Ever Have A Mongrel Car?

[cabinetman]

A friend of mine called and was telling me about his new creation. He had an engine from a wrecked Cadillac CTS-V installed in an S-10 Blazer. He said it flies. I should be seeing it this week. I want to see how they stuffed that motor in it.

This made me think about the mongrels I've had. My first was in high school in the early 60's. It was a '51 Chevy 2dr sedan. Back then in Florida car titles showed previous owners, and this car had several. Anyway, it was what we called a "sleeper". A previous owner had installed a 265 Chevy V8 with 3 dueces, and a La Salle 3 speed floor shift. I only paid $150. I had fun with it, and it had a great back seat.

Have you had a mongrel?

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[rlreed]

Mongrel

My sharpest car, 32 Ford five window coup, chopped and channeled, Chevy 350 engine with Powerglide tranmission, Ford 9 inch rear end, Buick brakes, Vega bucket seats... Beautiful car but very uncomfortable to drive. I drove it from Dayton Ohio to Gatlinburg Tn for the rod meet and sold it, I could barely stand up straight after that ride...

[tommyt654]

Yup,A 66 Mustang Fastback w/351C installed, that was mainly due to the influence of the motor builder John Zorian who built Big Daddys motors in the 60's-80's. I worked the counter at their speed shop in Tampa ,Fla for a while sellin parts and got into drag racing for quite a while. That should be quite a site in the Blazer and I'll be it really does fly as I go to the strip still and regularly see S-10 PU's with small blocks racin all the time. Grab a pic if ya can I'd like to see just how close a fit it is as I have a Blazer as well and the idea of stickin a SB chevy in it has occured to me. Might make a great strip vehicle considering its weight over the rear wheels.

[phrog]

My sharpest car, 32 Ford five window coup, chopped and channeled, Chevy 350 engine with Powerglide tranmission, Ford 9 inch rear end, Buick brakes, Vega bucket seats... Beautiful car but very uncomfortable to drive. I drove it from Dayton Ohio to Gatlinburg Tn for the rod meet and sold it, I could barely stand up straight after that ride...

I was raised near Gatlinburg. I accidentally was there when they were having that rod meet one year - took me 4 hours to go 2 blocks. But there were a lot of beautiful cars there, and some mongrels.

[Pappy]

First car was a '52 Buick, straight 8 / dynaflow tranny. Got my hands on the engine and tranny from a totalled '65 Wildcat. That was a real sleeper!

Also had a 47 Ford Pick Up with a 383 Mercury motor. Rare motor built primarily for police cruisers in 58 and 59. To say the least, it was hard to find parts for. Most parts folks had to look it up to even believe it existed. Swapped it out for a 390 and 4 speed from a Comet Caliente but never got it up and running again. Sold the truck to a guy in Houston when I decided to have the wife and kids join me in Japan in 77.

[phrog]

My uncle once made a mongrel. He put a Ford V8 in a small Crossley body. The manifold stuck back into the passenger compartment and the gear shifter was in the back seat. Wow, did it have a lot of power.

[Whaler]

In 1967 I bought a new Toyota Land Cruiser and after one trip out with the Tucson 4wd club I jerked the straight 6 and dropped in a 327 Corvette engine. That was one fun rig then.

[cwsmith]

Unfortunately YES... but it came from the factory that way!

My wife and I bought a new Mercury Monarch in May, 1976. I was in the showroom, when they brought it and five other cars in on the transport. Mine was a "Jade Green" 4-door, 302 V*, full accessories, and camel interior with front "bucket" seats.

Without going into all the painful episodes, lets just say that it was in the body shop by August and by 1982 it didn't have enough body integrity to hold the shocks and it wouldn't pass inspection.

But to the "mongrel" part of it... that car always acted strangely and over the first four years here were some of the discoveries:

Car equipped with a Ford 302 V8.... air filter was from a 1974 Ford 6 cyl pickup.

Car always overheated and at two years, the radiator collapsed (totally corroded). It took weeks to find a replacement, because it too was from an earlier model year 6-cyl.

Power Steering pump went out. After two months of searching and not finding any Ford part that would fit, my mechanic took it over to the "pick-a-part" to see if he could match it.... Yep, it was a 1974 Chevy Nova pump.

Apparently 76 was a really bad year, as Ford (and probably others) used a lot of recycled metal, and apparently parts from wherever they could scavage them.

CWS

[TB Roye]

In the early 60's we stuffed and I mean stuffed a 283 chevy and powerglide into 58 MGA. The rear end lasted all of a week and then we put a Chevy posi traction in it had to have a special driveshaft made and shorten the rerl axel housing to fit the tires into rear wheel wells. Then there was the poblem of Brakes. It was great in a straight line but not on curves and hot on the feet. The guy later bought a 289 and then a 427 Cobra and that solved his problem. The 427 was the most brutal car I have ever driven worse that our spint car.

Tom

[dbhost]

Of course I have driven more than a few mongrel cars. And they were factory built that way...

My 1984 Jeep CJ-7 that came factory with the Chrysler transmission, Ford starter and solenoid, and GM alternator.

Then there was my 1981 Dodge Omni O24 that was factory outfitted with that weird engine built by Volkswagen that was a gasser, but based on the VW Rabbit Diesel engine.

[cabinetman]

Another one of my mongrels was a '64 GTO I bought off a used car lot, and found out it had a 421 engine exchanged for the 389. It had the same 3-2's setup.
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[mpc]

dbhost beat me to it... many Jeeps until a bit after the Chrysler takeover were factory mongrels. Dad's prior jeep had the AMC based inline 6, a Ford stick-shift, DANA transfer case, and axles from ? (probably DANA as well, I can't remember now) I have a Haynes or Clymer service book for that beast; as with most of those DIY car repair books (Chilton, Haynes, Clymer) it covers several years and several related models. That book has chapters on 3 or 4 different engines, Ford & Toyota & I think two other transmissions, several transfer cases, etc. Mix-n-match mongrels... apparently Jeep built very little of their own parts/components though they must have been experts at designing adapters.

mpc

[dbhost]

Sorry, hard to respond on my phone...

As far as non factory mongrels, I have had a few...

1971 Chevrolet Vega with a 327 dual 4bbl and Muncie 4 speed.
1978 International Harvester Scout II with a Caddilac 500 cid 4BBL V-8.
1962 Volkswagen Microbus with Corvair turbocharged flat 6. (LOTS of sheet metal was hacked away to make that fit!). That still had full deck lid and bumpers.

The bus was probably the most fun. It would pick the front wheels up without hardly trying...

[tommyt654]

Another one of my mongrels was a '64 GTO I bought off a used car lot, and found out it had a 421 engine exchanged for the 389. It had the same 3-2's setup.
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Wouldn't ya like to have that one back

[cabinetman]

Wouldn't ya like to have that one back

Oh yeah. Had a few non-mongrels I would want back...
'61 Jag XK 150S DHC
'63 Bonneville 2dr coupe
'64 Corvette convertible
'70 Grand Prix I bought right off the showroom floor
'73 Eldo HT coupe

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