Some real "out of the box" engine swaps from back in the day Check out this link http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2008/05/04/sia-flashbacks-cl***ic-engine-transplants/
Been saying this for the last 15 years! Quoting the first two lines- "Todays traditional hot rodders have oft been accused of not considering the wider picture of what cons***uted hot rodding in their chosen exalted time period of the 1950s. Not every car wore red wheels and primer black paint, for example."
Interesting to note how slow those cars actually were 452" monster motor in a super lightweight car that is slower than my honda accord wagon Technology has changed a lot since then.
this old dirt track stock car driver around here was telling me how he went to a BiG special race out of town one time in the mid- late 50s - it paid out good so he & another guy headed to race at the race. he said when he got to this town it was all flatheads - ford flathead powered stuff is all they could think about - he had a buick & the other guy had an olds. - the locals couldnt figure out why these guys would drive hours with these GM powered cars & try to compete. ----------- he said the flag dropped & he blew by the flatheads like they were parked! said he was atleast one whole lap ahead & the other guy was atleast a lap or lap & a half ahead. he said he was laughin all the way around until he ran out of gas & the other guy broke a belt so they didnt even finish the race & the locals ran em right out of town & didnt ever want them to come back.
I don't know!!! I've seen a bunch of rods run other then Ford V8 Flathead power right here on the H.A.M.B. Flathead Caddys, Flathead six bangers, Slant 6, Hudson H-Powers, not to mention all the Nailheads, Rockets, HEMIs, Y-Blocks, ETC... That guy needs to pull his head out of Hemmings and look around. Just Saying!
The 34 Ford roadster with the Duesenburg engine is still in one piece. It was at the Pomona So Cal open house about 6 years ago. Guy drove it there. Dean
I've been thinking about yanking the engine out of my V16 caddy and putting it in my A roadster. nice
That is similar to the oft uttered phrase around my crowd, "I love the look of the flathead but I want to go fast!" Yeah Yeah Yeah you can go fast with a flathead...blah blah blah...we all know where this thread can go lol!
Sure, there were plenty of off-brand powerplants used in rods in the early Fifties. But, the Flathead Ford was the engine of choice by the vast majority and for a number of very good reasons. One: most rods were Fords, and the Flathead V8 came in many of them straight from the factory. No engine swap necessary, or a pretty easy swap to a later version of the Flathead. The Flathead Ford V8 was a much smaller V8 than most other V8's of the time, so it was much easier fit. Two: lightweight V8 power. Less weight on the front of an already front heavy car. Also less weight means a better power-to-weight ratio. Three: more availability of speed equipment...usually at a lower cost. Four: known factor. Every mechanic in every podunk town knew how to work on a Ford engine. Most knew how to work on a stovebolt 6. How many had worked on a Caddy engine, or even an Olds or Buick? All this changed with the introduction of the lightweight Chevy V8. With that engine, you got the power of an OHV V8 with the weight of a Ford Flathead V8. If there had been other options of engines that met this criteria before the introduciton of the Chevy smallblock, then you'd have seen a m***ive shift to whatever that engine was...but it didn't happen. Note my signature line...a quote to GM management from Zora. He was speaking of Ford engines, not Ford bodystyles.
Yeah, I've been dreaming for years of an RPU with a Jaguar straight-six and a four-speed.....Mmmmmmm.
The Jalopy Journal
