<VV> Corvair Firsts (ad naseum)

[Tony Underwood]

At 09:08 hours 09/27/2004 -0700, Bob Earls wrote:
>
><First to have a greater than one to one horsepower cubic inch
>displacement ratio
>
>'57 Fuel Injected Corvette advertised as the first production car to have
>1HP/CU IN...283




And incorrect.   The 1956 Chrysler 300-B offered up two variants of its 354
Hemi engine, the standard 354 with 330 hp and the optional version with 355
hp.   From 1955 through the early 1960s, if you wanted a car with more
horsepower than any other production car in the country (or the planet for
that matter) you bought a Mopar, eventually evolving with those magnificent
Max-Wedge 426 engines in the early '60s, replaced in '64 with the 426 Hemi
which set a whole new standard for street terrorism.   Even after the
horsepower wars began in the mid '60s and everybody and his brother was
manufacturing an engine with 370 or more hp, Chrysler was still in there
with the RB Magnum engines with up to 390 hp and of course the Hemi, rated
as a conservative 425 hp, barely short of the 1 hp/cube inch although any
street Hemi engine could dyno more than that.   By the way, the original
426 "street" Hemi engine is available again in original stock form via the
"crate" option (you can't get one in a new car), and it's even refactored
for todays horsepower ratings systems at 465 hp.    It's available in
several warmer forms as well, up through 600+ hp if you have a complex
about the size of your personal anatomy or something.   



tony...     no complex but it didn't keep me from owning a 426      


PS:   

...  if I won Lotto, there would be The Garage From Hell, filled with what
I envision would be the proper  cars to have in it... a dozen or so, maybe
more... and many of them would be "interesting" Mopars.   Of course the
others would include Corvairs.    And, whatever else I thought should be
there...  maybe a 250-GTO and a GT-40... and of course a 1957 Chrysler
300-C ragtop red/white-white, the epitome of American automotive excess.
I wouldn't need a woman, I'd just go wallow around in that 300-C...  and of
course I'd then go for a cruise in the '66 turbo Corsa ragtop, naturally.