Question for some of you old timers out there.
What engine did Doug Cronshaw have in his World Final winning car of 1971? Was it a special Pontiac, apparently bought from Shell Oil, or was it a Chevy.?

And secondly, was it '69 or '72 when Stu Smith fitted the first out of the crate Big Block Chevy?

Thanks in advance.

May be wrong but I think Cronny had a pontiac and Smiffy first had a 427? Chev in '69

Doug had a 454 chevy fitted to the car prior to the World Final.. The engine went on to power dave Chisholm to 3 world final wins in the 1970s

I beleive it was the first ever 454 used in UK stock car racing. Stuart did have the first 427 chevy, and won the 69 world final with it

I don't think it is the same engine that chissy sold to Bradsell, the car my brother bought from Dave had the Cronny engine in it

Thanks guys. The reason I ask is that I always thought Doug used the Pontiac engines right up until one of his comebacks in the 80s [Superclamp car comes to mind], when he found he couldnt even keep up with some of the white tops.
But during a conversation with an old friend who was a big Cronny fan right from the early 70s, he did mention that Doug did have a 454 Chevy in the car for the world final and that he replaced it eventually with a Pontiac because he felt the balance wasnt right with the Chevy engine fitted.
He also mentioned that he thinks Doug was the FIRST driver to fit a 454 Chevy, and although I was pretty sure Stu Smith had , at least I think, the first out of the box Chevy I wasnt sure which size. I did have an idea it was for the 69 world, as I remember the reports as saying he lapped everybody except the 2nd place driver....or something along those lines.

One reason the subject came up is that a friend of mine has bought the Cronny replica from Keith Barber and its going to be finished and raced in the Heritage Stock Cars, hopefully next year.

He made the mistake, if you can call it that, of replacing a small and light Pontiac engine with a much bigger and heavier Chevy, which had an adverse effect on the handling. Probably not much of an issue on a modern stock car (asssuming there's enough room in the engine bay), but back then car setup was like black magic.

Doug did originally use a Pontiac Engine in the car, and the following year he built another car (which was eventually used by Dave Chisholm) and used the Chevy in it.. The Potent Mix ( world final wining car) was sold to Colin Murphy (47). Doug bought it back a year or so later and rebodied it, and I'm sure he had a Pontiac engine in it.. The car was then sold to Peter Guinchard (258).. not sure what happened to it after that.

Will be good to see The Potent Mix car, a great looking car, but I do like most of the cars Doug built.

Colin, this is the car that my friend Pete Fenton has bought
http://www.oldstox.com/TheSeventies.htm scroll down to May 2008 and there is a pic of the car as it looked in 2003 and as it still looks today although now in need of some TLC.
It is residing in a garden in Middleton Gt Manchester at the moment awaiting the new garage being built to house it. The chap who's bought it is a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to bodywork etc [its also his job] so I for one cant wait to see the finished product. For details of other cars he's built and helped build , take a look at the two Ford Model Y heritage cars Nos 7 and 59. Number 7 is Petes, 59 is his good friend and partner in crime Nigel.

For those not familiar with heritage F2s

yep, that is a copy of the Potent Mix from 1971, it looked a little different when it first came out, I can still remember Doug bringing it to Brafield and rolling it first time out.

Looking at the high stnadards of the the other 2 cars then the Potent Mix shoud look fantastic when it is rebuilt

Awesome pics spannerman, thanks for taking the time to put them up.