful. '67-69 models will have 390 or 428 or 429 cubes under the hood. 1970-71 models have 429s exclusively, but with 375 hp who's complaining?  By '72, the party was over. Compression ratios were lowered and the name was transferred to the much heavier, and uglier Lincoln MK IV platform. There wouldn't be another high-performance T-Bird until the Supercharged 1989 model.  Chevy guys are going to ask-where's the Impala?  The reason it was left off was explained when I talked about '60's Pontiacs. 99% of '60's and early '70's Impalas have small-blocks 350 cubes or less for power, and 396, 427 and 454 versions are priced in the stratosphere. All the other cars listed here have big-blocks as standard equipment.  Mastermind

Other overlooked big-blocks that can really rock.....

In the race for "Gotta have the biggest and baddest" sometimes people overlook diamonds in the rough. I talked in the last post about some great engines that make great power but are often overlooked because the buff magazines are always featuring these 500+ inch, 600+ hp monsters. Those are definitely cool if you can afford one, but a lot of us can't write a check for 15 grand for an engine!  Besides the usual supects-454 Chevy, 455 BOP's, 440 Mopars,460 Fords, and the 400 ( give or take a bit; 383,389,390, and 396 are close enough to 400 ) inchers I mentioned in the last post, there's a few more that enterprsing hot rodders overlook in their quest for power. # 1. 421 / 428 Pontiac. I love 421s and 428s. They have the best of both worlds-they rev up like a 389 / 400 and have the massive torque of a 455. The downside is the 421 was only produced from 1962-66, and the 428 from '67-69. If you have one already in the car or can buy one for a reasonable price their the only way to fly. I like them better than 455s, for the reasons I just cited. And you can always put a custom 428 crank into a 400 block and ( with a .030 overbore ) have 433 inches of stompin' Poncho power.  # 2. 413 / 426 Chrysler. A lot of people don't know it, but Chrysler made a 426 inch V8 that WASN'T a Hemi in the early '60s. And until the 440 was introduced in 1967 a lot of the "Big" cars-i.e.-Dodge Polaras and Monacos, Chrysler Imperials, Plymouth Furys, big station wagons, etc-had 413s under the hood. They are an "RB" engine-so anything that fits a 440-heads, intakes, cams etc will fit these. The downside is they've been out of production since 1966 so their kinda rare, but dynamite if you can find one.  # 3. 425 Oldsmobile. Anything that fits a 400 or 455 will fit these, so they can really rock with the right parts. The only downside is they were only produced from 1965-67. ( The 455 debuted in '68 ). However-they were used in all the "big" cars-88s,98s, wagons, and Toronados so theres more out there than you might think. # 4. 430 Buick. Same deal here-they were only used from 1966-69, but they were used in almost every model. Stock or modified, anything 430 cubes is going to have some serious torque. All the go-fast goodies-heads, intakes etc that fit a 400 / 455 fit these, so you can build a beast if you want to.  #5 400C / M Ford. These were used in various Ford cars and trucks from 1971-82 so there's a lot of them out there. They had a reputation as "dogs" because they were saddled with 8:1 compression, a lazy cam, single exhaust, 2bbl carburation, and were put in big, heavy cars and trucks with salt-flats gearing like 2.80:1. However-their "Cleveland" style heads have ports and valves the size of a 427 Chevy; give him some reasonable compression, a good cam, some headers and a 4bbl carb and intake and you'll have a beast. Every year in the "Engine Masters Challenge" theirs someone with a 400 Ford that's pumping out 550+ hp on 91 octane pump gas. Set up right, one of these "Rodney Dangerfields " can make as much power as a 429 or 460 with a lot less expense.  I'm sure some people are going to howl that I didn't mention the 427 Chevy. I didn't for three reasons. One-"Original" 427s were only produced from '66-69 and 'Vette restorers hog them and will pay blood and a first-born child for one. The chance of you finding one at a reasonable price is almost nil. You'd have a better chance of getting struck by lightning on the golf course. If you "Gotta Have" a 427 Chevy-GMPP sells them as crate engines to this day-with 480 hp and 500+ lbs of torque. Or you could find a 454 block and put a 427 crank in it. So the mighty 427 isn't really overlooked, it's basically alive and well. That's why it wasn't on the list. Hope this helps people out.  Mastermind  

Some "Small" big-blocks that are still viable but overlooked....

