I found this interesting article online about the DeTomaso Zonda Concept Car.
One of the most unique features of the car was the 351 Cleveland with Overhead Cams.
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That is really interesting. I always enjoy concept history (the 67 Mach II, and the 70 Mustang Milano are some of my favourites), I have never heard of either the Zonda nor the 351 SOHC concept.
Thanks for sharing.
Great article very interesting bit of History..thanks for posting
Matt Stone was heavily involved with the Pantera Owners Club of America (P.O.C.A.) in the 80's and maybe into the early 90s. He left when he got hired by one of the "big time" automobile magazines, and that ended his direct involvement with the POCA Newsletter.... My guess is he had to sign a "non-compete" agreement!
Anyway - he seemed like a good guy who did a lot for the Pantera Owners back in the day.
I believe he owned a Longchamp.
Rocky
Somewhere in the Archives is an illustration of a Deauville with that 351 SOHC engine installed. Because it's far, far easier to mount cams on top of heads with inline valves rather than a polyangle valve head like the Cleveland, I always suspected underfunded DeTomaso used 351-W heads for this one-off engine. Someone mentioned that after all the expense to adapt overhead cams, the power and torque from the cammer engine was slightly less than from a stock 351 C, which was said to be why Ford turned it down for production. Probably needed more development.
Same thing happened to Bruce McLaren's cammer-adaption for his early '60s 215 Repco-Buick in an open wheel GP racer. McLaren admitted they found no extra power with SOHC but did gain reliability over pushrods & rocker arms, and it did win a world championship- Buick's one and only, I believe.