This is a great show of the main gallery. In this clip they have just placed the AJ Foyt #8 Corvette on display and are setting up a C6 Grand Sport next to it.
Thanks for reading.
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There are some great displays at the museum. This one is the Mobile Oil service stations.
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REVIEWS:
The Chevy Corvair’s swing axles and heavy tail are implements of the devil, at least according to Ralph Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed diatribe. Paul Siano, the creator of the mid-engine Siano Special, doesn’t buy any of that. He has owned, modified, and drag-raced Corvairs for more than half of his seventy years without suffering a single unintended spinout.
Siano bought — brand-new — what began life as a 1966 Corvair Corsa after supercharging a Volkswagen Beetle and owning a ’64 Corvair Monza Spyder convertible. He drove the coupe 50,000 miles before ripping out the stock 180-hp turbo engine.
A vintage Crown Manufacturing kit provided the means of upping the cylinder count and moving the engine from the back porch to the rear seat. That package included a tubular-steel subframe, an engine-to-transaxle adapter plate, a new transmission input gear, cooling-system pipes, a new shift linkage, and two new antiroll bars.
Siano’s prize possession is a rare, experimental, 283-cubic-inch aluminum engine block that General Motors pitched out as scrap. Engine builder Bryce Flinn added a roller cam, aluminum heads, and the induction overkill. Siano fabricated the necessary bits and brackets with an emphasis on minimal weight. He also added four-wheel disc brakes, Minilite wheels, radial tires, and a Ron Davis aluminum radiator.
Siano didn’t partition off his eight-pack of Weber intake trumpets, because he’s a patron of the rolling, reverberating, internal-combustion arts. Living with Webers is not for the meek of heart. When cold, they spit and stumble. When they’re up to operating temperature, they fill the interior with a combustible cloud of reversion gases. Smoking is discouraged.
Headphones are available for those rides when hearing preservation takes precedence over the din of a barely muffled Chevy V-8. Only two things keep the whirring water-pump pulley from biting the occupants’ elbows: the flush bolts that Siano installed in place of hex-head screws and every human’s natural preservation instincts
REVIEWS:
When we drove to the test track, Siano’s homebuilt special revealed evil streaks: quick but heavy steering, vague shift linkage, and a throttle pedal that offers yes and no but very little maybe. However, a few miles were enough to establish an amicable working relationship.
Offered the opportunity to redeem itself, the Siano Special settled into stride to post a reasonably impressive performance report: 0 to 60 mph in 5.2 seconds, the quarter mile in 13.9 seconds at 104 mph, and a top speed of 130 mph. More amazing, the handling balance is excellent, offering just under 0.90 g at the limit of adhesion and only a touch of easily controlled oversteer when the fourteen-inch BFGoodrich Radial T/As finally let go. The cobbled-together chassis held firm over bumps, and the dampers kept body motions nicely controlled throughout the testing gauntlet.
Back in the Corvair’s day, GM fiddled with various mid-engine sports cars, only one of which (the Pontiac Fiero) ever made it to a production line. Leave it to a motivated Corvair enthusiast to demonstrate what can be achieved by adding a couple of cylinders and relocating the engine to a more productive location.
The Specs
Engine: 4.6-liter (283 cu in) OHV V-8, 300 hp (est.)
Weight: 2600 lb
Weight distribution f/r: 44.0/56.0%
Drive: Rear-wheel
The 326 was used as the base model for the Pontiac Tempest. That was going to be the extent of the division’s uses for this engine.
For 1963 and 1964 production years that was the case.
But in the 1960’s GM had a rule that production A-body or intermediate-size car would carry no more than 330 cubic inches and none were to be sold. Pontiac had the idea that they would bring on the Tempest GTO would have the 389 as its base engine, but GM set the rules. So the best Pontiac could do was to offer the GTO with the base engine as the 326.
1964 Tempest GTO, Yes you'll find 'em with a 326
However, on the order form there was a check box to order the 389. This is how the 326 got in to one of the most famous iconic cars of the muscle car era.
1965 was the year and the 326 offered was with 250 and 285 hps in both automatic and manual transmissions.
That’s enough to make it a piece of historical automotive hardware. But there is one more noteworthy pair of shock towers this power plant was mounted between that was the 1967 Pontiac Firebird. Yup it powered up its second iconic car with a 250 hp version and a 285 hp version.
326 in a 1967 Firebird
67 F-bird
And that, fellow car crazies, was the short life of Pontiac’s 326.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
Check out Average Guy’s Car Restoration, Mods and Racing – Racing Corner page and look over Vickie and Jodie’s 1970 Camaro
That’s an email from a reader. Been under the weather for a few days and a heavy workload this time of the year where I “pound salt” (hopefully a fair ratio of people get that).
So here is what is coming up:
Finish up the series on the 326 Pontiac engine.
Finish up the last couple entries for the Name That Car Contest (tally for this latest round coming up).
Feature Car – one of the Studebaker’s models.
Update on my 1970 Mustang “make-over”.
And some other stuff.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
Even while operating within the huge conglomerate that is (was) GM, the divisions all strived to retain some semblance of their earlier identity or develop a separate identity. Even with continued mounting to conform (within reason) to use standard tooling and
engines parts out of the GM bins they strove to be unique.
The Pontiac division made this effort “job one” with slightly different body parts and paint schemes (Trans Am paint schemes). What I think made them standout was the effort to stuff unique power plants in their offerings’ engine bays.
With this in mind, I selected Pontiac’s 326 CID engine. This short production run engine had some special Detroit steel wrapped around it. But we’ll get to its uses and an interesting note about its purpose as related to circumventing a rule or two.
This engine came about as a need to replace Pontiac’s aluminum 215 V8 engine. (It was actually built by Buick.) It was expensive to
build and not well received by the public, most just couldn’t get over the aluminum part and worried about durability and even about the ability for it to
say lubricated and whether coolant would eat way at the aluminum. Of course we not differently now where aluminum is desired in many, especially with heads.
Coming up how – Pontiac used the 326 – a unique dealer trick that put this engine between the fenders of famous car and the difference between a 326 and a 327.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
Here this one is going to be a tough one.
Jump in the ‘way back’ machine and guess this early turn of the 20th Century car.
Name That Car
Good luck.
Remember you need 5 correct answers to win. If you are reading this on Facebook you need to chase the link and post on the blog.
Thanks for playing.
Tim
The correct answer is 1956 Continental
1956 Continental
Bob Sweeting was the first correct answer.
(No I don’t believe we are related.)
Thanks for Playing Bob.
Next one coming up right up.
Tim
Ok.. Steve Sear won the last round.
This round the rules are the same. You have to be the first to get 5 correct answers.
If you see this on Facebook you have to chase the link and post your answer on the Blog.
You’ll have to provide a mailing address to receive the prize.
So here is the first car in the next round.
This car was once it’s own company.
This particular car is 1950’s era.
Name that Car #1A
Good luck and thanks for playing.
Tim
