Top 10 cars that don't deserve their engines

http://www…r-engines/

10: 06+ Impala SS

9: 03-04 Mercury Marauder

8: Dodge Neon/Caliber SRT-4

7: Dodge Spirit R/T

6: Ford Taurus SHO

5: Oldsmobile Achieva SCX

4: Lamborghini LM002

3: Saab 9-7X Aero

2: Dodge Omni GLH-S

1: GMC Syclone and Typhoon



they go into a bit more detail on the website as to why they don’t deserve the engines, but I’d love to have that Lamborghini listed on there

That’s an interesting list, and I can’t say I disagree too much. It’s a shame, isn’t it, how some of these wonderful engines get stuck in such mundane vehicles? On the other hand, it’s nice to know you can get a great engine without spending a fortune.

My 1981 Chevette diesel engine was far better than the car it was installed in. It was a purpose-designed diesel, not a converted gasoline engine. It had outstanding performance in a way that I wanted.

How about the Pinto (exploding car) with the 4 cyl that was used for years after in trucks…
or the Vega, with a crappy aluminum engine engine that didn’t deserve the well designed body it was wrapped in. Reverse !

The old dodge slant six found in the Plymouth Valient/Dodge Aspen.

Many of the early muscle cars that had great motors (ss 396) stuffed into archaic death trap handling bodies.

The flat turbo charged motor in my brothers Corvair Spyder propelled it to “unsafe at any speed” in nothing flat.

This list was probably generated by some dude that owns a $40,000.00 snob-mobile, who got his doors blown off by someone in a Dodge Neon :slight_smile:

I’m pretty sure they only listed from 1980 on up. Though the ones that have been mentioned already might have been in contention.

I disagree with all the Chryslers - they were crude, if powerful, engines in crude bodies, perfect matches! And the Taurus SHO was known at the time as a well-rounded car, good match of the then leading edge Taurus body with a sophisticated, if unreliable, DOHC V6 (one of the best looking engines ever). And the ‘Quad 4’ in the Olds was an engine that never quite lived up to its promise.

My opinion is that the author of article has a bit of an axe to grind and is simply dumping on domestics for the most part. While there’s a few of those cars I don’t particularly care for (notably the Olds) I think some of them are downright cool. (Marauder, Impala, SHO, and even the little sleeper Omni)

Maybe the author could have enhanced the list a bit.
Nissan 6 cylinder used in the 80s era Maximas. Good engine, donkey ugly car.
Toyota Scion B; a.k.a., refrigerator on wheels.
Early 80s 1.8 Subaru engine in the faux Lincoln Town Car styled body. (Padded vinyl roof, Opera windows and all and yet the engines are even converted for aircraft use).
The list is endless.

The author of the list should have been around in the late 1950’s. I’ve seen 1953 and 1954 Studebakers that had Cadillac and Buick V-8 engine transplants. I had a friend that had a 1951 Mercury with a Cadillac V-8 under the hood. The 1953 and 1954 Studebaker coupe and hardtop models were great looking cars for their time and didn’t have the clumsy appearance of the Buicks and Cadillacs of that time period. Maybe these cars deserved the transplants, although the Studebaker engine was later bored out and even fitted with a Supercharger on some of the Hawk models. The 1949-51 Mercury cars were good looking cars for the times and the flathead V-8 certainly didn’t have the capability of the more modern OHV engines.

Let’s don’t forget the infamous GM factory swapping of engines in the late 1970’s. The Cadillac Seville received the Oldsmobile engine. Apparently there weren’t enough engines left for Oldsmobiles, so some of them received Chevrolet engines. I wonder if the Chevrolets of this period came equipped with Briggs and Stratton engines.

My parents had a 78 Chevy Caprice wagon way back then and it became their errand runner after retirement as a family car. It saw a lot of trips to their lake property hauling everything in the world and that particular car had an Olds 350 engine it. (factory)

In spite of the bashing of 70s/80s domestics that car was still running at least decent when sold and it had around 410k miles on it.
Best part was that the engine had never had a valve cover off, the transmission had never been touched, and most amazing of all - the carburetor had never been overhauled and the U-joints had never been replaced.

Fuel pump, water pump, an alternator, couple of thermostats, A/C compressor clutch failure, and half a dozen sets of brakes was just about it.