Which Car Never Got the Engine It Deserved?

Stefan Lombard

One thing I’ve learned in my time with the Hagerty Community is to never underestimate what they (i.e., YOU) can contribute to the content we create here at Hagerty Media. I enjoy wondering about the variety of our collective hopes and dreams for our classic, antique, and specialty vehicles. Be it an engine swap or a full restoration, we all have such dreams, don’t we?

So here’s the question I pose to everyone: what if the cars we love also had hopes and dreams? I reckon among the first things they’d dream about is having the best engine possible under their hoods. So tell me, Hagerty Community:

What car never got the engine it deserved, and what is that engine?

I’ll answer the second part first. As a Ford Lincoln-Mercury enthusiast, I’ve used this answer more often than I can remember: The Ford “427 SOHC” big block V-8. This rowdy, single overhead camshaft version of Ford’s venerable FE engine was based on the 427 side oiler, but with hemispherical heads and that unique SOHC valvetrain. The idea was to make a motor that would put Chrysler’s 426 HEMI on notice, but it never reached such fame. And that’s a shame.

I suspect any Ford equipped with a 427 SOHC also needed one of those “as-is” stickers, just like the 426 Mopar it intended to usurp. That’s a necessary distraction, because Ford could have sold enough of these to justify all that effort. (Or so I’d like to believe!)

Every Ford Thunderbolt needed this mill. It should have been an option for the Mercury Cougar. Or perhaps a limited run of “Cammer Continental Convertibles,” because that’s right up my alley. But now it’s your turn to contribute, valued member of the Hagerty Community:

What car never got the engine it deserved, and what is that engine?

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Comments

    The modern Dart. It really should’ve gotten the 1.75T that Alfa used for the 4C. Not only was it used in the Giulietta, but it was bolted up to Fiat’s C635 DDCT. You know what else used that transmission? The Dart, for the 1.4T as an automatic, and for the entire engine range as a manual.
    238hp, 250ft-lbs of torque would’ve been a riot in the modern Dart!

    Robert, I couldn’t agree more! A lot of Chevy’s of that era got one, but not the Nova and it would have been great to have as an option.

    After Yen kids experience with the 427 in the few ’69 “Super Nova” cars I’m not so sure. They are awfully big and heavy. Don Yanko even conceded as much, he called them “lethal”.

    Can you imagine driving a “lethal” powered car. It just makes me crazy to think about it. I have an 02 Firehawk and it’s plenty “lethal” especially when the SO is sitting next to me screaming slow down.

    Would have been a waste, at least on street tires. If one reads the period tests of the SS396 Nova, it was not nearly as quick as it S/H/B – presumably due to nose-heaviness, and the lack of traction made worse by that nose-heaviness. I had a 1973 Nova two-door with the 350, and it had enough trouble getting traction on dry pavement. A limited-slip would have helped, but I do not believe that would have been sufficient to put a 454’s torque down, even the somewhat-diminished torque of the 1973 454; what would it have been like with a 1970-year 454, even the base 360 HP version?

    Plus the Novas were famously almost impossible to fit big tires under, so most of the ways to increase traction were off the table or darned difficult (expensive).

    I second that comment. If V8 Archie could cram a Cadillac Northstar engine in that engine bay, they certainly could have put that bullet proof 3800 in there, turbo or not. I had the 2.8L V6, and although no real slouch, it could have been so much better. The base 4 cyl Iron Duke was a true paperweight.

    That’s a LOT of Iron in that chassis; participated in a Backdoor Project in ’88 (last year of the “P” car), and built a pair with the 2.0 Turbo, a GT, whereabouts unknown, and a very plain E37; still have it…

    I found one in a junkyard with a 3.8 turbo. They wouldn’t let me by the whole car, and didn’t have time or tools to pull the engine out.

    That would have been phenomenal. I was thinking more along the lines of the Olds Quad4. More revs, more power and already had a 5 speed transmission that had gone through EPA certification.

