I remember going to Hot August Nights back in the 1990’s and seeing all kinds of killer hot rods and customs, but one particular year we happened upon a Tri-Five Chevy that had a Big Block Ford in it. It was offensive to my young sensibilities and still seems odd since I’m a Chevrolet guy that happens to own a Tri-Five myself. Of course a few years ago there was the Camaro that had a Toyota 2JZ swapped into it that pissed off the Camaro world to no end. I once saw a 455 Buick in a Chevelle, and when the owner was asked why he said that his wrecked his Skylark and the Chevelle was done but needed a motor and trans. Problem solved. Most recently we saw a C5 Corvette that had been Rotary swapped and then tried to sneak into LSFest West in Las Vegas. I’m sure I’ve walked past hundreds of other cars over the past 40 years that had some weird power plant in them that I would have found odd, offensive, or just plain stupid. And I’m sure you have too.
So what was it? What was the most offensive or strange or weird or surprising engine swap that you have ever seen or heard about? I’m sure there are plenty of them to share, so please do. We’d love to hear about them all.
(Photos Courtesy of Australia’s Toughest Cars)
That is so easy – an LS in ANY Ford!
The daily Bangshift LS swap, it has gotten boring, a perfect example is the featured Jeep Wagoneer with a LS swap today.
An A model roadster, hiboy with no hood and it had a turbo rotary engine.
It looked as strange as it sounds – maybe I’m just old school?
Any B.O.P. that doesn’t have a B.O.P. engine in it.
Chevy S-10 with a Mercedes Diesel. What knothead would do THAT??!!
I don’t know. I dealt with that guy years ago, he seemed nice enough.
A favorite of mine is the blown flat head ford in an early fox body Mustang. The The blown gas altered Scrap Iron II land speed car! I also saw a man take a brand new (less than 10 miles) 1985 Chevrolet 1500 and put a 364″ Buick nailhead with a Roto Matic 375 trans in place of the factory driveline..
I kinda like that Mustang also, it\’s mine! now turbocharged running on E85
Several years ago was at the Detroit Autorama. Walking the show with a Chevy oriented buddy and he saw a drag race prepped late 70s Corvette up ahead. Some sort of Modified or Comp Eliminator class looking deal. He hustled up to admire and saw – – a 300″ Ford six cylinder in it!
When I first got stationed to Hawaii in 1991, I went to a indoor car show and saw the fastest drag car on Oahu – a ’67 – ’68 Camaro with a Mopar 440 in it.
The CobraVette termi swapped C3. As a Ford guy who also has a soft spot for corvettes it was perfect . As a Ford guy who has watched virtually everything by desecrated by SBC or LS swaps it cracks me up when the Bowtie Brigade is incensed that anyone would put a brand X engine in their precious Camaro or Corvette. LOVED the Toyota swapped Camaro and I think the Ford barra would look great in a Vega wagon pro touring build.
Somewhere on the interweb there is a picture of a first gen Camaro with a Ford flathead in it…..sems kinda silly…..and just up the road from me is fox body Mustang with a 2JZ. . i’m going to put a Chrysler 440 in a Matador coupe. To each his own i suppose.
Nothing wrong with a BB Ford FE in a ’55 Chev. Nice improvement.
I have never been offended by any cross breed installation of engines into other brands of cars. That is how hot rodding started! Taking the best engine you could get your hands on and shove it in the vehicle you have, or the lightest one you could find, then go fast. It started with flatheads, then Olds, Caddy’s, and of course, the small block Chevy.
To me, getting your undies in a knot because one brand of car has another brand of car has another brand’s engine in it sounds a lot like bigotry. I see it as an interesting story to hear from the car owner.
Buick 401 and trans in 56 Chevy 1/2 ton. Tire burner.! 300 Buick in 65 GTO. This was late 60’s, used what we had. Nobody wanted Buick engines so they were cheap
Model A 4-pot in a Pinto. Was in HRM a few decades ago.
I dear Friend of mine “Die hard Blue Oval man” had a replica Shelby Cobra that we put the correct 427 FE and every time he took it to car shows someone would show up with a Cheby powr Cobra “This is the way they should have been Built” He finally had enough and built a Vette with a 460,converter ,shift kit the works this was a BUILT 460. He had it lettered across the rear panel “Ford a Vette” I am here to tell you I NEVER saw a street driven Vette that could handle it . The worst part is the Vette rear kept breaking till we put a 9″ rear Jim
Any Diesel transplant into a Muscle Csr. Have seen the Cummins and Duramax swaps and I just think it’s stupid.
