Is his the ultimate revenge engine swap? How many tens (hundreds?) of thousands of Chevy small block V8s were swapped into vintage Fords over the decades? But in 1968 (as the date on the border of the photo confirms) someone had swapped in this old Ford flathead V8—sporting aluminum heads and a quad carb intake—into this 1967 Camaro SS. Unbelievable.
But why?
Did they just love the distinctive exhaust sound of the flathead V8? Did they also have a Ford hot rod with a flathead V8 and they decided to swap engines for the hell of it? Just to blow people away when they raised the hood of the Camaro? Or?
Thanks to a link sent to me by J. Francis, we now know why:
Clarence Everett, who lived in Oregon, had become one of the most successful racers of flathead V8s, including records at Bonneville. But in 1968 he decided that he wanted a more modern car than the ’50 Ford coupe he had been driving. So he bought this ’67 Camaro SS and tore out the 396(!) Chevy and swapped in one of his hot flatheads.
It sported these high compression aluminum heads and four Stromberg 97 carbs, and undoubtedly other hot components. He then raced it at the drags in the six cylinder/flathead gasser class, apparently with some success.
Don’t judge a book by its cover. But there’s a clue: the “396” emblem below the “SS” on the grille has been removed.
Maybe they wanted to be the first of many to have the newly available Camaro exclusive 350 in their street rod! And having an engine less Camaro and a flathead lying around, this became a marriage of convenience.
Back in the day I had a SHO and a Festiva, and joked about making a DIY Shogun – but the idea of a Taurus with a 1.3L Mazda four cylinder – the “leftovers” – always seemed wrong LOL
Reminds me of a combination i saw on ebay a number of years ago, years ago, a Ford sierra (sold in USA as a mercur) which would normally be equiped with a 1.8 or 2.0L pinto, a fairly popular engine for conversions, backed up with a type9 gearbox,
but it had been pulled out and a weedy 1.3L OHC vauxhall engine bodged into the engien bay.. along with its transmission.
Presumably somone had wanted a pinto for their viva or chevette… but figured the sierra would sell better in some kind of running condition, all very odd and a bit of a shame as the sierra was very rust free
Does this help?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_B_engine
No reason a modded 1.3 couldn’t make 250 hp with 2 bar boost
I like flattys but I don’t like reducing HP…..
The Chevrolet identified himself as a Ford.
Seems a 396 would have been the better choice.
Ironically, that’s what was in this Camaro!
I’ve just updated the post with the backstory, thanks to a link sent to me by a reader.
Well, each to their own. It would be interesting to know what it turned for an ET/trap speed.
A stock 396 Camaro would be in the range of high 13s to high 14s at 95-100 mph depending on a number of factors. Given the class he was running it in it’s unlikely the flathead could match those numbers but if he was having some fun and winning some races in his class more power to him!
Around 1962, a group of guys from one of the car magazines (I think it was Hot Rod) started dropping in 283s in all sorts of odd places. A Valiant and an E – Type were two that got a Chevy V8.
And then there was the T bucket hot rod with – believe it or not – a Porsche type 547 four cam, mounted in the back.
Thanks for the backstory, the flathead swap into the Camaro makes sense now but I can’t help wondering why not a Mustang? 😉
That’s what I was thinking, PRNDL.
It would be interesting to know the actual power output of the flathead.
I searched a bit about this guy … actually curious if he was from Eugene, which would have been fitting. Anyway, one article or forum post mentioned a similar swap, where someone put a V8-60 onto a Vega. One search leads to another and I also found a Bonneville racer based on a ‘27 Model T which had a Vega engine. There is no limit to what people will do when it comes to engine swaps.
Back in the true hotrod days, someone who had solid welding skills and ready access to a junkyard, well, the sky was the limit.
IIRC, I think Hotrod magazine once put a Cadillac V8 into a Chevette…
In the bottom photo at the far left, is the rounded tail of some little white car. Any idea what it might be ?
Looks like the front end of a Ford coe truck to me
The rounded part is more of a cream color, and there’s what looks like an exhaust pipe hanging down. I thought it was some long forgotten micro car, but I guess the white shape above could be the same vehicle.
Fascinating find. As a little kid, I loved the white lab coats service technicians wore. At large auto service centres like Canadian Tire, it was always impressive to see a small army of techs with their clipboards and coats, doing their consulting with customers.
This kind of reminds me of circa 1984, an elderly lady came in with a brand new Cutlass Ciera. She asked Dad, “Does this car have radial tires?” Dad replied, “Yes, of course.” She then insisted we do new takeoffs and install bias ply tires. Apparently her late husband had a hate for radial tires, claiming they rode hard, as was widely claimed circa 1970. We sold a set of dead stock tires and got the takeoffs for free!
