From another list I am on........ Fran Preve lived in the Niagra Falls area of New York. He worked most of his life in the Tonawanda Chevy engine plant, and was the most knowledgeable person in the world on the Chevy 348/409 engines and variants. Cancer took him in his sleep yesterday. His mission in life was partly to let people know that the 348/409 wasn't a "truck" engine. He had been asking at the plant about the rooms full of documentation from the 50's and 60's that seemed to be forgotten, and was told it would be there forever. then one day he saw a mound of paper overflowing several dumpsters behind the plant and there was all that paper from that period. He went home, got his pickup and carted it all to his house. In going through the documents, he found the first piece of paper, dated about 1954, referring to a "big block" engine to supplement the 265/283 that was already in the works for 1955. This very first not pegged the big engine at something over 300 cubes (348 was not decided till sometime later) and production at about 70/30 car engines to truck engines. (almost all engines do double duty, or did in those days). So right there was proof that the engine was a car engine that did truck duty. The numbers never varied much from that original note. That engine became the 348 that was introduced in 1958. Fran probably won't get a write up in the big magazines, he wasn't rich, he didn't run in influential circles. He was just a husband, father, and a car guy with Chevy and oil in his veins that wanted the world to know more about that short term engine that did so much for hot rodders and racers, the "W" head, big block 348/409/427.
I didn't know him personaly but have heard the name more than once about him being the go to guy for the W blocks. R.I.P.
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