I completely agree on this one.
There is a mid 70’s Pontiac Ventura running around my city with a 500 cubic inch Cadillac engine in it. Look factory, the torque output must be close to triple!
The first two years they had the Mopars at Englishtown show there was around a 76 Camaro drag car with a 440 in it.
A fellow Bang Shifter is currently finishing up on putting a 440 in a fox body. A waste of a good motor if you ask me but he didn’t ask me.
There are two transplant cars from the 80’s era car magazines that I really liked because they were unique. The first was a white 56 Chevy with a 413 Chrysler wedge and a 150 hp nitrous kit on it. If I remember correctly it ran mid 11’s which was really quick for a street car in the early 80’s, loved that car. The other car was a 70 or 71 Cuda with a 302 transplanted from a 1969 Z/28. I think it still had the cross ram on it. It also had a wild panel paint job on it typical of the 80’s, very cool car!
Any Ls swap they suck any chevy rat or mouse should stay in a chevy who says a 327or a 427 is not as good a ls is just a ford copy anyway.If i want to put a ford in my chevy it would a 351c.
Saw a Porsche 911 with a small block Chev in it. I thought at the time that it was a sacrilege. But thinking back now it was very well done!
Back in the 80’s, there was a 66-67 Chevelle that raced at Woodburn, Oregon. It had a 440, and even had Super Stock springs on it. I don’t recall how quick it was, but I do recall that he went rounds with it.
Well there was the 212 Predator in a D-50 a few days ago. Can’t get more weird than that?
Curtis you’re right. I forgot about that car. It was a real Challenger T/A with a Chebby 302DZ motor with a cross ram in it and a super wild paint job.
I still have the issue of Auto Buff it was in. Always wondered what happened to it.
You might be correct in that it was a Challenger and not a Cuda, knew it was one of those two. I’m pretty sure I saw it in Hot Rod magazine though so it minister have been in both magazines. It was a pretty nice car so it would stand to reason it was frmeatired in mutie magazines.
I believe the white 56 Chevy with the 413 Chrysler wedge was in a magazine called Muscle Cars illustrated, one of the regular authors was Cliff Gromer.
Now a suggestion for Bangshift or Hot Rod magazine…. How about a follow up article on feature cars from years gone by? There are a LOT of these cars still around in their 70’s and 80’s finish. Maybe do a follow up article on specific cars titled “where are they now?”
Locally, over the years I have seen a few unusual combos, like a 944 Porche with an aluminum headed, Kenne-Bell supercharged 5.0L Ford Windsor, a late seventies Firebird with a 426 Hemi, and a local shop is building a Lincoln Mark VIII with a bored & stroked Cadillac 500 that’s supposed to be close to 700 HP, and a 1945 Chev ton and a half bobber with 21″ heavy truck wheels and a 5 cyl MB Turbo diesel/TH350
No need to mention all the LS Fox bodies, etc, no news there, but the first ones mentioned are a little more off the beaten path…..
Back around 1980 there was a Comp Eliminator ’63 Corvette with a small block Ford in it. It caused puzzled looks from the spectators and got thrashed regularly on track by the Chevy powered Chevys!
A few years ago I read on the web a writeup with several pages and lots of photos (black and white as I remember) about a guy who put a 501ci Cadillac engine in a VW bug. I looked for those pages recently but it seems they are gone. Anybody else remember that one?
And no, not the blue one that was for sale that never had a transmission installed. This guy actually made it run.
The 2JZ DeLorean going around the Internet had to be one of the weirdest I’ve seen… an inline six mounted entirely behind the rear axle.
A few years ago, I ran across a Lincoln Mk VII in a junkyard that someone had put a BMW six cylinder diesel under the hood. I later found out that “someone” had been at the factory – it was not a swap, but a very rare option intended to help hit CAFE targets!
Another odd one I saw at a swap meet years ago, a 1970 Chrysler Imperial with an Isuzu four cylinder diesel. Huge car but the owner swore it got 30 mpg.
A guy in Lake Co Florida built a Cobra kit car with an old style 50s Chrysler Hemi with 2 inline 4s. I used to stand off to the side and watch the Ford guys walk up to it a freaking flip out! Loved it !!!!