Should there be a law
I guess I struck a nerve with some of y'all. Chill out and if ya read the post nobody is narrow minded. I'll explain. I've owned them all, Model T, High boy , Malibu, Impala SS, Turbo Ellipse and a bunch of others. Like I said in the OP, it's theirs and they can do what they want to with it. I've always believed that it's your car do what you want to. Yes its about enjoying the hobby regardless of the make. I enjoy looking at any kind of American muscle. I was speaking from the point of a restoration not a street rod. I'm just saying after all the expense of restoring a Mopar, it seems unfinished to me not to be Chrysler powered. It's usually old Mopars, whether a 35 Coupe or 41 Dr. Special RESTORED By a Chevy guy, gets a Chevy drivetrain. That was the tongue in cheek point I was conveying. Happy motoring.
You're always gonna touch a nerve with this. And it goes both ways. The purists will be just as upset. Just not as many have chimed in on this thread. Piss of a Chevy guy and put a 392 Hemi in a tri-50's Chevy. Most of 'em will blow a top.
To me, the idea of "build what you've got" isn't truly valid. I've known too many of these guys who've come across a cheap body in decent shape who
haven't got just something laying around. They'll go to the local u-pull it and grab the first low mileage 350 they come across. At that point, they're spending the same money for the 350 as they would for a 360, LA or Magnum. Or, if they're building a Ford body, a 351 out of a late 80's Ford pick up.
When asked "why," what I normally hear is "well, all the hot rodders are doing it."
Okay, to me that's not hot rodding, that's letting someone else do your thinking for you. Hot rodding is daring to be different. Build something unique, something that will stand out, something that no one else has the balls to do. Most "hot rodders" thinks this means a paint job no one else has.
I've never understood the idea that you'll take a body, put thousands into the body and paint work, thousands more in the interior, even more into the chassis and then go cheap on the drivetrain. All in the name of "everyone else does it."
And then to turn around and put it on craigslist? Okay, I guess putting a motor in a fat fendered era car will bring out the folks just like you who have no imagination and will sell, but when you get into the more modern era, say something from the 50's or 60's or 70's you're putting a limit on your buyers. Most fans of those breeds of car are gonna rip the Chevy motor out of it and go with a corporate engine. At that point you've just wasted your time and energy in putting an engine in at as you're not going to get the extra money out of it for being a runner as if you'd just left it alone as a rolling project car.
