when I walk thru a Cars n Coffee and see all the cars and trucks with some form of LS corvette engine I think of all the Corvettes that must be missing their motor. I think it would be fun to find a late model corvette and stuff an old XK engine in it just to see the reaction on the Corvette guys faces.
I have no idea if thats even feasible, but I think it would be fun.
No. No, they wouldnt have: compared to a real Auburn Speedster—around which I spent a great deal of my life, it was absolutely horrible.
They also continued the stupid kit car idea of fakey-do exhaust pipes on the passenger side.
Grrrrrrrr.
They did refuse to bend to reality and stuck with a styling cue that meant nothing to the usual Ford Windsor engined models. It didn’t help that they used common flex pipe. I personally love the real Speedster and think it’s probably the pinnacle of Buehrig’s designs. Thank goodness they ARE such rare cars or there would doubtlessly be one riding on 26" rimz with inner tubes for tyres AND an LS conversion…
Oh crap. There’s a project Volvo P1800 available on our local Craigslist. Here I am knowing full well this 4.2 will NOT fit in a P1800…
knowing that is all the more reason to go for it and make it work.
Phillip
This quandary is made worse by my previously owning another P1800 some years ago… compounded now, by there also being a high light Morris Minor available as well. AAAAAAARGH
Not just that: real Speedsters only had the external exhaust on the driver’s side: all the kit cars I know of, save for Glenn Pray’s original copy(!!!) serm to feel they need to be on BOTH sides.
Grrrrrr.
I had the good fortune to speak with Gordon, a few years before his death, and he felt the 810 Cord was the pinnacle of his styling.
I hate that coffin nose!
Made from junkyard parts, transverse leaf springs front and rear, 397 Packard, an example of the “thur ain’t no substertoot fer cubic inches” mentality in old rodders.
Sort of like the Devin but even less so. But keep looking; as I recall a genuine C-Type chassis was once discovered hiding under a Devin body.
Re the Packard V8; I’ve never heard much about any performance development on it. Seems like Packard waited until they thought everybody had “perfected” the OHV V8 and picked the features that made torque and reliability the foremost. Too bad they only had a couple of years to “run it in” so to speak.
A mid-engine sports car would have been another choice, a-la bmw M1. Love the way that xk motor sounds when uncapped. That midget is off the chain!
Greetings All,
I find that hard to believe.
I have seen a 4.2 in an MG midget.
I think I recall one in an MGB. Don’t recall much about it other than it stuck up too far and put too much weight too far forward.
I know this is an old post, but might be of interest I had this problem in 1999 & as a result built an Aristocat an XK 120 semi Replica it uses the XJ subframes, engine . trans etc needs a shortened drive shaft. It is from a UK company that ships worldwide.
https://www.autotuneuk.com/aristocat.html