Invective
11-21-2019, 06:05 PM
Not a Ford-Mercury product but an interesting bit of Americana at any rate. I'm reminded of the Baldwin-Motion cars of the late '60s and early '70s.
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The small-block Chevrolet was still in its infancy when Zora Arkus-Duntov thought to ditch the iron casting and go to a more weight-conscious aluminum construction. These V-8 engines are pieces of small-block history, cast in 1959 for the Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle (CERV) project that became the first seed of the mid-engine Corvette (https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2019/07/19/2020-mid-engine-corvette-c8-supercar-debut). Officially unveiled in 1960, CERV I was a testbed—an open-wheel, mid-engine chassis that helped shape Chevy performance and the Corvette for years to come.
Strangely enough, an authentic GM aluminum small-block from this era now lives in the back of a Corvair, of all things. How does that even happen, you might be wondering? I hunkered down and performed some detective work to find out.
For context, I am a Corvair enthusiast (https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2018/11/21/corvair-decapitated-spark-plugs) who has long-lusted after building a Crown Manufacturing V-8 car. Even during the height of its production, Crown was a small outfit in Costa Mesa, California, which only built parts for mad scientist Corvair enthusiasts. Crown Manufacturing is now largely defunct after being sold to fellow performance parts manufacturer Otto in the 1970s, and then finally to Clarks Corvair in Massachusetts in 1991.
https://i.imgur.com/MbZ4Ya1l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5soGe3Xl.jpg
https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2019/11/14/how-rare-experimental-aluminum-v-8-from-duntov-era-found-its-way-into-corvair?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Daily_News_Monday_ Nov_18#
****************************** ****
The small-block Chevrolet was still in its infancy when Zora Arkus-Duntov thought to ditch the iron casting and go to a more weight-conscious aluminum construction. These V-8 engines are pieces of small-block history, cast in 1959 for the Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle (CERV) project that became the first seed of the mid-engine Corvette (https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2019/07/19/2020-mid-engine-corvette-c8-supercar-debut). Officially unveiled in 1960, CERV I was a testbed—an open-wheel, mid-engine chassis that helped shape Chevy performance and the Corvette for years to come.
Strangely enough, an authentic GM aluminum small-block from this era now lives in the back of a Corvair, of all things. How does that even happen, you might be wondering? I hunkered down and performed some detective work to find out.
For context, I am a Corvair enthusiast (https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2018/11/21/corvair-decapitated-spark-plugs) who has long-lusted after building a Crown Manufacturing V-8 car. Even during the height of its production, Crown was a small outfit in Costa Mesa, California, which only built parts for mad scientist Corvair enthusiasts. Crown Manufacturing is now largely defunct after being sold to fellow performance parts manufacturer Otto in the 1970s, and then finally to Clarks Corvair in Massachusetts in 1991.
https://i.imgur.com/MbZ4Ya1l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5soGe3Xl.jpg
https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2019/11/14/how-rare-experimental-aluminum-v-8-from-duntov-era-found-its-way-into-corvair?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Daily_News_Monday_ Nov_18#