Not sure all will appreciate this but today is the the day to celebrate the greatest engine ever built. The HEMI was so dominate it was banned from NASCAR and NHRA had to factor it to allow others to be competitive. FIAT has released the new Hellephant crate engine today, 1000 HP and 950 ft/lbs of torque for all the hot rodders out there.
I remember the 426! And his little brother Back in the early 70's, the state cops had one in an unmarked car they ordered specially to catch some clown on a 750 honda that was outrunning them and had caused two wrecked patrol cars to be wrecked....due to the troopers loosing control.
Do you think I could mount one on my atv? I'll never forget back in the 50's when I came across a fellow mounting a chevy v8 (I'm thinking 427 but my memory is weak) onto his harley. He planned on going to Stanton, MI to ride it in the drag races. I never say him ride it but did talk to others. It is a wonder he didn't kill himself but guess he lived to tell about it.
I'm thinking your memory is weak also. It would've been impossible to mount a 427 onto a harley in the 50's. Or, for that matter, even a 327 would never have been possible. Neither of them came out until the 60's.
I wouldn't want to ride any bike with a 427 in it, let alone a Hemi. It's kind of funny now but I remember an interview with Carol Shelby who said something to the effect that newer cars are faster, more powerful, can steer and stop better than the old cars. They are also safer to drive ('64 427 Cyclone? shudder) and are far better on gas. However, I certainly wouldn't turn down anything in the Brother's Collection if they were giving some away.
Dodge/Mopar/ Chrysler sure did a great job of marketing for the hemispherical head engines. Ford had them well before Chrysler, and Ford wasn't even the first to use them.
I remember the 426 barely was able to idle, especially if someone decided that they needed a taller cam. They idled so poorly that they virtually had no vacuum, so real lousy power brakes. Not something you wanted to experience when street-light racing. Actually pretty well all those 60's engines idled like that. You could tell if they had played with the timing and/or upgraded the cam. Either that or they couldn't figure out how to sync the two carbs. I love watching videos comparing 60's muscle cars to the new ones. The new cars idle real smooth, but the old ones sure sounded cooler.
Fords first hemi engine was in 1939 when Rolls Royce sent blueprints, tooling and parts to Ford to build a V12 aircraft engine, known as the Merlin. Chrysler's first hemi was the 1945 V16 aircraft engine. Code named "XIV-2220", this two-valve per cylinder engine produced 2,500hp built for the Republic P47 Thuderbolt in WWII. So Fords "first" was borrowed from someone else.
Ford's first was borrowed from "Welch Motors" from 1904. That's why I mentioned that Ford wasn't the first to use hemispherical heads.
Never had a Hemi, but owned a bunch of Mopars. Some pretty rare. Have my challenger RT from the day. Almost on the road again.
