[6 Grrrs]

I bought an engine out of an old street/race car a buddy was scrapping (4 years ago). It had 455HO (197) round ports on a '69 428 block with aluminum rods and 455 crank (clearly not original). Funny thing is it had a Formula 455 emblem on the back panel. Down the road, I started to wonder if the heads were original to the car. It was originally a copper color (I remember it from many years ago). I remember when it had a ram air hood on it back in the 80's too. It had a one piece fiberglass front clip when I pulled the engine and the car was pretty badly cut up. The floor was so badly hacked and the doors had the side beams hacked out (you can see the sides of the cowl were modified). The quarters, rear trim, spoiler, bumper, taillights and trunk lid were all that was any good and the guy who had it later cut them off and sold at a swap meet.

Unfortunately it got cut up after I pulled the engine - I never saw it again. I wish I would have grabbed a photo of the VIN and data plate.

It was a shame as I remember this car was known as the fastest street car in the town I grew up in. The guy who built it I haven't seen in 15 or so years. He sold it to his younger brother in the late 80s, who then repainted it but then later ended up in jail for some type of drug possession/trafficking. Evidently the car was in a storage building for many years and the owner of the building wanted it (and all his other belongings stored there) destroyed, since they hadn't received payment in something like 10 years. I bought the engine mainly for the heads.