The current trend in the buff magazines seems to be "Bigger is Better" as they feature 500+ inch stroker engines incessantly. A 454 Chevy or 455 Pontiac or Olds or 440 Mopar or 460 Ford seems to be "entry level" according to these writers. The reality is-you can have a very strong performer with-here's an oxymoron-a medium sized big-block. Here's some that are overlooked but can still give you major horsepower and torque.  # 1. 396 / 402 Chevy. With GMPP selling 572 inch  Rat motors with 720 hp, and people fighting with machetes for 427s and 454s to build, it's easy to see how these "little brothers" get overlooked. The reality is because they can use the same heads, cam etc-a 396 / 402 can make just as much power as a 427 or 454, just at a higher rpm. The original L78 396 was rated at 425 hp in the 1965 Corvette-the same as the legendary L72 427 and only 25 hp down from the legendary 450 hp LS6 454. You can make 350 hp with 8:1 compression on junk gas and using factory iron intake and exhaust manifolds. You can make 450-500 hp so easy it's almost criminal. Edelbrock claims 540 hp and 530 lbs of torque from their "Performer RPM" package on a 454. Most big-block Chevy builders go by the rule of thumb that all other things being equal, a 454 will make 20 hp more than a 427, and a 427 will make 20 hp more than a 396. Using that formula you'd still have 500 hp and 500 lbs of torque, which would make any street car a major rocket.  # 2. 383 / 400 Chrysler. Everyone talks about Hemis and 440s, but just like the Chevys-you can make just as much power as a 440 just at higher rpm. Chrysler engineers took the heads, cam and intake from the 440 Magnum to power the 383 Road Runner. The 383 was rated at 335 hp and the 440 was rated at 375. Edelbrock claims 417 hp from their "Performer RPM" package on a 383 and 469 hp on a 440.  Not a ton of difference.  A great testimonial to the might of 383's came from Carey Loftin-who was stunt coordinator on both "Bullitt" and "Vanishing Point"-THE two car-chase classics in most people's book-spoke about the iconic Challenger piloted by Barry Newman in the film. "We had 5 cars." "Four were 440 / 4-speeds, and the camera car was a 383 / Automatic." "I used the camera car to tow the camaro we blew up toward the bulldozers at 80 mph because the automatic drivetrain wouldn't jerk when shifting like the sticks and slacken the tow cable."  "I honestly think the 383 would run just as fast as the 440." "That 383 was a great running car."  The 400 used from '72-78 is just a bored out 383. Either one would power your Mopar project just fine, so don't sell your soul for a 440.  # 3. 389 / 400 Pontiac. Cutting down a 455 crank and putting it in a 400 block to get 461cubes ( with a .030 overbore ) is all the rage now, although Smokey Yunick was doing it in the early '60's for Fireball Roberts when his Pontiacs were the scourge of NASCAR. A 389 / 400 has 3 inch main bearings, while a 421 / 428 / 455 had 3.25 inch mains. Smokey figured out that the smaller main bearings would hold up better at high rpm and break less when running 500 miles at Daytona. To win the race, you've got to finish the race, right?  So Smokey was cutting down 421 cranks and putting them in 389 blocks to build his 421 race engines. 50 years later-guys are doing the same thing. You can buy stroker Pontiac crank, rod and piston kits from several sources. However-if you have one already in the car or can buy one cheap, a 389 / 400 can make just as much power as a 455, and probably stay together longer. 389s were in every Pontiac built from 1959-66, and 400s were in everything from '67-78.  Edelbrock claims 422 hp and 441`lbs of torque from their Performer RPM package on a 400. The "regular" Perfromer Package makes 387 hp and 439 lbs of torque on a 400, and has a much smoother-idling cam that makes 15 inches of vacuum at idle instead of 10. With the RPM cam-( which is basically a replica of the factory RAIV cam ) your giving up quite a bit of low-end and mid-range torque for top-end rush. In a same-weight car, with similar gearing, on street tires-is a car with 422 hp really going to be any quicker than one with 387 hp? I doubt it.  # 4. 390 Ford. Everyone wants 427s, 428s, 429s and 460s. The problem is  ( except for 460's which were used in trucks until 1997 and are still being sold as SVT crate engines to this day ) those big-inch engines are rare, and thus expensive, if you can find one for sale at ANY price. When's the last time you saw a for-real 427 or 428 or 429CJ engine for sale in a want ad?  By contrast 390s were used in virtually every Ford model from 1961-76 and are plentiful. And they are externally identical to the other "FE" engines so if your building a Thunderbolt or Cobra or Fairlane clone or CJ Mustang clone no one will know it's not a 427 or 428 unless you tell them!  Edelbrock claims 452 hp and 428 lbs of torque from their dual-quad Performer RPM package which would certainly give you the look and the oomph to back it up.  # 5. 400 Oldsmobile. These were only used from 1965-69. Everyone chases the 455s used from 1968-76. If you have a 400 already in the car, or can buy one cheap, by all means use it. Don't empty your bank account and search the galaxy for a 455. Everything that fits a 455-Edelbrock aluminum heads and intakes, aftermarket cams, headers etc will work on a 400. And like their Pontiac cousins-400 inch Olds motors make massive low-end and mid-range torque. When you've got 400+ lbs of torque from idle on up you don't need to rev to 6 or 7 grand!  # 5. 400 Buick. These also were only used from 1965-69, and like the Olds fans, Buick guys sell their souls for the 1970-76 455s. If you have a 400 in the car or can buy one at a reasonable price I would definitely use it rather than chase a running or rebuildable 455. Even bone-stock, anything 400 cubes is going to run pretty damn good. And there are hot rod parts available for these engines-Edelbrock sells heads and intakes for them, Crane and Lunati make cams, etc. So if your building a Skylark or Century or Regal project, or want a more modern power plant in a 50's convertible or early Riviera, ( but want to keep it all Buick, you don't want a big-block Chevy or an LS motor ) a 400 may be just the ticket. If you can afford a 572 Chevy or a 514 Ford or a 505 Mopar, etc-more power to you-pun intended-but if your on a budget-these 400 inchers offer a LOT of "bang" for the buck.  Mastermind            

