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Posted by Eric B. on Friday, July 04, 2008 at 01:48:58 :
In Reply to: Re: Spitfire Heads posted by Dave Horvath on Thursday, July 03, 2008 at 22:50:57 :
In all my travels I have looked at hundreds of FH6s, and I have only seen Spitfire heads on engines from Dodge cars. Obviously lots of the engines with Spitfire head that I have seen were in trucks, but the engine code worked out to a Chrysler or Desoto car, not a truck. When I have seen the Spitfire head on truck stamped engines, they were in applications where I know they were not used from the factory like a 1941 WF-32. Even then I have only seen a Spitfire head on a non car engine a handful of times.
It is possible that the early 1950s trucks used the Spitfire head, and I just have not seen one yet, it is hard to be 100% sure about these things. But since 2004 or so I have checked the engine number of every FH6 I have seen, and I have never seen a T148 or T anything engine from the 1948-mid 50s era with a Spitfire head.
People often remember seeing a truck with a Spitfire head, and just assume that engine was original, but one thing I have learned from looking at lots and lots of trucks is that LOTS of the FH6 engines were replaced over the years. That is why lots of PW guys have Plymouth car motors in their trucks, and why lots of 230ci PWs have had car 237s shoehorned in.
My guess is that most people who spotted a Spitfire head in a Dodge truck just thought the engine was original as it looked like it had always been there, and they never checked the engine number. The Spitfire head is pretty distinctive, I know I notice them right away.
Eric
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