Owner Says: “This ORIGINAL(L68) 427-400HP MOTOR? …is in “YOUR” car!“
My Thoughts: “It’s in MY CAR?!!! Dammmmn! How come I never noticed a 427 hiding in my car? Where is it? Can you show me? Ok seriously, could this listing be any more confusing? I don’t know if there is a car for sale here, or if he is offering to buy the mysterious engine that I don’t have for 1.9 Million bucks. We are still in reality right? Where am I?”
Owner Says: “Head gasket is blown. Interior trashed. Bought it as a little beater for the kids to drive til it dies. Well… It still starts and runs, but I can tell it’s done.“
My Thoughts: “The lack of rust makes me think that maybe this car is not done. Since imaginary engines apparently exist today, let’s all imagine this fine automobile with a WRX engine and awd drivetrain swap. mmmmm. Now who’s going step up and make it happen?”
Much like a human, the story of where a car has been can seriously effect the car’s soul. Cars have souls? Yeap, they sure do, but it isn’t James Brown kind of soul though. It’s much different than that. When you know where a car has been and all of the amazing tales that go with it, it can instantly change a cars value, the way that you drive it, and its appeal to others. As a car enthusiast, I love hearing these automotive saga’s, because it can turn a very ordinary car into something special. Whether embellished or not, this is one of those tales.
When I was quite a bit younger, my dad and I went to car shows and often met up with a friend of his named Mike that had a 63 split window Corvette with a Mako Shark nose and a built 427 big block. The story with his car was an interesting one that landed it near the top of my automotive “Do Want!” list.
The story goes……..that the car was sitting behind a local dealer in the 1970’s after a bad accident. The nose was completely destroyed, it was missing tons of parts, and the engine had vanished. For months it sat in the snow and rain, looking more and more sad each day. Driving by it frequently, Mike made it well known to his wife that he really wanted that car VERY badly. Sure enough, his apparently awesome wife inquired about the car, bought it, and gave the sad looking pile of Corvette parts to him as a birthday present (Best b-day present ever? Probably.) He was thrilled, as any guy should be that just received a split window vette. The only downfall was that now he had to reassemble the puzzle pieces back together again. He started with a Mako Shark nose, and began flaring the fenders and straightening out the body, eventually painting it a lighter shade of blue. He then had my dad build a 427 engine for it. The problem was that they were afraid the engine was going to get stolen before they got a chance to install it in the car. So what did they do? Well, they chained it to the house for a while. Time passes and the high compression engine was built with the meanest parts available at the time. Before tossing it into the car, they decided to fire it up on the engine stand. Being car guys, they wanted to hear it with the garage door closed for a few second so that they can really “feel” the power. As they expected, the engine fired up. Unfortunately for them, it immediately blew all the windows out of the garage door. Oops. Lesson learned.
My dad still claims that it is one of the most scary fast cars that he has ever been in. He said that when you bury your foot into the floor it felt like it was going to pull the front wheels off the ground. The picture above was probably taken around 1994, which was the last time I saw this car. If you know of it’s whereabouts, I would absolutely LOVE to see it again and / or more pictures of it. The soul of that car runs deep, and that is what makes it extra awesome in my mind.
Got automotive stories of your own? Share em with us!
I am a big dreamer, so I often dream about the cars that I MUST own at some point in life. I do imaginary ground up builds in my head, with awesome engines, transmissions, brakes, paint, and everything in between. The stuff I dream about is usually strange stuff that nobody else wants, but that’s the fun of it, you can build it your crazy way.
So here are MY MUST have’s, in no particular order:
1964 Chevy Impala Convertible
– Aluminum block 409 cubic inch engine, fuel injected, with twin turbo’s and a giant intercooler hiding behind the grille.
– 6-speed manual transmission
– 4 wheel, 6 piston Brembo disc brakes
– Stock looking wheels, dog dish hubcaps, with white wall tires
– Dark green paint? Maybe Black? I am undecided at this point.
– Coil over suspension, very very low to the ground.
1939 Graham Sharknose Supercharged Convertible
– Supercharged factory engine
– 100% bone stock. It’s a work of art, I can’t possibly modify a car that they only produced 1 of!
1989 Dodge Ram 50 Extended Cab
– Painted all black with black 18 inch wheels, and 5% tinted windows
– 4G63 turbocharged Mitsubishi Eclipse engine
– Evo VIII turbocharger, custom intake & exhaust manifolds
– 6 speed T-56 transmission
– Lowered 4 inches with coil overs and 4-linked rear suspension
– Ice cold A/C
1936 Lincoln Zephyr 2 Door Coupe (2 door sedan pictured)
– Factory V12 engine with a new centrifugal supercharger for a little fun
– Lowered about 6 inches
– Stock wheels, wide white wall tires
– Again, it is a work of art as is, why mess with perfection?
This specific pictured 1963 Chevy Corvette Split Window Coupe
– On the whole, I typically don’t like Corvettes. That being said, I want this Corvette. It also has a very interesting history that my dad is a part of. It is one-of-a-kind and I am not rich, so the chances of me owning it are anywhere from slim to none. If anybody has more pictures of it, I would love to see it. It has been 12-15 years since I have seen it in person.
– It has a 427 Big Block with enough horsepower to blow the windows out of a garage door (That’s a fact).
– Mako Shark nose
– Clean body work, great engine, unique 1963 body….. it just doesn’t get better for me as far as corvettes go.
So those are my top 5 that I HAVE to own at some point. The good news is that I actually own 2 of them right now. The bad news is that neither are anything like my dream depicts them.
Now its your turn. What cars are on your top 5 list? Keep in mind that this is a dream, so go big!
Over the weekend I went to one of my favorite junkyards. It’s smaller than some of the others around but I feel like the guys that work there are friendlier than average, and 99% of the time, I can find what I need. So it is definitely my number 1 pick for yards…. This time around, I stumbled onto a late 70’s / early 80’s Corvette that had clearly reached the end of the road. It was rotted, crashed, crushed, parted out, beaten, and then disrespectfully smashed. Cars like that are sad to see because you know at some point, a person brought it home from the dealer and loved every single inch of it. They cruised the streets and showed it off to their friends , and now, all that’s left is rust and memories. You had a good run at it Blue Corvette, a real good run…
