I have never seen nor heard of an American V8 in any Italian car. Chrysler had very little influence on The Quattraporte or any of the Maserati's for that matter.
And I will say for sure, I do not think I could fit any of the big American engines into a Quattraporte.
The British car industry bought American engines, heck they bought engines from anyone who would sell to them but that is not something the Italians would have done.

It was a type 3. I talked today with a guy who knows the owner (same guy I rode with), and he still has it. It was dry sumped and there were some other serious mods to make it fit. The car already had a TF a/t, but they used a different one to get a bellhousing match.

The engine swap was done because the original owner blew the motor at 13000miles, and the dealer just gave him another one and kept that one, and then found out what a new motor cost. He also had a Mopar dealership and mechanics with time on their hands. Claims it worked out cheaper than putting a new trident motor in it even with the mods.

After almost two years of ownership, I'm taking the Montero out on the highway tomorrow - hopefully no issues and I'll go get an inspection and be able to use it. I'm still under $800 all in on it.

Now I have a parts hauler, tow vehicle, beach comber, and camping truck.


<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Congrats - Patience and persistence paid off - enjoy it <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

About 0200 AM Tuesday morning.

There is one that I know of, the Ford 351 Cleveland powered De Tomaso Pantera. I helped work on one years ago but never got to drive it <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Iso Rivolta, Iso Grifo, Intermeccanica Italia Spyder, Bizzarini GT Strada - none with large production numbers but all are Italian cars with American V8 power.

An earlier DeTomaso was the Mangusta. The initial cars are claimed to have a Ford HiPo 289 cu. in. engine; the later cars all had Ford 302 engines. One car was built with a Chevrolet engine for General Motors-Vice President, Bill Mitchell.

So I swapped:

Radio
center console
front seats (keeping my "bouncy seat" bases)
rear seats
added the way back jump seats (which required swapping all of the plastic in the hatch area)
rear speakers
side mirrors
map lights
hatch area dome light
rear wiper squirter bottle/pump
front wiper squirter nozzels
brand new new plug wire set and dizzy cap/rotor
drivers side front door card/window switch assembley
driver side rear window switch
got mostly full tool kit and tire change kit
got a/c compressor and bracket
new fan (mine had cracks)
wheels/tires
door open switches for spares
class 3 hitch
u-haul trailer light converter box
rear bumper
And a scrap guy came by last night and said he'll be back tonight with $350 and a trailer. I paid $250 for the truck. Great weekend!