Thanks guys, keep 'em coming. And thanks for the PM's too.

Here's what I've learned the last couple weeks, mostly related to my comment back to drg. Ma Mopar hasn't had new parts production for about a year. The casting foundry they were using went belly up, and it's taken them a while to decide if, when, and where they want to hook up with a new subcontractor (gotta love corporate think ). So, while the market for 426 Hemi stuff has been strong the last year (yet another sign that the economy overall isn't anywhere near as bad as the propaganda would want us to believe), there hasn't been any feed into the pipeline. After making lots of calls to many of the "dealer" web sites that advertise crate engines and parts, I find that all of them (so far) don't have anything in stock, and haven't had for a few months. Of course, as a marketing guy I ask them why they have a 24/7 salesman out here, working all day everyday, no complaints about overtime, not demanding extra "benefits", not calling in sick so he can go fishing or something, and they don't keep it updated. Instead they alienate potential customers, driving them away, instead of encouraging more business. They don't seem to get my drift. Streets, thanks for the link, they too are a good example of piss poor marketers. They don't even answer their phone. They have it picked up by an answering machine promising to call back. They don't. Which probably doesn't matter since they likely don't have inventory either, and are too stupid/lazy to update their site. But I digress.

The few crate engines that are left out there, e.g. they show up on ebay usually, are priced $3-5K over list. Our old nemisis, supply and demand at work.

So, that's why I've come to you my buddies. I would hope to find some local source in your area that doesn't have national exposure, and isn't driven by momentary greed. If that happens I will be most gratful. If it doesn't, there is supposed to be new production toward the end of this year, which really means sometime into next year very likely. If I must, I'll wait............but it would be cool to get something going now so I can start putting the car together next winter.

So if you hear of something, let me know.