426 Hemi

[OVERKILL]

The famous Greenwood #49 L88 race car set a GT speed record of 215 mph on the Mulsanne straight at Le Mans in 1970.
Pushing that car to that speed took some serious power.

View attachment 297035

You might find this interesting, a year earlier:

Early in the season, the Torino Talladega was powered by the old faithful FE 427 side oiler V8 engine. The new 620-horsepower, Boss 429 V8 engine was already developed, however, Ford couldn’t properly homologate it until late March.

*snip*

The Boss 429 equipped Ford Torino Talladega was the fastest car on the oval tracks. LeeRoy Yarbrough recorded the fastest pole at 190.706 mph and averaged 160.875 mph at the 1969 Daytona 500. Dodge driver Charlie Glotzbach was right on his rear bumper but wasn’t fast enough.
https://restomods.com/the-first-aero-warrior-1969-ford-torino-talladega-56727/

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

452HP through a conservative 18% loss for transmissions at the time, comes out to no more than 370rwhp... right in the same ballpark as what the trap speed calculator would estimate. And that's under the SAE gross power rating, not net. As @OVERKILL noted, it's pretty easy to make impressive engine dyno numbers that just don't translate to the real world. The 426 Hemi is just like almost every other performance engine ever made... they are tamed due to warranties & emissions & other parts limitations. Sure, with a cam, headers, intake, carbs, etc etc etc, you could make 600HP+... but would the flexi-flyer chassis, skinny bias-plies and transmission/gear ratios let you do it and live with the car on a daily basis? No way. And even at 600HP, that's a measly 1.4HP/CI (or 86.24HP/L). A stock 2011 3.5 EcoBoost is 104HP/L, for reference.

More cubic inches make more HP and torque, that's no surprise. But nostalgia doesn't make something better than reality, unfortunately.

Here's some cars with truly impressive power outputs: https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/g6482/10-cars-with-the-highest-specific-outputs/

 

[Nessism1]

452HP through a conservative 18% loss for transmissions at the time, comes out to no more than 370rwhp... right in the same ballpark as what the trap speed calculator would estimate. And that's under the SAE gross power rating, not net. As @OVERKILL noted, it's pretty easy to make impressive engine dyno numbers that just don't translate to the real world. The 426 Hemi is just like almost every other performance engine ever made... they are tamed due to warranties & emissions & other parts limitations. Sure, with a cam, headers, intake, carbs, etc etc etc, you could make 600HP+... but would the flexi-flyer chassis, skinny bias-plies and transmission/gear ratios let you do it and live with the car on a daily basis? No way. And even at 600HP, that's a measly 1.4HP/CI (or 86.24HP/L). A stock 2011 3.5 EcoBoost is 104HP/L, for reference.

More cubic inches make more HP and torque, that's no surprise. But nostalgia doesn't make something better than reality, unfortunately.

Here's some cars with truly impressive power outputs: https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/g6482/10-cars-with-the-highest-specific-outputs/

Tesla 3 Performance puts the smack down on lots of performance cars. Don't care, though. A 426 Hemi wins the cool factor by a landslide

 

[loneryder]

I drove an early 70's 454 vet and it was a dog. That's when they had them leaned out for the EPA. I think it had 200+ HP. His GTO was so much faster.

 

[Pablo]

I drove an early 70's 454 vet and it was a dog. That's when they had them leaned out for the EPA. I think it had 200+ HP. His GTO was so much faster.

Smogolated

 

[FZ1]

Not in showroom form it’s not nonsense. Look at 1/4mi ETs and mph and do the calculations. See the times below from when the cars were new. For reference, my brother’s ’98 TA 6spd with only Nitto Drag Radials went 12.87@109, and my ‘09 G8 GT went 13.07@107 with only a Diablo Predator tune. Both of those cars were rated 350-360 SAE HP and easily weighed more than the 70’s Dodges. The day my G8 recorded that time it weighed 4179lbs on a certified scale with me and the baby seat in the back

For reference, documentation at the time put the 70 Charger R/T Hemi at 3610lbs curb weight. If anything from those numbers, 375HP stock was pretty typical for those things! Calculator says about 383HP for the fastest Dodge at 107mph…

And if you think a 6.3 0-60 paired with a 13.10@107 1/4 isn’t fishy as heck, I’ve got some oceanfront property in Kansas I’d like to show you.
View attachment 296917View attachment 296918

Right. The car mags were given cars with massaged engines for better road test times and better sales.

