Muscle cars were mostly intermediates with big-block engines. Customers thought big was better. Engineers knew otherwise, knew that a high power-to-weight ratio was the key. In 1966, Chevy was the only maker with a small block that would really run (the 271-hp 289 Ford was a stone). The 350-hp 327 in approximately Corvette tune, dropped into a Chevy II, didn’t have the juke-box magic of a 409 or a 427. Still, that combination made for one of the sneakiest muscle cars ever built.
In those days, you tended to hunt for strokes in bigger iron, in GTOs and 4-4-2s. You might not notice a Chevy II in traffic until he got half a car-length on you. Even in a boss machine, you might have to run to 80 or 90 mph to get it back. That’s how fast those Chevy IIs were. My memory says ETs in the upper fourteens and speeds in the middle nineties, which was very quick in 1966. I vividly remember a Chrysler test of a 350-hp Chevy II and the resulting panic: the Mopar 340 small block as originally planned for a smooth, quiet at idle, tractable in traffic. Most of the moving parts inside were different from the official race hardware, but they were far more rugged than the usual high-performance street components. Hemi cars had specially reinforced bodies, too. Chrysler did the job right and priced the Hemi option accordingly – $907.60. In 1966, that was about half the price of a new VW.
In C/D’s first Hemi road test (April 1966), we said: “A quick stab at the throttle pedal – in any old gear -will send the tachometer needle flying around the tach like a teeny little Fiat Abarth, or a Ferrari. It just doesn’t feel like a seven-liter engine-except for the fact that you’re suddenly doing 120 and you don’t know how you got there.” The test page reported a quarter-mile elapsed time of 13.8 seconds at 104 mph.
Furnasman One Hour Furnace Winnipeg
Related Websites - Gucci Pour Homme Ii By Gucci For Men. Eau De Toilette Spray 3.3 Oz. User Reviews Send this to a friend Gucci Pour Homme Ii By Gucci For Men. Eau De Toilette Spray 3.3 Oz. Manufacturer: Gucci Customer Rating: List Price: $65.00 Sale Price: $34.31 Availibility: Usually ships in 1 to 2 days Free...
- Goals and Objectives for 2010! Need Help Solidifying The main reason I started this blog was to create a diary of My Journey and it didn't take long for me to realize that accountability leads to success. As such, every year I create a sort of Goals and Objectives, my...
- I’m Enjoying A FREE Hotel This weekend As you are reading this I am celebrating my nine year anniversary with my wonderful wife. We are just north of Toronto in a place called Vaughan. The best part of all? We have a free hotel at the Vaughan-Southwest...
Related posts:
- 1966-1969 Chevrolet Chevelle SS396: 375 hp Chevrolet was always in the fast-car business, so there were...
- 1968-1969 Chevy II Nova SS396: 375 hp In late spring of 1968, I eased out of the...
- 1968-1969 Plymouth/Dodge Intermediate: 425 hp For 1968, Chrysler helped the Hemi a bit with a...
- 1970-1971 Plymouth/Dodge Intermediate: 425 hp For the last two years of its production life, the...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
