Jalopnik
Well, whaddya know- an American Hell Project beat a French one in our most recent Choose Your Eternity poll, with the Malaise Corvette Limo winning by a small- yet significant- margin over the V8-ready Peugeot 404. Unprecedented! We need to honor this tremendous underdog victory by going with an all-American matchup, with a 71-year-old car taking on a 79-year-old truck. Not only that, to honor the amazing Packard Straight Eight we saw in today's Engine of the Day post, each of these projects must be viewed as the potential recipient of a supercharged Packard inline eight engine. So forget those small-block Chevy engines that come with 'em, because the Chevy is just too easy.
Today we're going with a somewhat different format, because today's tipster (and Project Car Hell Tipster T-shirt winner), UDMan found both cars sitting on trailers in upstate New York and photographed them himself:
I took these pictures at a Fabrication Shop called Tom's Hot Rod & Fab Shop, in East Syracuse, NY. (315) 701-4441. They were sitting on a trailer in front of the shop, and they were at a show a couple of weeks ago. I took a look at them, and there is still a lot of work to do on them, but are actually rebuildable (well, I couldn't do it, but a lot of guys on here could).But before we look at the vehicles, let's consider the engine you'll be using for the project. Wait, did we say engine? Actually, what you get here is a block, head, oil pan, and some other early-50s Packard 327ci flathead inline eight parts, with the crankshaft and rods conspicuously absent. You'll make plenty of connections in the Packard world while you're tracking down the missing engine bits, which will be a big help when it comes time to try to get a supercharger working on it. Hey, this is Hell!
30s GM car with small-block Chevy, sitting on a trailer? Hey, that means it's all set up for a powerful blown flathead (though that GM 10-bolt might be iffy), and maybe there's room under the hood for an engine a good foot longer than the original six! You'll find a way to make it all work, somehow! Here's what UDMan has to say about this one:
Then there's the 1937 Pontiac Sedan, with a 91 Caprice Police Package LT4, with AOD, New IFS Suspension, New Steering Column, New Power Rack, Wire harness from the Caprice, Original Lights, New Glass Included, Power Seats (Front and Rear!), Billet Dash (though I didn't take a look inside), Miscellaneous parts with the car, Shift Kit, and Rosewood Steering Wheel! Minimal Rust, needs lots of finishing. Has Title, and only $12,990 OBO.Whoa, that price is a little steep, but you'll recoup at least a few hundred by selling that LT4 and associated surplus drivetrain goodies.
We like the Pontiac quite a bit, but the idea of a good old patriotic Ford truck with a howling blown Packard Straight Eight is pretty tough to resist. Here's what UDMan saw:
It's a 1929 Ford PU, with a new chassis, a Mustang II Front End with Rack & Pinion Steering, Front Disc Brakes, Ford Rear End, 350CI Chevrolet, Turbohydramatic, all rust has been expelled, patch panels come with the truck. Carb will be included. It needs finishing.... $10,500 OBO.Hey, the rust has been "expelled," it's got a Mustang II front end already in place (note what appear to be Capri wheels), and a shiny-new rear suspension. What it probably doesn't have is room for an inline eight-cylinder engine, since this truck came from the factory with a four-cylinder only, so you'll need to get creative about the swap. Hole in the firewall and the rear of the engine right next to your knee? You'll find a way!
Comments
Ford pick up,with some cool snake skin style tyres & lambo doors,then i'd go racing NSX's
The Pontaic... so I could constantly say "Nyaah, see! Stay outta here coppers... nyaah!"
You had me at "'37 Pontiac".
The wheels on the pickup are (I'm pretty sure) from a Pinto.
Pinto = fire
Fire = Hell
I go with the pickup due to my own contrived reasoning.
Just put the engine in the bed and make the pickup mid engine.
is that a packard in your pontiac or are you just happy to see me?
Pontiac please, not only for the chance to live out a Dave Chappelle bit on a daily basis but because the truck just could never be worth it to me. a)it's a Ford
b) I require leg room, so I'll stick with the engine by my leg in my retro-tastic late 70's Dodge snub-nose RV for that experience, for the long trips parts hunting on the Pontiac!
The Ford. Good for any Okie headed for the grapes of wrath on a Sat. nite.
GM. That's General Motors, Baby.
FORD=Found On Road, Dead.