 

[02SE]

Waiting for my Tesla is a 10 sec car I can drive to the grocery store in.

Oh, oh

Our whirmobile is about as exciting as our blender which makes the same noise. It will do 9's however.

 

[Nessism1]

Went to a swap meet and car show, and came across someone with a pedestrian looking sedan with a 426 hemi. Immaculate condition, and very understated. I think it was a Plymouth Belvedere. Anyway, when he started this thing up, is sent shivers down the spine. You could almost feel the coarse, hellrasing goodness under the hood. My kid was with me, and he knows nothing about cars, and even he was stopped in his tracks at the sound and vibe the car gave off. Unbelievably cool.

 

[repairman54]

On the street 440 mopars were the choice over the 426 back in the day. More street friendly.
'71 started the HP decline across all the brands with emissions and lower compression starting to kick in.
I worked at a Esso station with a guy with a real '69 Z28 Camaro powered by a 302. He would beat up on big blocks all the time being lighter and less torque at the stop lights with less wheel spin on the stop light to stop light ''competitions''.
I still miss my '68 GTO, 400 YS block. Ex wife totaled it.

 

[Snagglefoot]

You mean the one that could near pull down a building and that could actually reach up to about 450Hp?
My dad had one of those big barge sized Olds station wagons with 455cui some time in the 70s. I got in some trouble driving
it a couple times way above the posted speed limits. I don't have a clue what Hp the Olds engine had back then.

I had to check. In the pre-smog days of 1970 the Vista Cruser had a selection of three engines. The L31 was a Rocket 455 HC ( high compression) that had 365 HP. The L74 was a Rocket 350 HC with 310 HP and there was the Rocket 350 Regular Fuel with 250 HP. That one would have been a boat anchor and didn’t deserve the Rocket name in my opinion.

 

[jkasch]

I had to check. In the pre-smog days of 1970 the Vista Cruser had a selection of three engines. The L31 was a Rocket 455 HC ( high compression) that had 365 HP. The L74 was a Rocket 350 HC with 310 HP and there was the Rocket 350 Regular Fuel with 250 HP. That one would have been a boat anchor and didn’t deserve the Rocket name in my opinion.

Olds put the Rocket name on a lot (most?) of their V8s starting in 1949. My dad bought a ‘63 F-85 with an aluminum 215 cubic inch “Rocket” that was always overheating. Repco Brabham used the aluminum block to win two F1 championships, though.

 

[02SE]

Olds put the Rocket name on a lot (most?) of their V8s starting in 1949. My dad bought a ‘63 F-85 with an aluminum 215 cubic inch “Rocket” that was always overheating. Repco Brabham used the aluminum block to win two F1 championships, though.

My dad had an F-85 too, with the same problem. I just heard about it years later.

 

[PontiacHO]

You might find this interesting, a year earlier:

Early in the season, the Torino Talladega was powered by the old faithful FE 427 side oiler V8 engine. The new 620-horsepower, Boss 429 V8 engine was already developed, however, Ford couldn’t properly homologate it until late March.

*snip*

The Boss 429 equipped Ford Torino Talladega was the fastest car on the oval tracks. LeeRoy Yarbrough recorded the fastest pole at 190.706 mph and averaged 160.875 mph at the 1969 Daytona 500. Dodge driver Charlie Glotzbach was right on his rear bumper but wasn’t fast enough.
https://restomods.com/the-first-aero-warrior-1969-ford-torino-talladega-56727/
View attachment 297040

Until the next several seasons.

 

[OVERKILL]

Until the next several seasons.
View attachment 297147

Well yeah, Chrysler, smartly, lured Petty back for 1970 and allowed him to basically go hog on the aero stuff, but the rein of the HEMI and BOSS 429 was, as I'm sure you know, short lived, as by the end of 1970 NASCAR effectively banned them from competition.

 

[jkasch]

Well yeah, Chrysler, smartly, lured Petty back for 1970 and allowed him to basically go hog on the aero stuff, but the rein of the HEMI and BOSS 429 was, as I'm sure you know, short lived, as by the end of 1970 NASCAR effectively banned them from competition.