    I dunno about big block small Chevys. I had a 1966 Chevelle that I had the luck to put in a 1971 Z28 350. Nice small block. Then I got a 1972 SS454. For sure a tire smoker but the big block made that rascal so nose heavy. Straight line, fine, but don’t try to turn

    The Plymouth Prowler is an obvious answer here. Something as attention grabbing as a Prowler, they couldn’t have found a way to cram a v-8 in there? or turbocharge the V6? Anything! Even the turbo 4 from the SRT4 would have been more exciting!

    I agree. The Prowler failed sales wise due to the lack of a V8. Mopar should have sold a retro fit V8 swap kit for the Prowler to get around any regulatory issues.

    I’m an older Mopar man and I always thought that the 70 and 71 A bodies should have had a 426 Hemi option. My brother put a 426 in a 70 Duster and it looks factory made. Mother Mopar put 383’s and 440’s in Darts and Barracuda’s and they had an aftermarket company put Hemis in 68 A bodies so I believe they could have done it to the second gen A bodies too?

    They should have offered the Chrysler Crossfire 330 hp SRT 6, V6. Easy fit and a upgraded transmission could have lived behind it. I have seen a number of V8 swaps but they always require front transmission and solid rear axle like a 9″ Ford. I have a 2002 Prowler so maybe someday

    I’m sure the Plymouth Prowler is #1 on many lists!!! For sure an outrageous presence, to power it with a ho-hum drive train was such a disappointment…

    I seem to recall that back in the day, some custom shop was installing the Viper V10 engines into the Prowlers and renamed them “Howlers”. I can only imagine what the acceleration must’ve been like in that beast.

    The Prowler needed a small block Mopar V8, for sure. Even a standard 318 would have been preferable to that poochie V6 they stuck in it.

    Came here to add the DS. Originally, it was planned to have a flat opposed 6-cylinder engine, but the development budget ran out after the amazing suspension/brakes/steering. The end result was that their existing and aging 4-cylinder was adapted. Oh, what could have been……

    I was waiting for someone to mention the DS19 Citroen! Such an advanced car to have such a pedestrian motor.

    My number one answer. The DS with a proper, smooth 6 would have been a damn near perfect car. It might have saved the SM, too.

    The Traction Avant had a powerplant that was less impressive than the rest of the car, too. Here, too, they would have had an absolute world beater.

    My ’40 Ford pick-up (that I never got) with shortened bed, widened fenders to contain M/T Indy tires, 2″ chop, darkened windows, semi-gloss black paint, and radical rake with zoomie headers coming out of the hood sides. The engine (that I never got) was to be a Chev 409 with every speed part I could get my hands on affixed and mounted in front of the Tremec 5-speed and tall shifter. It was going to be my “40 409” – or so the vanity plate site in my state assured me it would be. I built it as a model, and fully intended to build it in real life – even made an offer to a friend who was selling a driver-quality ’40 p/u some years back. When he heard my plan to cut it up so radically, he sent it to someone in Canada (presumably to get it far out of my reach).
    *Sigh* – I deserved that truck and that truck deserved that engine, or so I will believe until my dying day! 😁

    My Allante comes to mind, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it never got the engine it deserved. It just didn’t get it oriented in the correct direction. For the 1990s price though, it probably should have gotten a Cadillac variant of the LT5

    Agree! The last year in production it got the Northstar V-8, but it was too late. And at that, 300HP was still a bit on the short side of being a performance car.

    There are so many cars that deserved better engines. How about a Bandit 1977 Trans Am with a 455 SD. Or 1986 Pontiac 2+2 with a Pontiac 400. The Monte Carlo SS fast back with a 350 TPI.

    ZQ8 Sonoma with a V8.

    My Fiero with a V8 like Pontiac was testing.

    Most cars today that are getting stuck with 3 and 4 cylinder engines. They deserve better than 134Hp

    Better yet cars that should have been RWD vs FWS. My HHR SS. Any FWD Shelby.
    Buick Reatta, Cadillac Allante, the Earnhardt Monte Carlo SS.

