AZDoug

I was at a funeral service gathering this weekend,and drove my '37 ford pickup (327 powered).

A guy there saw my CHEVORD license plate and asked me if i had Chev motor in it.

Now, this guy, looked, acted and talked like Edgar (Vincent Donofrio) from Men in Black, after the bug stole his skin.

Anyway, imagine Edgar telling me he used to have a '89 Caprice that came with a 418 chev motor from the factory, and that he put a hemi kit on it, but got tired of the gas mileage so he put a 350 in the car.

I just nodded a lot.

Doug

Vet65te

And, you kept a straight face? I know it's polite to let someone tell a tall one without cringing or rolling your eyes but in some cases, like the one you're mentioning, it would be darned hard to not give in with a raised eyebrow or at least a 'smile'.
Mike T.

62Jeff

I figure most of those folks are trying to create some sort of connection with you (unless their significant other is near, then they are just blowing smoke to impress).

Generally, there's no harm in letting them talk. If they are a self-proclaimed expert on your car and start pointing out what is right and wrong with it, then I politely push back when they get their facts wrong.

The ones who do the most harm are often found on automotive forums.

vetrod62

Doug, you are a better man than I. I would have called him out on the details. A BSer is a BSer. Oops, I think I have done that on this forum. Oh Well??

vettluver

An 89 Caprice with a 418 AND a Hemi kit? I'm sure it would be a collector car by now. I'm not sure I could have held my composure - well done.

I've had to walk away from people telling me what's wrong with my essentially stock Z - "those rear brake ducts aren't original"...LOL

claysmoker

The first car show of the season is this coming Saturday. I know there will be at least one know-it-all that I can fool with, so I can't wait!

Bowtyeguy

Everyone knows the 418 only went in Vegas, so it was a NOM motor.

Low Rider

The ones I like are the ....I had one just like that when I was in high school.......except mine was green (mines black) and a Ford and I thing it was a 68

TPIC427

Whenever I am told about someones 396 fuelie split window coupe with T-tops my standard reply is -Man ,I bet you didn't realize what you had back then , probably wish that you kept it.

TPIC427

overheard at a cruise night while sitting by my 64 coupe-Chevy was phasing out the split window in 64 so this was the only year that you had a choice of solid window or split window, this one is kind of rare because most 64s had the split.

csherman

.....and all Corvettes had V8's........

rayvaflav

A few weeks ago I was loading my '66 coupe onto a trailer to take it over to the paint shop and a small group gathered to witness the spectacle. One old know-it-all duffer told me all about how his brother had a 1940 Ford coupe street rod with a "Corvette Engine" (which is totally believable, I'm okay with that). I was okay with that until he felt that he needed to further puncuate his statement with "A Corvette engine is rare, you can't find them anywhere !" . My response: I pointed to my '66 on the trailer and said "There's one in that car.".

Ray

vettsplit 63

No kiddin.


We had a charity benefit local car show this weekend, and though I don't normally do the car show thing, what the heck, it was for a good cause so I did. I was lucky enough to draw a parking spot very near the covered area where the announcer was doing his thing through the day, playing oldies music, etc., so I got to sit under the shade and keep an eye on my car. I was amused at the number of people who came by, and upon seeing the split, the guy would start 'explaining' it to girlfriend, buddy, kids, whatever. Some of the stuff they say!
But, like others have said, I guess they seem a fountain of knowledge.

chevahaulic

Just bring out the car, knowledge begins to flow. The guys uncle had an experimental split window with a Cadillac engine not released for sale or production. It was the beginning of the big block engines for Corvettes. Uncle bought it from the scrap yard one year old as it was supposed to be crushed per orders of GM. Luckily the uncle paid the yard two hundred and fifty dollars promising only to use the frame for a project. Didn't have a title so he sold it to a circle track racer who went undefeated for two seasons. Wish he would have kept it !
It's probably in someones barn with racing sponsors lettering and needs an engine rebuild. If I find it I will let you know.
I wait everyday for the call !

tuxnharley

What's a "418"?

DZAUTO

It's a SB400, bored .030 and stroked .100.
In the "old" days of modifying SB400 engines, it was fairly common to offset grind the rod journals down to small journal size on a 400 crank to achieve the additional stroke of .100in. This, with the .030 bore, gives about 418. With a .040 bore, you get 420----------------------which is what I have in my jet boat.
Right now, the SB400 in the 56 is only bored .030. But when it comes time for a rebuild, I'm going to open it to 420.

Westlotorn

DZ, now if you can just find a set of those rare hemi heads to bolt on your good to go!

DZAUTO

I PRESUME that you ARE aware that there was once a set of experimantal (GM) aluminum hemi heads for the small block back in the 60s, right?

JohnZ

Twelve sets of those heads were made, and eight still exist - about half are in cars, and the other half are on display. It was a grand effort, but the hemi heads didn't make one more horsepower than the stock factory 186 wedge heads did (which is why they never went beyond the prototype stage).

Westlotorn

John, you continue to amaze, I had no idea those Hemi heads existed. Why did the plugs come in from the side and not the center like the Dodge design? How big were the valves? Thanks for the education.