Who can tell me about the 0BAS stamped Flatheads? Is it a normal 8BA? Is it a high performance police engine? 255 Merc internals? What is it??
Not sure but it appears that the Ford logo cast on the head is different than I have ever seen, I would guess it's not an American flathead. Ford sold the rights to the flathead and they were produced in other countries. The French used them in military vehicles up to the early 1990's and Simca's used the V8 60's into the early 1960's.
Yup. I have a '51 Ford that I have had for almost 40 years and it was almost pristine when I got it. When I changed the engine in 2016, I checked it out. Some of the parts have "1BA" prefix. The crankshaft in particular, as it was changed in 1951 to accommodate the new for that year Ford-A-Matic transmission.