Art & Inspiration Engines: Lying in Wait

^^^^ Thanks PnB. Yeah, they made some neat old sh!t back then, didn’t they? Those were NOS, NIB but all the other new chrome made them look bad, so I had them replated.

 

I’m down here in LaLa land and now that my Stude pickup made its way up north, I found some more treasures hidden in the bowels of the LA garages.
How about a Packard straight 8 with the aluminum head….


Or maybe a 215 aluminum Buick…. (Looks like it’s trapped between two dollies)

 

There’s a pile of V8 60 blocks….

And some four banger blocks….

Under the pile is a complete V8-60 and in the crate is a ‘27-28 Chevy 4 banger. You’ll have to take my word for those two, I ain’t diggin’ em out.

 

Hey Bob, any history on the 215?

My neighbor had one in an early ‘60’s Wildcat? as I recall, was a good runner for sure.

I wanted to buy the car but he was giving it to his grandson, who totaled it, never saw it again.

 

My then tenant got it for free a few years ago although he had no use for it. Another “ran when parked” story, no real history. Now you’ve got me curious, I try to turn the crank tomorrow.
I figured it for a spare for my 215 Buick powered Morris woody but since I drove the Morris, if the 215 craps out, I’m putting a 327 in there instead. That little engine just doesn’t have enough grunt for me.

 

I just remember him telling me how good it was on gas, “has plenty of power”. I never rode in the car, heck never saw the engine. He’d told me “it’s got an alloy 215”.

 

Back in ‘62-63 my best friend’s mom’s boyfriend (got all that?) had a ‘62 Buick Special that he used to occasionally take us to the beach in. White with the red interior and a 4 spd. Of course, he drove to impress us pre-teens. I remember it winding up nicely through the gears and being a convertible, that whole experience was fun. I have thought highly of the 215 since then but never owned one. Now that I do, I’m not as impressed. I’m thinking it might be more fun with a T5 behind it.

 

Waiting patiently.

 

I had a '62 Buick Skylark in high school with the 215. My dad and I found a factory 4 barrel intake in a junk yard and swapped it in with a little 4 barrel Holley and ran dual exhaust. It ran great and would really get up and go. The Skylark, being unibody, was fairly light compared to most cars in '62.

My dad had a '60 Impala with a 283 at the time and he couldn't even being to keep up with me in the Buick.

Sad part is we pulled a spare 215 and tranny from the junkyard to have as a spare. But when my parents sold the house, after I had moved out, they left the 215 in the storage shed.

 

This is what he had, exactly. Riding in that as a kid, going to SoCal beaches, we were stylin’.
I see them for sale every now and then but so far I’ve controlled my urge to buy one. Lol

 

The wife and I made an honest stab at attending the Mooneyes show this morning, but the inbound traffic was absolutely ridiculous. We went home, made breakfast and I fit-checked the T5 on my buddy’s flathead. It’ll come back out so I can install the clutch and pressure plate next. It’s all rebuilt and bound for a chopped, channeled, ‘29 sedan that I’m building for him (slowly, very slowly). I’m trying to get it into the chassis so we can start it up.

 

Would you care to elaborate on why it's now less impressive? I'm guessing maybe trans/gearing related based upon your T5 comment, but I am genuinely curious regarding the Buick 215.

 

The 42 motor in the stand is gone, but my 53 motor is rebuilt and ready to go. Thanks to BILL.

 

I’m beginning to think we have a problem around here? Still not sure exactly what it may be though.

 

I don’t have room to collect complete engines. I have to be content to collect cool parts that I like

 

My 331 waiting on me in NM... I just need to get out there to pick it up.

 

See this what I collect

 

This morning I was looking at a local ad for a 420 hp 454 out of a fresh water boat, has the 188 heads on it, which are the newer version of the high performance 990 heads, aluminum spread bore intake, roller rockers etc etc
It was reading pretty good and the price was decent, so I was thinking about picking it up ..... until I started looking at the photos.
Look at the crap on this head, I can only imagine what the inside of the block looks like.