[POWERSTROKE]

I hate to burst your bubble, but I think it would have been cooler with a 478 cid V-6 and a nice wide ratio manual 5-speed trans. The 478 was never used in the light duty trucks, just the heavier medium and heavy duty trucks, say 40,000-50,000# gross and up. They don't make the big HP numbers like your BBC because they don't rev, but they make effortless torque from just off idle to 3000 rpm. I guarentee it would put a smile on your face every run up thru the gears! The exhaust note sounds similar to the Rolls-Royse Merlin V-12 used in later model P-51 Mustang fighter planes, every time you parked it somebody would run over and want to see what was under the hood.

I spent a lot of time growing up riding Shotgun in Big V-6 powered livestock semi-trucks. The sounds of the BIG V-6's still brings a smile to my face. Dad even had a '66 Buick Skylark with 225 cid V-6 for a work car for many years I drove a lot. SkyLark was a heavy car, saddled with a power robbing PowerGlide trans and H78-14 snow tires year round it would run 70 in low and about 85 in Drive.