Ford, simply because the engine bay is really, really short, and the Packard motor is really, really long. Lots of fabrication involved.
Got to have enough hood to get it under.
This is too easy. These are both pre war vehicles with at least 4 wheels each, some of which probably turn. I know, I know, the engine, yes. That Pontiac is beautiful though.
I had to go with the Pontiac because, hey, "ALL THE HARD WORK IS DONE".
If I had to use the Packard block, I'd go with the Ford, but I really like where they were going putting LT1 guts into that Pontiac.
@SundaySunday: Same here. The Packard engine would sure fit nicely in that bed!
The Ford. You could fit maybe half, possibly 3/4ths of that massive straight-8 in the engine compartment. Hope you like your legs getting burned!
I voted for the pontiac, but there should have been a third option of just buying the motor, bolting a seat, tranny, and some suspension to it and driving that around.
The Pontiac would definitely be cooler. But the Ford pickup would be more hellish. You guys are all taking the easy way out- cut a hole in the firewall? Pfft. The obvious PCH solution would be to stretch the nose.
@slantsick: Spoken like a true lunatic, Sir.
But I went for Pontiac. This hell is subtle--what will you do with it? How will you make it more special than the other oldies out there--rat rod? Painstaking back to original? Nah, both done to death. Lie awake nights, fretting over the perfect way to trick this baby out.
with the packard engine, the pontiac screams, "rocky mountain bugatti!"
Pictures are one thing, but taking the the entire experience of the shop, and these vehicles in person was, to say the least, interesting. It was a typical day I had at a non productive dealer in East Syracuse, when I just left, drove down Molloy Drive, and saw these vehicles on the trailer. Well, I decided to stop, and entered the front of the shop.
Talk about being a kid in a candy store. You would be amazed at all the paraphernalia in the front. Old gauges in boxes, gaskets, headers, distributors, brake rotors, trim pieces, all on shelves, some unlabeled. Then I introduced myself to the owner, asked if I could shoot some pictures of the vehicles in front, and he said go ahead. But before I did, he took me on a tour of his operation. It has space enough for 6 cars in one side of the shop, and at least 6 more in an addition. to my left was a customers 1969 Mustang Sports Roof that was in getting a Disc Brake upgrade, a 1972 Plymouth Road Runer getting new shocks, and exhaust system, an older Ford Ranger having it's bumper re-welded (This is Upstate NY after all), and there was a Ford Model A Sedan body, without a frame set off to one side. On a lift in the back was a 1964 T-Bird Convertible, having some rust spots taken care of, and some re-wiring of the top mechanism. Outside, was a customers 32 Duce Coupe, in for some carburetor adjustment, and a decrepit 72 Corvette that needed a complete restoration.
The owner (Tom) was obviously proud of his shop, and the work he and his crew does. He seems busy, and is doing OK since he expanded his shop recently. This was a very enjoyable experience, and just wanted to share.
It has to be the pickup - the Pontiac is cool, but a straight 6 or 8 in an old pickup is about as good as it gets.
Good call on the 48 star flag, too - well done - there are those of us who remember when Hawaii and Alaska were not part of the country and old cars were nearly 50 years newer.
Hood 1' shorter than engine block = Super Hell Potential! '29 Ford all the way.
I voted Pontiac, but then I started thinking about it. If you add some framerail extensions to mount the radiator about 2 feet forward, and move the engine mounts up to, say, right between the front wheels, all there is left to do is fab up a new front end and head out to your local cruise night to wow the ladies with your custom bodywork. Oh, yeah. You might want to drive carefully until you figure out what putting that much weight forward of the rear axle does to the handling.
@slantsick: Exactly!
@UDMan: Wow, good one! I love places like that, they remind me of the small town I lived in as a wee one...
UDMan deserves a Star for this find...oops..too late. Give him another one. Great Find.
Wow, these are some seriously optimistic prices. It is patently unreasonable to pay over $10k for anybody's castoff project unless the make listed on the title ends in an -i. This having been said, the Ford looks like it once had a hand crank-operated windshield, and if you're throwing a Packard eight into it, at least you should be able to enjoy the aromas of the various clouds of smoke it is emitting. You paid for them, after all.
@Mike the Dog: Did I say rear? I meant front.
@grrrr: That's what you get with the Ford... well, minus the suspension, maybe.
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