Leroi "Tex" Smith passed away on June 11. He was a life-long hot rodder who wrote many how-to books as well as writing for Hot Rod magazine and serving as editor of Old Cars Weekly and co-founding Street Rodder magazine. I bought his "Complete Book of Engine Swapping" in 1968 and convinced myself that I had the skills as a teenager to do one of the swaps in the book ... a SBC into a bugeye. Turns out I didn't have nearly enough skills and put everything back together before doing any real damage. Jim Stabe's MGB was featured in a later edition of the guide. The same book contained a how-to on swapping an SBC into a Healey 100 and I knew someday I'd have a V8 Healey. It took quite a number of years later, but one of the articles I turned to for help in doing my Ford swap was entitled "Fairline V8 in a Healey." in the August, 1963 issue of hot Rod. Coincidentally, Tex Smith's futuristic XR6 roadster was on the cover. I'm guessing I'm not the only one that Tex's writings helped along the way. Here's his story:
http://www.hotrod.com/news/1506-tex-smith-the-passing-one-of-hot-rod-magazines-and-industrys-pioneers/