Back in the "day", if you wanted to impress somebody, it was cool to have a Corvette engine in your hot rod. Of course there were only 3 ways to get one.
1)buy an engine from a wrecked Corvette
2)steal or buy a stolen Corvette engine
3)order a brand new Corvette engine from the local Chevy dealer
Most of the time you just bought a set of Corvette valve covers for about $8.00 each and stuck them on your engine.
My little 26 T project is heading for a late 50's early 60's flavor styled after some survivor hot rods and some inspiration from the "little books". I just picked up a couple early small block Chevy motors complete with the early road draft style blocks, old style pulleys, carbs, manifolds, etc. I thought I'd go a little extra on the Corvette dress-up and add the ignition shielding and Early Corvette air cleaner along with the valve covers. The ignition shielding was always a pain in the ass to work around in a Corvette, but in an open wheeled/engine hot rod I think it will kind of dress it up period style.
So far I'm thinking powerglide behind the Corvette "mill", but one of my engine scores came complete with a manual trans set-up. I think there's even a 4 speed under one of the workbenches.
Now I need some more of the wire covers down the side of the engine and the spark plug covers. I scored a few pieces off the HAMB and ebay.