The "Other" 350s can be fun too....

Everyone wants the big-block musclecars, but they can be pricey. The fact is if your looking for a GM musclecar that isn't a Chevy-there are a lot of LeMans, Firebird,Ventura, Cutlass, Omega, and Century and Regals out there with 350 cubes under the hood. If you have or can buy one cheap, you don't have to immediately start looking for a 400-425-428-430-455 BOP big block. The 350s can be made to run pretty damn good.  #1. The best of the "other" ( non-Chevrolet ) 350s is the Olds version, for three reasons: they are an oversquare-large bore / small stroke design, the bottom-ends are bulletproof-they converted some to diesel in the late 70's-if they can hold together with 22.5:1 compression required to fire diesel fuel-they can take anything you can throw at it. And third-there was a factory high-performance version-the famous "W31".  Edelbrock claims 397 hp and 400 lbs ft of torque from their "Performer RPM" package. Magazine writers spout numbers flippantly-but 400 honest hp will make any street car a rocket. And-anything that fits a 350 will fit a 403-if your car has a tired 330 or 350 that needs to be pulled and rebuilt anyway-53-73 extra cubes will definitely give you a nice power and torque boost.  # 2. 350 Pontiac. The design that gives them such massive low-end torque is also why they can't make really big power. They are a small-bore / long stroke design. A 400 uses the same stroke. The small bore limits them because the big-port,big-valve heads used on the 400-421-428-455 engines that you need for really big power can't be used-the valves will hit the block. People talk about clearancing the block to use the big heads, but why? Pontiacs are externally identical from a 326-455-so if you have that much money and need that much power-just swap in a 400 or 455. That aside-they do respond well to basic hot rod tricks-headers and dual-exhausts, 4bbl carb and intake, mild cam upgrades. Your just accentuating what Pontiac did stock-make big torque at low rpm. I wouldn't rev one over 5,500. You can make 325-350 hp and 400 lbs of torque pretty easy and still have a good idle and street manners, and people will THINK you swapped in a big block. If you need more power than that, you'll need a 400 or 455.  # 3. 350 Buick. These were used in a lot of cars from 1968-77. The upside is they make a lot more power and torque than the obsolete 300-327-340 engines they replaced. The downside is unlike their Chevy, Olds, and Pontiac cousins-there was never a factory high-performance version, and there isn't much aftermarket support. Edelbrock doesn't even make a manifold for them-and Edelbrock makes manifolds for just about everything from flathead Fords, to AMC's, Cadillacs, even Hondas and Toyotas. There is a company called T/A perfromance that sells intakes, cams, headers etc for 350 Buicks so that's one way to go. If you need really big power-then I'd suggest swapping in a 400-430-455. Edelbrock does make heads and intakes for these, and Crane and Comp Cams and others make cams and valvetrain components for them. Anyhow-you be surprised how well these non-Chcvy small-blocks can run with a little tweaking, and very little dollar investment.  Mastermind