'57 Plymouth belvedere

Oldtimer is correct about the polyspherical 318 engines being called a semi-hemi. That was common.
As far as I know the engines were pretty good ones. My uncle had owned one way back when and my folks owned 2 of them over the years. Eventually boredom set in and these cars were just traded in on something newer.
I learned to drive and took my driver’s test in a '59 Fury with the 318.

I did some internet searching so I will admit that it is a polyspherical engine, but I do not ever remember it being called a semi-hemi. As I said, I don’t know anyone who liked the engine at the time so it wasn’t discussed much.

BTW, I learned to drive a stick in a 59 Plymouth 2 door wagon, but it was the flathead six, not a v8 as I would have preferred. I was given a choice between it or a 55 Chevy with the v8 with a slip and slide, guess which one I chose.

Even the current generation of Chrysler engines are semi-hemis as the combustion chambers are more like the poly engines instead of the true hemi motors.

The word “Hemi” is a good marketing tool and the vast majority of people buy a vehicle based on that word while never even knowing or understanding what it really means.

Yep, ‘Hemi’ is only marketing, and only because the 426 Hemi was (and still is) such a monster engine. None of the older ‘Hemis’ from Mopar did anything to establish the reputation, and it’s now unimportant with 4-valve heads, they’re going to compact combustion chambers for improved performance and milage.

“None of the older ‘Hemis’ from Mopar did anything to establish the reputation,”

Beg to differ, before the 426, and even for sometime after, the 392 hemi was the engine of choice for top fuel dragsters.

Without the 426 in mid 60s Mopars nobody on the street would have cared about the 392. Had Mopar put the 392 in the 426’s place, then maybe we’d be talking about it instead, but it was the 426 that got ‘Hemi’ popularized with the public.

The331- 392 hemi engine ruled the dragstrips, Bonneville, Nascar 55-56. After that they outlawed the hemi in nascar, still won’t let Dodge use the new hemi. In 1951 thru 1958 you could not buy an American sedan with a higher top speed than a Chrysler.It isn’t my fault that you are too young to know.

Exactly. Chrysler had an ongoing battle with NASCAR, IHRA, NHRA, and every other sanctioning body over Hemis and that was even before the 426 arrived on the scene.
Chrysler would win on the drag strip, oval, or anywhere else and the penalties would start coming down as punishment to “make it fair”.

In a magazine article some years back Don “Big Daddy” Garlits stated that he was totally against the 426 when it was introduced and much preferred the 392 over the larger displacement version.
There’s a reason why the the 354s/392s especially are hard to find; most have been grenaded on the strip.

Thanks for the education. I still think 99 out of 100 people who know what an actual ‘hemi’ is will talk about the 426. The prior versions were important to competition of the era, definitely. But they are not the source of the ‘hemi’ reputation for most folks buying a ‘new hemi’ today. I worked in a garage in the early 70s, only mention of the prior hemis was the mechanic who bought one (the engine, not the car) as a basket case, where it remained.

I agree that most people who know anything at all about Hemis automatically think of the 426 as that is the motor that powers most of the really big bucks muscle Mopars.
Craig Jackson of the Barrett Jackson auctions has a '71 Hemi Cuda convertible and has stated that he’s been offered 2 million for that one; and turned it down.

If I have any regrets it’s not having the foresight to stockpile a lot of old Mopar parts way back when. You couldn’t ask for a better retirement plan. :slight_smile:

Back in '71 I dropped into a local predominantly Mopar salvage here and bought a 4 speed transmission from them. At the time they had a low miles 426 Hemi sitting on blocks in the building; complete from dual 4 barrels and air cleaner down to a set of long tube headers. They were asking 425 bucks for the entire thing and I passed on it.
That rig now would go for well into the 5 digits.

The 426 came into production just as auto racing was coming into its own as a sport. Prior to this time, most people only followed the Indy 500. The hemi would not have been well known to the general public prior to the 426, so texases is right on this point.

The Chrysler factory 426 dominated NASCAR when it was allowed to run and it dominated an the stock classes at the drag strip, but it didn’t do well in top fuel. It had a weakness, but I don’t remember what it was. It could not handle the pressures of the blowers and nitro.

Keith Black began casting his own version of the “426” under license from Chrysler that addressed this problem and it has been the benchmark engine for top fuel and funny cars ever since.

I had a fellow worker from ND. He said from his house you could see the town 15 miles away, and any car on the gravel road in between. He said when he was learning to drive, he was running about 70 mph on that gravel road, and his dad cussed him out and said either drive this car or park it.

One day, he was hanging around a repair shop, with a lot of other young lads. An old farmer came in, with overalls and all, this was in the 50’s, with a Chrysler, and chatted a bit with the mechanic as farmers tend to do. Finally, he said his car was cutting out at 120.