A neighbor had a Corvair campervan he used to pull his speedboat,but it burned up an engine each summer.So he pulled it down one winter and installed an Olds 455,.030 over,and transaxle from an Olds Toronado.The doghouse over the engine was made into the camper's kitchen table.This thing looked original outside,but you knew it was special when it passed you pulling a 28 foot boat,going about 95 mph.
The wrecking yard I worked at for a while had a huge old forklift with a Cadillac 500 and automatic in it,replacing the old Dodge flathead 6 and 4 speed.
Around that same time we had a Vega arrive in the yard with a flathead V-8 and truck gearbox in it. It was all connected,looked like it'd been driven that way. It was really cobbled in there though,the engine was set so high the heads were above the tops of the fenders.
I also had a '62 shortbed I put a '64 Pontiac 389 in. (the engine came with 2 tri-power sets,but it had late model heads,so neither one would fit.)I hooked it to the stock truck 4 speed though. I used an aluminum bellhousing with a "starter mount" heli-arced to it,since the '64 was a hybrid year-had the new B.O.P. pattern,but still required the bellhousing mounted starter. I could get 3 or 4 starts out of it before the starter slid and wouldn't crank the engine anymore,then I had to loosen the bolts and pry the starter over and hold it while I tightened the bolts again. Finally switched the truck over to a built 350 Chevy engine.
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