I had the honor of talking to Ted a bit the other day, and even though we were both trying to make a living in our respective businesses, we had time for a conversation.
One thing we beat around a bit was juicing up this 312 a bit.
Now, before I owned my car, about 15 years back, it was lifted out of a low mileage 57 Turnpike Cruiser, resealed, detailed, and dropped into my 56 Meteor.
It runs well, but folks, it’s a total dog off the line, even taking into account the second gear start. A postal van will give it a run for the first block or two. It retained all the 56 stuff; dual vacuum distributor, the correct teapot Holly, but still sports the 57 exhaust manifolds.
Everything is as it should be, timing’s on, cam’s good, no tight valves, carb could use an internal refresh, but I have been having some different thoughts.
It’s detailed as per stock, and I want to retain that as much as possible, so I’m thinking a simple swap out of a painted Mummert intake, Summit 600, and a late distributor. The oil bath will go back on, and it’ll be detailed back to stock for shows and such. I’m just looking for a bit more response around town, even when not flooring or pulling it down into low.
Thoughts, y’all?



56 Meteor 4 dr hardtop
56 Meteor 2 dr hardtop
55 Sunliner
53 Lincoln Capri 2 dr hardtop
58 Skyliner

Anna, Tx