Ot a racing story, but a tale of a 340 none the less.... in 1987 or 88, I gave a kid $20 for a 340 out of a wrecked 70 Swinger he had picked up for nothing more than wanting the center of the 8.75. The car was roached out, bent up front end, trashed interior. It did run, but had a he'll of a knock of some sort.
Anyway, he needed drug money and I wanted the 340 for my 71 B'cuda ragtop. Motor needed a sleeve in hole #8 because the wrist pin had come out one side of the piston. I took the 727 with it. He only wanted $20. Who was I to say no to that price?
Sleeved it, rebuilt it, dropped it in my ragtop. Sold the car a year later. Dude that bought it knew nothing, but brought his mechanic buddy along to check it out. He confirmed it was a 340 in a 318 car as advertised, and told the dude to buy it.
Fast forward 26 years and I run into the dude as he's admiring my 69 Fury ragtop. He told me of a lime green 71 Bcuda he had bought in 1989 or 90 and it all clicked. He said the only thing he didn't understand is how his buddy had told him it had a 340 in it the day he bought it from me, but 7 years later discovered it to be a 360 when he sold the car.
Told him I remember dropping it off at his buddy's barn for storage til Spring the day he brought me the cash, and how he had a Dart, Challenger and a couple other cars in various states of projectdom and how he had said he wished he had a 340 to build for one of them.
Ran into to him again a few months later and he told me he told his buddy about seeing me, etc... Said his buddy came clean after all those years and admitted to swapping the 340 out in a weekend before he took the car home from his barn.
Some buddy.
