In 1986 I needed a winter beater and saw a '74 Torino with a 302 for sale for $175. Went, looked at it - and it for sure was a well used beater, but it ran smoothly and the auto transmission shifted just fine. Bought it and drove it home. I finally decided to really see what the engine looked like under all those early emission controls so dug down. It looked wider then a 302 and the intake water outlet wasn't 'quite right' for a 302. Well that 302 turned out to be a 351W - a '73 engine by casting date (or else it was a real early build for '74). It had all of the good for that period, parts. I drove it through the winter until it was time to pull my '86 Mustang GT out of storage. Then came the fun - I yanked the engine, mixed and matched parts with another 351W I bought off a pile of engines at my local salvage yard for $10, rebuilt everything worn, bored it .030, nice Lunati cam, SVT Dura Spark, Performer RPM, etc, etc, etc then put it in a T-bucket. The carcass went on a roll back and off to my favorite junk yard. The transmission was an FMX which I gave away. My only regret - I didn't pull the 9" differential.

I'll have another story later on if this thread holds