LOL, thanks for the chuckle, ase.
All things aside, Chrysler marketing sure has gotten a lot of “mileage” out of the term Hemi. The term has certainly been a winner for them.
In high school long ago a young teacher fresh out of college drove a Chrysler her father gave her for graduation. It was just a car for her. She had no idea why she could quietly accelerate away from a light ahead of whoever was next to her. She could leave an SS Chevrolet 327 4 speeds behind her with no problem. There were no HEMI labels anywhere on the car but a look under the hood was revealing.
Nice father… I wish I could have been that generous with my kids.
When I was in HS in the late '60s, a buddy’s dad gave him a brand new '68 Camaro SS396. His dad owned a shop, and my buddy immediately added a lope to the idle (new cam), headers, a new low restriction intake manifold, and a few other items. He then had no choice but to add trac bars to keep from shaking the tail end off. I, on the other hand, had to buy my own car… a '61 Beetle.
My first car was a '61 Falcon station wagon. It made Beetles look powerfull when leaving a light.
There are 1/2 dozen car flipper shows on velocity tv now. This summer the guys bought a “good” 426 hemi for $25k for a resto they were building. $25k ain’t gonna let you retire anytime soon. The seller looked like uncle jessi on the dukes of hazard. I assume any 68-69 hemi that is in 1 piece is ok to freshen up. It’s when there are holes in block that u have issues.
@the same mountainbike, Holly 4 barrel carbs go for about $660 and clones are made by many other companies now, much like Colt model 1911 pistols. Holley also makes a throttle body fuel injection system that bolts in place of their carbs for about $1400 complete. It provides much better fuel control and can hide under an old-style air cleaner. They also make port injection systems, too.
Depending on what model you buy…
https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_systems/carburetors/
Anyway, the $550 mentioned for a whole motor with headers and the carb etc. sounded like it might be a good deal… for a muscle car.
There are other approaches to maximizing a motors performance that are just as successful. It’s good merchandizing to “dwell” on a particular attribute which makes a car makers motor sound special…
"Fine Corinthian Leather " does the same thing for the cars it is in as well.
One thing is for sure, early hemis liked gasoline. As long as the customer associated high performance and not being a gas hog with one, the dealer is home free.
The Dodge Hemi was a gas guzzler because it had 426 cubic inches of displacement. If Dodge had built a 200 cubic inch 6 cylinder Hemi and installed it in the Dart and Valiant what might the performance/fuel mileage have been?
Thanks everyone for an excellent Car Talk 101 seminar in what the term Hemi refers to! I know a lot more than before reading this thread.
Compared to the ‘wedge’ 383 the 426 was still a gas hog, because it was tuned purely for hp. It also wasn’t very good for driving day-to-day, but that wasn’t what it was for. A 200 cid hemi would be cranky and underpowered. Maybe a good track car for a low-displacement race class.
The smallest Dodge Hemi was a 241 CID engine during regular passenger car Hemi production years of 1951-1958.
The second generation; Street Hemi and Race Hemi were not intended for economical transportation.
The slant six was available as a hemi in Australia.
Hemi heads are mainly special as a marketing advantage which is not used by other companies whose heads in the past may also hemispherically shaped…like BMW and others. The debate about which is better is a debate about straight six and v six and which is better. They each have their own advantages and there are other shapes that manufacturers have thought were better for their purposes.
So, have their been six and even four cylinder engines with similar heads ? I am sure there have been plenty.
There’s a reason why Hemis ruled the roost on the drag strip back in the day and still do today.
So, have their been six and even four cylinder engines with similar heads ? I am sure there have been plenty.
Yes indeed!
Is that a DOHC straight six I see before me???
Yep, Honda CBX 1047cc straight air cooled six. Slow sellers in 1978, collector’s items today.
Wow, that Honda is quite something. I never would have thought it made sense to put a straight six on a motorcycle. Bet it’s smoooooooth. Hmm. Maybe it does make sense on a motorcycle, if powerful, but smooth, is what you want.
Perhaps maybe some Hemis could be better described as an apse?
Anyway.I suppose were fuel consumption wasnt an issue they made pretty good industral engines the Allpar site has a lot of fascinating reading on the subject,they also made an experimental aircraft engine that was a record breaker,among its disadvantages was the fact it wasnt great for a multi valve setup-Kevin
Chrysler’s marketing of the “hemi” reminds me of Bose using an (ported) acoustic labyrinth in their “wave” radio and claiming they invented it.
