I was going to make this one a “CC Wordless Outtake”, but I couldn’t keep silent. Nope. I realize I write a lot about having grown up in Flint, Michigan, and of its place in the legacy of the automotive industry in the United States, being the birthplace of General Motors. Today, I bring up the Vehicle City (yet again) for two reasons: a.) This Frankenstang was spotted at Flint’s annual car show held downtown traditionally in the third week of August; and b.) It seems to me that a creation like this one could only be born from the wellspring of automotive know-how that exists in much of Genesee County. I’ll bet you won’t find anything like this tooling around the streets of a city like Chicago, Illinois… or its suburbs, for that matter.
You may join me in pondering the “why” of putting a small-block Chevy 350 V8 into a Ford Mustang, but I hope most of you will agree with me that this is a very unique creation. Have you ever seen a Ford 302-powered, F-Body Camaro or Firebird? (I have not.) This goes beyond a mere “heart transplant” – this is a straight-up mixture of two different species. I’ve always thought its powertrain is, and has always been, a huge part of what defined a Mustang as such. Perhaps dropping an SBC in this ‘Stang was in a partial attempt to make this Ford more acceptable in what is still a very GM-centric town.
Before anyone points out that the front bumper cover is from the Mustang’s 1983 – ’84 model years, note that its color is slightly different (dark maroon) than the rest of the car (Hershey’s brown), though this was really hard to notice at first. I did get a good look at the back of the car (no picture, sorry!), and it’s definitely from the first four years of this generation’s production. I also seem to remember on a placard somewhere in or on the car that it’s an ’82. There’s no doubt in my mind that this entry has been a one-of-a-kind at the entire show, for years. As for me, I look at this car with (lots of) curiosity, and with kindness. After all, this conversion must have taken a lot of imagination and even more skill… much more than I possess, anyway.
Downtown Flint, Michigan.
Saturday, August 21, 2010.
Note: a rerun of an older post.
Related reading:
- From William Stopford: Curbside Classic: 1979-1982 Ford Mustang – A Clean Break; and
- From SavageATL: Curbside Classic: 1979 Ford Mustang – A New Hope.
It’s Tuesday, again? Alright
LOL – these reruns can throw people off, but I’m glad this one was chosen for a respin. 👍
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FordChevroletLots of effort there.
Long ago, and somewhere in these pages, I found a Chevrolet S-10 pickup somebody had repowered with a Ford flathead V8. That was an interesting sight, also.
I remember lots of old Fords re powered by an array if different GM V8’s, as I worked on Fords during my long career it wasn’t hard to see why .
A nice tidy little Hot Rod here .
-Nate
Of course Nate, classic hot rod. Plentiful Chevy small blocks making cheap hp united with plentiful Ford bodies. Nothing new under the sun.
Makes me want to build a Chevy with Ford power, just to sorta balance the universe.
Here’s an idea: Take that Medium Green Metallic 1979 Camaro Z/28 I pictured yesterday and replace the Chevrolet 350 with a Ford Coyote 5.0 engine to create the world’s biggest, fastest, and most cognitively dissonant Matchbox car.
I cannot abide by this. Nor any Ford hot rods with other than Dearborn power. It’s sacrilege. I understand the the SBC has the most support but no. Human sacrifice, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria! Build a Chevy Confederate if you want to sully a classic. I will accept Chevrolet power in any orphan car hot rod though. You just can’t find Edelbrock intakes for a Nash straight eight anymore.
I don’t recall the original post in 2010. My reaction then, would have been the same as today. Yuck.
However I realize some car people like to mix and match though I’m not one of those. Ford powerplant in a Ford vehicle, etc. I’m also a diehard Fox Mustang fan having owned a few back aways. So there is that.
Same. I could probably even garner a little more leeway over a LSx swap so common in literally everything seemingly, but a SBC in a fox? I’m sorry but maybe my ford blue veins are popping but there is nothing you can do to a small block Chevy you can’t do to a Windsor for the same money for the same power.
Plus the gold bowtie is ugly. Even GM finally saw the light on that tacky finish