I looked at a 72 El Camino parts car this morning. Most of the car is there but it is pretty rough. It still has the original 350 (2bbl) / Turbo 350. Has been sitting for about 5 years. We got nearly 8 inches of snow last night and the car has 4 flat tires so I wasn't willing to crawl under it to look too closely but it seems like it is worth the money (he is asking $500 which seems fair but he might be willing to take a bit less if I push).

Would the 2bbl 350 be a 2-bolt block? I didn't take the time to get any casting numbers off the block (not sure that I would have been able to read them due to 30 yrs of oil and road grime anyway!).

Most likely it is a bolt main. If it hasn't run in 5 years, it may have developed some problem in the engine or trans.

What would you do with it if it is as bad as you described?

I'm just going to part the car out (I could used the dash pad, inner fender wells and a few other misc things) and I figured I'd yank the motor and trans and set it aside for a father/son project in a couple years. I have a 99 S-10 that should be dead by then that will be beggin for a small block chevy under the hood! :D This motor/transmission would be a good starting point (obviously it would need to be gone through first).

The front clip is in good condition as are the doors and some of the interior. No idea of what rearend is under it. The box sides are rusted but what little I saw of the box floor, it looked decent.