Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
Wasn't it the under performance of that very engine that helped doom the Bell XP-77 and the Curtiss Seamew?
As a side note, there are a few hot rodders out there that are using V-770 engines to power their creations. Not that the V-770 makes awesome power, but it certainly is unique.
I don't recall any V-770 powered cars but I do recall Hot Rod magazine featuring a couple of L-440 6 cylinder Ranger powered dragsters and oval track roadsters in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This was back when Ranger engines from PT-19 / PT-26 trainers that had been scrapped were available for pennies on the dollar. As you said, not a lot of power, but like any aircraft engine, very light weight for the power.
The engine certainly helped the Seamew, but it was not unassisted by the aircraft's flying qualities. I think the XP-77 was doomed before ink was dry on the drawings. The light-weight fighter concept was fashionable for a while, and I think the USAAF came to the party late and abandoned it quickly.
Ranger Engines Division was a division of Fairchild Aircraft Corporation. After WWII, the division was renamed to "Fairchild Engine Division".