426 Hemi

That's pretty sad considering my 1972 Nova with a 307 and open headers ran a 14.9 at island dragway in NJ back in 1990!
It had 3.42 gears and posi, No spare but had a back seat.
That is impressive! The 307 didn't get a lot of respect back in the day ("Yah, they just took a buncha old 283 blocks and threw in a 327 crank ..."), but it did breathe better than the later 305.

305 bore = 3.736"
307 bore = 3.875"
 
A snoozer for anyone in the crowd. I watched some nighttime Top Fuel races last summer. The smells, flames, shaking bleachers and deafening sound was exhilarating. Imagining the same acceleration and speed without all that wouldn’t be worth watching.

Yep. That's why I derisively refer to our Plaid as the whirmobile. It has all the excitement of a blender making a smoothie.

This Labor Day weekend, is the biggest event on the NHRA tour. The US Nationals. The Big Go. I'll be there tomorrow.
 
A snoozer for anyone in the crowd. I watched some nighttime Top Fuel races last summer. The smells, flames, shaking bleachers and deafening sound was exhilarating. Imagining the same acceleration and speed without all that wouldn’t be worth watching.
I was never, quite the same, after seeing the Ramchargers' 1962 413 Dodge Darts at Green Valley Raceway. Lol
 
I was never, quite the same, after seeing the Ramchargers' 1962 413 Dodge Darts at Green Valley Raceway. Lol
Wow before my time, this was in my time hahahahha

1756317679496.webp



 
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/
Yeah… my brothers ‘66 Charger has a 440 in it (been swapped, wasn’t available that year). Is it a fun RAW experience? Absolutely. Is my truck still faster? Also yes, but the truck has most of the feel neutered out like most newer vehicles…. Makes the Charger feel faster than it is.
 
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