It would have been fun to take this car back to the dealership for warranty work and insist that this was the way that it came from the factory. ?????
speaking of Mercur’s, There was one at our autocross today. AWD with a turbocharged 5.0 windsor engine. Pretty snappy car but the guy needs some better brakes!
Looks like the smart choice would just find a 67 vette motor around.with a 427.motor..or buy then..I think gm sold the CE 427 replacement block over the counter..build you a 430 horse 427 motor with rectangular heads..and a L88 solid cam..850 dp.holley carb and some racin.hedman.headers and smoke.that old flathead..just seems likely choice. Keep the 67 camaro all gm…
Yeah, but it wouldn’t have been half as interesting.
In the text of the original article, it says the swap took place in 1968 and the donor car may have been an insurance salvage. Not too sure about that one, although it does look like the passenger side fender is missing the stripe, and it does have an aftermarket Corvette 427 ‘stinger’ hood (with oddly placed hood pins).
Still, I wonder what kind of damage there was for an insurance claim to total the car out if it was in a passenger side collision (and what it took to get it back to driveable shape). Could also explain what ultimately happened to it if the title wasn’t ‘clean’ (although it does have an Oregon plate on the front).
I mean, who in their right mind would want a flathead-powered Camaro as a daily-driver? I can certainly see that engine being yanked as the first order of business by any subsequent owners.
I love it. I don’t care how it performs, but just as a black eye to Chevy V8 supremacists it puts a smile on my face, and undoubtedly is the coolest looking underhood view a first generation Camaro ever had.
If this car still exists today it’s probably got a cookie cutter LS swap, Ho freaking hum.
Obviously he wanted to reduce the front end weight bias of the Camaro for better handling.
Sacrilege! If I had been lucky enough back in the day to have a new ’67 Camaro I would have kept that 396 under the hood!
When I saw the original picture yesterday, the old guy with his coveralls had the look of somebody who had been twisting wrenches for a long time. In 1968, that would have meant a guy who would have been deeply immersed in flatheads before the Chevrolet V8 was a sparkle in anyone’s eye. We all tend to do what we know, so my guess had been that it was someone who knew flathead Fords better than he knew anything else.
It turns out I was kind of right. I had not guessed that the guy was a top name in the old (and fading) flathead performance community. The choice of a vehicle for his favorite engine is curious. Did he just happen upon this particular Camaro and decide to run with it? Or did he go searching for a Camaro because of something specific about that model?
BTW, that looks to me like a gold Stude GT Hawk in the background of that last photo. A flathead in one of those might have been an interesting swap too.
A former mechanic coworker of mine put a Datsun 240Z engine into an old International Scout. This swap takes the cake, though. The Z-Scout was created over 40 years ago, but I saw him about a year ago, and he’s still driving it almost daily. You just never know until you try it.
Marriage of convenience. Guy’s a famous flathead racer. So of course he’s going to race in a class where a flatty has a chance.
Finds a semi-wrecked Camaro new enough to have mostly good parts…and damaged enough to be cheap. The early 396s were known to chuck connecting rods. Nothing says this car ran when he bought it. I bet if he’d found a Mustang or a Valiant/Barracuda first, we’d be looking at this same photo…with a different car in it.
I have a buddy with a Flathead fetish. He’s put three of ’em out of their misery (so far.) I keep telling him to get a new radiator since they’ve all overheated and cracked the blocks…but he says the radiator was cleaned-out at an actual radiator shop thirty years ago, so it’s fine.
I knew Clarence Everett through one of his daughters that was in the same grade as I. Was in his shop a couple of times, back in the 60’s. There was anything and everything that had to do with a Ford flathead…on the walls, rafters and floor. Watched him race a T-bucket with a flathead that would wheel stand off the line. He was known for “FlatHeads Forever”. He was VERY successful in his class. Raced a lot in Woodburn, Oregon’s drag strip. His daughter drove a 49 Merc with a chopped top and a slightly built flathead. Cruised around with her once in it. His home and shop was just out of West Salem heading toward the Pacific coast. I’d go to the drags every weekend and there’d be Clarence. He’d put on quite a show with that T-bucket!
It is possible this Camaro was a theft recovery without an engine with some body damage making it quite affordable. Certainly unique and by the sounds of it, very successful plus he had fun with it. Isn’t that the goal of any car guy?
There was a 1980 Pinto wagon at The All Ford Nationals in Carlisle PA this past June that has a hopped up Flathead in it. I thought that was cool.
I have several 1980’s Ranger pick ups. I’ve often thought about doing a Flathead swap with a T-5 tranny in one.
I knew Clarence Everett. He did this to rub “Chevy lovers” nose in it at races and car meetings. He was the most outwardly enthusiastic car builders and racers I have ever known and was never shy about sharing secrets and details with other guys whether BS or not. A real character!
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We laugh at him because he’s different. He laughs at us because we’re all the same!