    I expected no less than the Fiero from you. It was one of the first cars on my mind mainly because I remember all the neat swaps I have seen in the Fiero. Northstar, LS V8, Supercharged 3800 V6, turbo 4’s, etc.

    I also agree some quick FWD cars should have been RWD instead for the driving dynamics.

    Pontiac built one V8 and it was testing in Mesa when GM and Chevy spotted it. It was ordered crushed.

    The 1990 was set to Get a 230 HP DOHC V6 and Quad 4 base engine. This was a major part of the reason GM killed the car. The Corvette people were afraid with slowing C4 sales they would not make their business case for a C5. They felt if they lost these sales to Pontiac they were done.

    While few believed that it was true. The C5 and Corvette were killed in 1992-3. They had to hide the program to get reinstated and approved. I feel the Fiero and the Corvette both may have died in the next 5 years even if the 1990 made production.

    Bingo on the Fiero. Irrelevant but wouldn’t it be nice to have today’s 2 L turbo engines available in those small cars? I’ll buy the no substitute for cubes, but light, little high revving screamers are neat engines. Who knows how long they will last, but they are interesting

    Only disagree with the Buick Reatta, which I owned. It was fine by me, 100%, as it was. Should’ve kept it.

    What may be good for you failed many others that could have purchased and kept the car alive. Imagine a 3800 SC engine with RWD selling to a wider performance market.

    The results would have been amazing.

    Agreed about the Fiero. But you can add the DMC DeLorean even though it was a lost cause. The Fiat X1/9 should’ve gotten something different also. I’d almost add the Mazda Miata, but it’s already good enough. All of these would probably be too much of a handful if they had much more power anyway. Maybe some lives were saved. 🙂

    I agree about the X/19; It would have been a squeeze–maybe impossibly so–but Fiat had the Lampredi twin-cam right there in their lineup!

    I’m sure Pontiac would have loved to put an SD-455 or a Ram Air 4 400 in a ‘77 Bandit Trans Am, but we all know it would have been illegal to sell them, as they wouldn’t pass the tougher emission regulations of those years.

    The 90s to the 2000s Towncar should have had the DOHC 4.6 available. The Mark VIII had it, the Continental has it, why not the Towncar? Plus it would have challenged the LT1 and Northstar Cadillac was offering with none of the quirks. A missed opportunity.

    Actually the real benefit of the Panter platform was the 5.0. You could not kill them. The new engines had issues.

    I agree that Delorean deserved better than a Renault engine. It was like putting a timex works in an Omega case and selling it as a premium product.

    While perhaps historically interesting, the Wankel got the chop before it ruined the reputation of even more carmakers. Citroen offered a Wankel GS, but they wisely bought almost all of them back.

    Same for the Chevy Monza. They were going to get it first and then sell it to AMC for the Pacer.

    It is just as well as it would have never met emissions and they still have seal issues.

    My first thought is Plymouth Prowler. I realize that packaging anything other than what it had would have been an issue, but they probably could have squeezed in the SRT4 engine. I think the old school hot rod with the at the fast and furious style tuner engine would have been accepted in that time period.

    I would put the LX based Chrysler 300 on the list too except that in the last year it finally got a 392 like it always should have. That engine should have been in the Chrysler from Day 1 of whoever approved building that engine.

    The Honda Fit’s popularity in grassroots Motorsports everywhere proves it should have gotten the K20C in its second generation and L1.5B7 turbo in its 3rd and 4th generation. While most hatchback manufactures cashed in on the hot hatch market Honda just produced the Civic Type R and only captured the buyer with a lot more money. Definitely a missed opportunity for both revenue and a cool hot hatch.

    Any sporty car post muscle car era and before the Renaissance starting in the mid 1980s. The 1981 and 1982 Corvettes are great looking cars straddled with sub 200 HP low compression V8 engines.

    People say this a lot, but I haven’t seen too many, even back in the day, that were putting out stock horsepower.

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