Restrictor plates on cars that went too fast killed NASCAR for me. No doors and FWD V6 production cars competing as RWD V8s has only made it worse. I have no interest these days.

Now, NASCAR isn’t about the manufacturers. It’s just a driver fan club competition.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Restrictor plates on cars that went too fast killed NASCAR for me. No doors and FWD V6 production cars competing as RWD V8s has only made it worse. I have no interest these days.

Now, NASCAR isn’t about the manufacturers. It’s just a driver fan club competition.

May as well shrink the tracks down and make them race 125cc carts. Those wrecks would be at least as memorable until they find out that real racing isn't a contact sport

 

[loneryder]

Went to a swap meet and car show, and came across someone with a pedestrian looking sedan with a 426 hemi. Immaculate condition, and very understated. I think it was a Plymouth Belvedere. Anyway, when he started this thing up, is sent shivers down the spine. You could almost feel the coarse, hellrasing goodness under the hood. My kid was with me, and he knows nothing about cars, and even he was stopped in his tracks at the sound and vibe the car gave off. Unbelievably cool.

Same kind of story here. It was a Ford. Don't know what engine but the deep burble rumble stopped us in our tracks. My son looked at me and grinned. He knew nothing about those cars at the time.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

I had to check. In the pre-smog days of 1970 the Vista Cruser had a selection of three engines. The L31 was a Rocket 455 HC ( high compression) that had 365 HP. The L74 was a Rocket 350 HC with 310 HP and there was the Rocket 350 Regular Fuel with 250 HP. That one would have been a boat anchor and didn’t deserve the Rocket name in my opinion.

It was madness back then in the late 60s to 70s what my Dad and his older brother did with cars. Uncle Pete and family lived in the north east corner of Tennessee. We lived just about 1400 miles south west of there in south La. Every summer Dad would drive us to visit them. After a good week or two visit we would head home. In a week or so after, Pete would pack his clan into their new station wagon for the wild ride to visit us. What was the wild ride?
Well my Dad and his brother were ultra (crazy) competitive. Almost every year they would try to out do one another to see who could drive that 1400mi trip in the fastest time! Talk about wild and dangerous. They each kept finding a newer loaded big block engine station wagon they would trade in for just before the summer to try to show off and to out run the other.
All of us kids (did not have a clue how dangerous) would love it. We would be bouncing and flying off the seats (of course no seat belts) and all across the back seats as they were doing many miles over speed limits down all of those tiny back country black top roads thru Alabama / Georgia / Mississippi. No interstates were even finished back then along the route we had to take. I do recall some scary times when we started to have trouble finding any open gas stations in the middle of no place on those night races. He lucked out though and always found one at the last minute with the gage well past empty!
I guess one thing made it less dangerous was they travelled that race/trip at night to avoid lots of traffic. The insane part I still find hard to believe is I do not recall either one of them ever getting caught up in a speed trap or ticketed.
Those two actually went thru so many of those big block land barge station wagons that I can no longer remember too many of them.
Seems like I have had so much fun involved with cars ever since I could walk. I guess that is in the blood as my youngest grandson can't even walk straight unless he has each hand full of Hot Wheels cars. No. I did not encourage him. He just started wanting those toy cars as soon as he could ask for toys.

 

[PontiacHO]

Well yeah, Chrysler, smartly, lured Petty back for 1970 and allowed him to basically go hog on the aero stuff, but the rein of the HEMI and BOSS 429 was, as I'm sure you know, short lived, as by the end of 1970 NASCAR effectively banned them from competition.

David Pearson is my favorite driver. Especially in the Woods Brothers’ cars. That 429 Cyclone was tough regardless of the Hemi Mopars.

574 STARTS, 105 VICTORIES​

That is a pretty true testament to Pearson.​

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

David Pearson is my favorite driver. Especially in the Woods Brothers’ cars. That 429 Cyclone was tough regardless of the Hemi Mopars.

574 STARTS, 105 VICTORIES​

That is a pretty true testament to Pearson.​

Oh yeah. Petty , the Allison brothers , Cale Yarborough and others got lots of the press. But David Pearson was one of the main competitors knocking doors and giving those other guys a run for their money. He was a great driver and I think in one of the very first group that got put into the Motorsports racing Hall of Fames. Those Ford that Woods Brothers and the Hollman/Moody organization were building and sending into NASCAR were some stiff competition for the others.