My, what a big engine you have

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DRIVER'S SIDE DIATRIBE
By Al Vinikour  


As mentioned many times, I grew up during the beginning of the muscle car era. It’s really subjective as to when this so-called halcyon time began. Some attribute it to the year that Chevrolet sold its first V8 model in 1955 that was 265 cubic inches. Ford already had an overhead-valve V8 in 1954 that was 239 cubic inches. (Chrysler was on the periphery during the initial years but for simplicity’s sake I’ll mostly keep this to the 100 Year’s War between Ford and Chevy.)

However, in 1955 Ford marketed two new Y-Block V8s – a 272 cubic inch and an alternative 292 cubic inch. In 1956 Ford added a 312 cubic inch alternative.

In 1957, Chevy introduced its now-legendary 283 cubic inch small block V8. Ford offered a supercharged 312 with a pair of 4-barrel carbs. 1958 brought forth some monster V8s; Chevy added a “W-head 348” engine with a variety of horsepower numbers. Ford offered a 332” and a 352”. Both companies only had three-speed manual transmissions.

In 1959, Chevy offered its first four-speed manual transmission – 4 on the floor, if you will. Ford stuck with its “3 on the tree.” In 1960 Ford offered a 352” 360 horsepower high-performance V8, but it was still bolted to a 3-speed transmission. 

In 1961 Ford started eating at the adult’s table. It offered a 390” 375-horsepower V8 with a four speed (later in the model year). Chevy countered with a 409” V8 – in essence a bigger 348 with performance refinements. The drag strips of the country began seeing record crowds.

1961 Chevy big block V8

Besides Ford and Chevy there was increased competition by Chrysler’s Dodge and Plymouth divisions and especially from Pontiac, which had a barn burner of its own via a 389” engine with Tri-Power and a four-speed gearbox. They were heavy, but they were also swift.

From 1962 until the late’60s Ford developed a number of high-performance engines like the 406 cid with 405-horsepower with tri-power; a 428” engine with several horsepower variants like a 345 version; a 427 with a 425-horsepower side-oiler; and a 427 SOHC V8 that it laughingly rated at 616 horsepower (it was closer to 800 horsepower than 600). Chevy created a series of big-block V8s like its 427 and 454. Pontiac eventually built a 421 with 405-horsepower engine with two four-barrel carbs and Chrysler went all-out developing its now-famous 426 cid Hemi which it rated at 425 horsepower with two four-barrel carbs (again, think 600+).

I know what you’re thinking; what’s with this walk down memory lane? Well the joke’s on you. Up until this point all this copy has been background information.

The real gist of this piece is the pride that manufacturers used to show by badging their vehicles with a clue as to what was under the hood. Sometimes it was blatant, like a Dodge with a chrome badge that said “426 Hemi.”

Another may have been three diagonal chrome strips with a 3-5-2 under each strip. Still another was the stylized Thunderbird with the cubic-inch number of the engine emblazoned on it (like 390, 406 or 427). Even Pontiacs had a cool-looking “421” logo and an even more-menacing Tri-Power logo.

The most subtle braggadocio, however, came from Chevrolet. From 1959-1961 they had three different ways of telling the public what was under the hood. The first was just the Chevrolet badge which indicated there was a six-cylinder engine. To that I say, “Who gives a damn about a 6, it doesn’t belong in this piece to begin with.”



The second look was a chrome “V” bracketing the Chevy badge. This indicated a small-block V8 (283”). But the really slick logos were the cross-flags that indicated there was a 348 looming under the bonnet. The ‘59 had the engine-indication badge at the front of the hood; the ’60 had an emblem in the center of the grille and the ’61 sported one at the top of the grille. Starting in 1962, the engine identifiers were on the lower front-half of the front fenders.

Fast forward to today. Nobody speaks in cubic inches anymore. Today’s nomenclature is in liters (or litres if you say “tomahto”) and it generally is, but always buried into the class of vehicle. For instance, a Mercedes-Benz S550 has a 5.5-liter engine – just like the ML 320 has a 3.2L engine. But the point is to compare a “5” with a symbol with a “440” on it and you might as well be comparing a Bass Boat to the guided missile frigate U.S.S. Reuben James (FFG 57).

If there’s a lesson in any of my blathering it’s this: I have a lot of young readers because lots of them find me amusing. Few view me as a road map for their own careers. But dinosaurs my age have lived through the greatest era(s) that ever existed and for car enthusiasts, the Muscle Car Era was arguably the apex (I do a lot of crossword puzzles and this word is used quite often). Manufacturers were proud of their offerings; customers were proud of what they bought; and others who could read “logo” were envious.

Now, with a few exceptions including the Charger and Challenger Hellcat Hemi V-8s, the biggest engine offered is at best a V6 and even though the new vehicles are often quicker than the mythical Hemi and Side Oilers of the golden era of V8s, they don’t have the magic — and God knows the all-out brute power sound — of their eight-cylinder behemoth ancestors.

If you want to get some idea of what an “average day” was like in the ‘60s and ‘70s, pick up a copy of Hemmings Muscle Car Magazine or other buff books of that ilk and look at the cars…and their high-performance adornments. Those are vehicles that used to be commonplace on driveways and at drive-ins; all the better to eat up the highway with.