Crate pretender

HAVING RECENTLY READ RICHARD MEADEN’S COLUMN on US crate engines (evo 292), I feel compelled to complain on behalf of what I suspect will be a great many readers. Having not previously been aware of the choice and availability of crate engines, I have now had my weekend ruined by a compulsion to work out which one I want and, of course, what I am going to put it in.

Now, you know as well as I do that I won’t actually be doing anything of the sort, so I thought I would share the output of my wasted time with you for consideration.

I have arrived at a Chevy LT1, dry sumped with the six-speed manual T56, in an E61-shape BMW 5-series Touring noisy when pottering around. The result? A rear-wheel-drive, manual, naturally aspirated V8 estate car. In other words the perfect family car.