How well would that mate to a Corvair transaxle?

I would like to take that whole car. Just toss some wheels on it and go.

Curved dash? Awesome.

Were there any Cimmarons lying around? If this'll fit in a Chevette, we could make it work in just about anything.

+ Watch video

500 + CheVETTE = hilarity.

@DannyBN: Think great dane-on-chihuahua.

LOL 8.2L and 365HP!!! my civic with gsr 1.8L gets 400hp at 18lbs of boost and 35mpg!!! stoopid fat domestic cars! crush that pig!!~1

[/oddly fitting cap wearing, overly leaned back seat sitting, 4-door AT equipped civic with electric blue interior driving import tooner fanboy]

I love this era of car, when the front bumper got home 5 minutes before you did.

So wait, the Eldorado was front wheel drive, but still Jalopnik fawns over it so? Guess thats just a Jalopnik double-standard that I just don't get.

@elwood: Good thing we're only talking about cars. Otherwise our double-standard might be important.

Really, Ms. Martin, how often do you visit junkyards?

@elwood: It's perfectly OK to fawn over a giant motor in a stupid and wasteful application. It's especially justified when you're talking about pulling the motor out, since that implies you are either going to put it into something more worthy, or just hook it up to some hoses and hang it from a lift in your living room as a running shrine to the gods of displacement.

@elwood: We can have quadruple standards here if we feel like it!

@Mad_Science: Don't forget about the aftermarket lights and painted brake calipers.

I want mines to look like bremboez.

Someone's gotta make one of these things an anus-mobile.

IIRC for most of GM two things occurred with the '71 model year:
1. A switch from SAE gross to SAE net for HP ratings
2. Adoption of low / no lead fuels.

Of course everything got generally bigger. The bodies from the early '70s were some of the largest GM ever built.

As for FWD in this car, the controls were so over assisted that driving was by remote control. Surely there was no physical connection between the steering wheel and the tires.

Where their "performance" truly stood out was in snow. Why wait for the snow plow? I have an Eldorado!

@elwood: It is obviously a cruiser. The massive engine is to move the massive vehicle.

duuuuuuh

@elwood: The engine is the badass, fawned part.

@Mad_Science: Hey now, don't be hatin. The guys I know that are putting down those kinds of numbers hate the guys you just described.

I give it an 8/10 for stump pulling prowess.

The Caddy 500 has to be the largest displacement production engine in an automobile. Can anyone think of one bigger?

My goodness. Would that thing make for an interesting title search, or what?

Back in the day, when I used to be friends with a certain son of a popular Chicago car dealer, he had an odd assortment of vehicles in the back garage. He had not one but TWO '71 Eldorado convertibles, both olive green one with white leather and the other with brown. The one with white leather was in slightly better condition than the other and one day I managed to convince him to get one of his mechanics to get the thing running. We took it for a cruise around the parking lot and it certainly moved around much better than its size implies. He was asking $1200 for it. I could've been KING with that car. Too bad I had no place (still don't) to store 40 feet of car.

One word. Fiero.

At 5000lbs and 9 miles/gallon, it was the automotive equivalent of telling the rest of the world to move the fuck over and get into the right lane, god damn it. Those were the days all right.

@racerx: You have to go back before WWII. Lots of Duesenbergs, Bugattis, etc. had much bigger engines.

Someone evidently got to it already and pulled the three foot long steer horns off the hood. Shame.

@AndyDuncan: I'd run a 500cid V8 in just about any car too. I just don't get why a powerful, FWD Cadillac that drives and handles like crap is awesome, but a powerful, FWD Honda that drives and handles significantly better is universally despised.

@Mike the Dog: Well, and of course the Viper. Most recent model has a 512ci/8.4 liter motor.

Check this out, the ultimate sleeper!
[www.mcsmk8.com]

Love the Country Club sticker. Gives me images of Palm Springs and golf clubs.

@elwood: I think large Caddies and large Lincolns, specifically the continentals, are awesome in their own way. Certainly not in a track-day kind of way, but in a wafting diplomat/pimp/grandmother kind of way. It's a similar kind of vehicle as a modern day suburban or escalade, but with way more (less?) class.

And you won't hear me talking shit about FWD Hondas. I like all cars.

@racerx: Viper V10.

@elwood: You're comparing Kathy Bates with Eliza Dushku there. The math will never work.

So horrible... I mean this car is really mint to a Northerner...

@Mike the Dog:

Of course, how could I forget. I guess I was thinking in a more modern sense though.

And anotehr thing, to all you nay-sayers who are dis'n the big Caddy's. You're making assumtions about cars that you've have never even sat in, much less driven. Believe it our not their are people who value big, poweful, comfortable cars that are made for serene long distance cruising at high speed. The kind of driving you'll find in the majority of America. I'd rather ride a bus in Jersey that drive a Subaru three miles.
(now stepping off of soapbox)

@racerx: Could've sworn there was a 572ci, but can't seem to find anything but crate engines.

The current Viper V10 is 8.4L = 513ci.

Probably the biggest post-war production engine.

@AndyDuncan: @tentacles:

Yeah, it slipped my mind that now it's a 505 with the newest generations instead of a 488.

err 513

@Drujon: Those are the wheels that should have gone on the Lincoln from yesterday, in place of those awful dubs

@Drujon: If I had my choice of cars to drive cross-country in, I'd pick an Autobahn machine like the Porsche 928 in the JFG. But hey, I just prefer a car that handles at speed as opposed to a boat of a Cadillac.

@AndyDuncan: I'll give you that. I certainly thought there was something cool about the Lincoln from the SAE World Congress that got posted yesterday. I just think a lot of Jalopnik falls into a Japanese-hating meme pretty easily.

@elwood: Its only FWD in forward gears - making this ideal for the reverse slalom

I believe IH had an engine that was over 500 cu in, but can't remember the specifics. Anyone?

on second thought, with that 95/5 weight distribution...not so much.

@elwood: The commentariat tends to hate vehicles full of competence but short on character.

Character can take many forms, but we can generally assume it's the opposite of optimization.

The Accord Coupe is heavily optimized.

8.2L FWD Caddy with a Parthenon nose has character.

I remember the "Body By Fisher" sill badging in early GMs. My father had a 1973 Impala coupe with "Body By Fisher" carriage style logo..also had the "Mark of Excellence" on the ignition key..man I miss these old cars sometimes

And as an aside, looking at the URL I thought about an 82 liter engine, which made me think. Jalopnik should do a story on the Cummins QSK78. A 78 liter, 3500 horsepower, 10157 lb-ft V18 ought to interest everyone here.

@elwood: Only if it's FWD.

...Or swapped into a Fiero

@Mad_Science: It's easy to be interested in vehicles with lots of character, but I wouldn't want to drive a car that was all character and no competence. But the style over substance debate isn't so much relevant to this post.

@Mad_Science: I was thinking, swapped into a Sherman tank?

@Drujon: That car is absolutely ridiculous in a good way.

Hmm... Mid-engine Locost with this as a stressed member of the chassis..

@elwood: GM still had those emblems up until fairly recently. I remember seeing a pretty shoddily built '90s Camaro and thinking "More like Body by Fisher Price!"