Once again, the BangShift readership knocked it out of the park with yesterday’s identification challenge. The engine in question was in fact a Studebaker R4, which is one of less than 10 known to exist in the world today and it was entrusted to Custom Auto Machine in Weymouth, Massachusetts for a rebuild. Exactly one R4 engine was installed at the Studebaker factory and that was in a 1964 Daytona which was built as a part of a magazine story and for press testing. The engine is a 304ci (304.5 if we’re splitting hairs) mill that had iron heads (not the aluminum which was suggested in the responses yesterday) with an amazingly stout 12:1 compression ratio. Factory dual valve springs were used, the same cam from the R3 supercharged engine was installed and to top the package off was a dual quad intake manifold with a pair of four barrel carbs. These were special engines intended for use in racing applications and they were essentially hand built by Andy Granatelli. The heads have huge valves and ports as compared to a “normal” 304ci Stude engine. This is truly one of the most rare factory high performance engines ever created by an American car company. This engine is heading for a killer ‘Stude that we’re going to work on shooting some photos of and hopefully riding in some day!
Here’s one last shot of the ‘Stude R4 head, which is one of less than 20 on Earth! — Scroll down for today’s challenge!
Alright, since you guys all think you’re so smart and I have not been able to stump you yet, here’s today’s identification challenge and it is a toughie! Scroll down to see the photos and take your best shot at guessing what this interesting four banger is!
