Engine swaps into Ferraris

Interesting. Could that car have been the chassis rescued by Tom Shaughnessy around this time last year? I forget the serial, but it was found by another member scouring ebay and was located in rural Illinois. It was missing an engine (originally had a lampredi), and the body has been replaced by a Devon quite some time ago.

I'll go look for the SN.

Peter

 

Ok, I was referring to chassis number 0202 which was a Vignale spider. Last titled in 1963 in Salt Lake city, but had a Chevy v8 installed in the 50's. Here is a picture of the original body from the thread regarding 0202. Could it be this car?

This photo is copyright of Marcel Massini
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Yes, it was certainly very common to do an engine swap back in the day. It often was related to terminal valve-guide wear resulting in intolerable exhaust smoke. Or maybe overheating due to thermostat failure. My old mechanic, Sal DiNatale, did a few. These cars were selling for $3000 to $5000 (and race provenance added zero!) so one could not afford a real engine rebuild. I had a couple go through my hands that I can think of: 0131EL, a 212 Vignale 2+2 sent over for the Mexican RR, after which a well-known local race mechanic installed a Chevy (what a piece of junk it was to drive!), and 0378AM (probably not it's correct no. due to no. swapping, but someone will correct me) a 375MM PF spyder which I purchased from a dude in South-Central LA with gold paint and a big Ford engine. That car, believe it or not, ended up in Bardinon's Collection Mas du Clos. I didn't find either of these cars much fun to drive.

Also common, at least in SoCal, was the installation of a Ford center section in the rear-end. There was a machine shop here that was all set up for it: they would jig up the entire rear-end in a giant lathe and cut out the offending parts and weld in the junk-yard Ford part. As I recall, about $200!

 

Ok - after a brief search on barchatta - it looks like you are referring to 0204. However it doesn't say anything about a Chevy engine. Perhaps there is confusion regarding the two cars on the registry? They could have both been in very close proximity at that time.


Peter

 

I can't imagine that car surviving untouched until now considering the big price run-up around '89.

I have a friend (now lives in Germany) who grew up in LA in the 60's who remembers a neighbor that dropped a Pontiac 6 banger into a Jag Etype.

Swapping a Chevy small-block into a Ferrari must have seemed like the thing to do then.

 

"Also common, at least in SoCal, was the installation of a Ford center section in the rear-end" - Ed Niles

I believe there is somebody in Vermont who still does this. Yale

 

I remember seeing fairly frequent ads for Ferraris with American V8's in early-mid 60's Road & Track classifieds...also used to see articles by Ed Niles in same pub. about the same time.

Why did I get rid of my 60's carmag collection around 1980, I ask myself.

 

So you wouldn't suffer the despair of seeing a $3000 Lusso and a $7500 Dino years later when owning either car would require adding zeros on to their prices?

 

Here's one of many Chevarri cars from the 50s/60s:
http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/StanSugarman.html#StanSugarman

There are probably more buried deep in the extensive web site:
www.tamsoldracecarsite.net

 

Ah, yes. How could I have frogotten 0680 MDTR? I actually ran it one year at the Virginia City hillclimb with my pal Mark Dees driving. Not a bad car.

 

I ran into John at a Ferrari get together in Indianapolis some years back. He said that he had owned (or I suspect handled) my PF coupe twice. He also said that it had been owned at one time by Joe Marchetti of The Chicago Historics fame. I met Joe at a get together in Chicago once a few years before he died and asked him about my car. He said..." I owned so many of them it is hard to say..."

Delameter was a great guy. I don't know his status now.

Tom W

 

I will see him next week at Meadowbrook

 

How common were engine swaps out of Ferraris?

I recall a 250 Lusso engine being installed in to a Cooper.
I haven't got the full details to hand at the moment but I remeber seeing it in the members directory for the Ferrari Club of America in the early 1980s

Paul

 

This 750 Monza had a 283 small block Chev in it in the 60's and was raced that way in New Zealand by Johnny Riley.

It was later reunited with its correct engine and resides at "Southwards Motor Museum" in New Zealand.

The accident photos are of Ken Wharton's fatal crash in NZ. The car was rebuilt and kept racing but the Ferrari motor was replaced later on.
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Now a fabulous car again.
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Wont bore you with any more.
JP
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Great photos of this restoration. Don't hesitate to put more on. When did restoration get started?
This is another pic taken after the crash.
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Ive got more shots of the restorations in progress and finished but an having difficulty uploading them. I may be over my max as its sitting at 7 meg. Any clues.
JP

 

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JP

 

See this...
http://www.ferrari.org.nz/articles/AGM2006_750.htm

 

1962 250 GTE (s/bn 3637) with (what I believe to be) a small-block Ford 6-cylinder from last year's Concorso.
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