The oddest car body, engine combination you've ever done,seen,been in?

In the 60's some GI stationed in Germany had a late 40's early 50's Buick sedan with a German 4 banger in the the letters to the editors section (I think) of Hot Rod magazine.
Some of the local farm workers from way south of the border come up with some strange automotive concoctions an combinations though.

In the real world of hot rodding you have to go to Bonneville to find the odd combinations. Bruce Crowers Nash flathead in his 27 T roadster is one that sticks in the mind.

 

Wow... This thread came outta the weeds..... In jr. High school i had one of those 46 ford looking volvos.. Round looking thing.. I stuffed a 51 lincoln flat motor in it.. Didnt have to lower the front end.. Motor handled that for me.. I think i made it almost a whole mile before stuff started to fall off..

 

How about a 47 Plymouth with a Ford 312 Y block and a 39 Ford transmission with open drive line adaption.

62 Dodge D100 pu with a 68 350 Buick and auto trans. Burned up a lot of rear tires.

V8 Vega using a 289 Ford. It made sense because the 289 Ford is small and lighter than a 283 Chevy and fit easer.

A Studebaker V8 in a 37 Chevy coupe.

A 52 Hutson Hornet 308 in a T roadster

 

Does this qualify?

2005 5.7L Dodge Hemi, mated to a 1999 Dodge Dakota 5-speed tranny.

Everything has been a challenge, from fitment of components, engine managment computer, to speedometer, but it's been very rewarding, and happy to say, everything now works. (Knock-on-wood).

 

Here are some more shots of my Cadillac powered BMW. 2 shots are in drag racing trim and 1 is in autocross trim. We talked to Alex Xhias(spell?) and got his seal of approval when we painted the car in SoCal Speed Shop fashion

 

How about a 36 Terraplane with a 51 Ford flathead.

 

Yeah, well thats nothin..... I once saw a 32 Ford that DIDN'T have a small block Chevy in it!

 

bwaaahhhaaaa!!!!!!!

 

My current car, '48 Desoto, 392 Hemi, because it's a DeSoto, and a 4 door.
Jack

 

You are kidding, right? Say it ain't so.
Jack

 

Blown BBC in a Geo Metro.

 

Hey, I worked on a few of those back in the 80's.
They had a 2.5L Pontiac "Iron Duke" 4-cyl & a TH200-4R tranny.
I can personally attest that those cars WILL do 90MPH......just takes a few miles to get there.



6narow

 

The proper engine for a hot rod

 

My friend blew the 350 in his 1/2 ton GMC p/u. Used the truck everyday for his business [automotive machine shop] and daily driver. Put in the only engine he had on hand, ready to run. A real 302 Z-28 engine. After two weeks of "testing" he found out what a truly AWFUL truck engine it made. Hardest work that little 302 ever saw! LOL Its safely enjoying life in a Camaro now.

 

This guy I used to know stuffed a Ford 302 in his Datsun 510, ran like raped ape but kept blowing up those poor little half shafts out back!

There used to be a Porsche 911 around here with an Injected BBC in it that made Hot Rod back in the 70's or 80's, ran great and handled good too! Plus those organ pipes sticking out the back window actually looked cool!

 

I think those were called "Avanti II".
The story I heard is that the guys who actually built those cars on the Studebaker production line didn't want to stop building them after the company went under.
So they banded together, picked up some additional investors, and started up production on their own.
I remember one of the car mags, either R&T or MT, did a story on that company in the 70's.
At that time, they were using all GM parts, including the drivetrain. 327, TH350, 10-bolt rear end.
I think the column and seats came from the intermediate platform.
I seem to remember they filed chapter 11 or 13 a couple of times during the 80's and/or 90's.
Don't know if they're still around.
Please feel free to correct anything I've posted here in error.



6narow

 

Years ago there was a guy that ran around Fontana in one of those tiny early 70's Subaru pickups with 389 Pontiac in the bed. It had a un-narrowed rear end with L60 15 tires and ansen sprints on the rear and stock (10" or so) wheels in the front. It also was painted metalflake purple with red cobwebbing
Wierd does not adedequately describe that one.

 

Still around:
http://www.avantimotors.com/

~Jason

 

a bmw isseta with a zzr1100 bike engine still with 3 wheels it was fast till it went door first into the wall
a fiat panda with ford cvh engine and turbo in the back ran 12,s
oh and a freind has a hillman imp with a judd v8 its very mental

 

I seen a 55' Chevy 210 drag car with a 440 Chrysler, genious.

 

Guy used to run at the Lake with a Jag V12 powered Gen 3 Camaro. And on the street I have seen a V12 Jag powered Corvair. Engine was in front. In the late 50s I would see a Hupmobile with the coffin nosed Cord type body with a 3/4 race Merc doing commute duty. Pretty car. Some other guy had a pretty new Bug Eye Sprite with a 265 and 3 speed on the street.

 

Mid 70s Corvette with a Flathead in it. Saw it on Ebay a few months ago

 

I have a fun one for you, a Kubota diesel tractor motor in a 61-ish Austin Healy Sprite. Neighbors of mine in the 80's built this thing and drove it every day.

 

Reminds me of the "milage rallyes" some of the mazzo-diesel nuts used to do down in Cali, back in the 70's and early 80's.
Basically, a ressurection of the old milage rallyes the oil companies used to sponsor back in the 50's, these guys would do similar things as you described, Tate, but then re-engineer the tranny's and rear ends to yield sky-high gear ratios, then see how far they could get on a gallon of fuel.
I remember one of those guys dropped a little 2 or 3 cylinder Onan engine into an early 70's Mazda 1200 and went about 300 miles + before it ran dry....and it went 55 mph! (part of the rules).
Another guy put a tiny little 3 or 4 cylinder diesel (Austin, I think) into an MG Midget.
Got about 90MPG and it'd keep up with traffic, no problem (according to the story I read on it in Diesel Digest magazine).
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Here's a few that I'm surprised I haven't seen mentioned yet...

...take one Jeep...


(ok, maybe a little older version than this one, but you get the idea...)

...and try to sell it through Sears as a car....


(for those that didn't know, yes, you're looking at a Henry J)

...and for the "Sporty Crowd", just grab a handful of fiberglass and...



...and once we're all done with that, sell the leftovers to the Post Office...







6narow

 

WOW!
Looks like they're based on the former T-Bird now.
Still goin' at it, though.
Amazing.
Thanks for the link.


6narow

 

Hmm, ok, while still in High school a mate and I dropped a Buick 455 in a '52 GMC pickup, a chev 350 in a Mazda Pickup, A honda 454 in a go cart.

 

I thought so too at first glance, but nope - it's a Mustang.

~Jason

 

Diamond T boat tail roadster, 305 chevy






Austin heely, 4.3 V6

 

Got a real sweet 1997 Cad Catera with a 302 Ford in it.

"Doc" Parsons