most popular hot rod motor

I remember 1960's era Hot Rod Magazine coverage of the NHRA Nationals
at which 44 of 75 class winners (stockers to rails) were Chevy powered.

 

Olden days The Flathead.......Late 50's on The Small Block Chevy.....

 

Buy? Hell in the 60's and 70's people were giving them away, ----- and there weren't many takers.

 

Yep. That seems about right.

 

We bring them up from the Southern U.S.

 

Bangers rule !

 

I guess this is like beating a dead horse. I love Y-Block Fords but I'm also not blind. SBC is the most common, the cheapest and the most popular. Most young kids don't know what a Y-Block, Nailhead, Rocket, Cad and so on is, altough they learn real quick here.

I know it's been said before but "nuf said" and I mean it this time.

 

I like studebakers but tough to find cool speed equipment for next would be olds, and caddy mills.

 

It was MOST POPULAR HOT ROD MOTOR. Sheer numbers make it the most popular (DUH!!) which make the flathead and SBC the winners

A valid point, however being numerous and cheap isn't what makes Angelina Jolie "popular." Sometimes popular is not about what we can have, but rather what we want. How many of us want a sbc over a Rocket, Hemi or Nailhead? I think the definition here is the only argument in the thread.

 

Angelina Jolie? Interesting take on this thread. You gotta wonder though: How many that have tried and tested the "Jolie types" have found they are not as fun or fast as the "common ordinary girls" - oops, I mean engines.

 

Using your criteria of MOST POPULAR there are only 2 answers for 2 eras:

32-54 Flathead Ford V8 in all forms and sizes
55-present Chevrolet OHV V8 in all forms and sizes

That's it, there ain't no more that fit that criteria.

 

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I am going to have to say SBC. If you look around my garage you will see;

350 x2
305 x1

 

152 x 2
196
223 x 2
235
304
327
318 x 2
350 x 5
383
396
454
I think thats it for the USA, the 350 is like the 30.06 of motors. imo

 

Angelina Jolie? ..........certainly ain't, never was, and never will be, the most popular gal.

 

Not sure that's a valid way to decide, if you looked around my garage you'd see

318 x3
340 x1
383 x1
440x1
331 x1

But not even I would vote for a 318 as the most popular hot rodding engine. Its simply not the most desirable, numerous, or coolest engine out there, but it is what I have.

I agree with those that have said that "popular" and "numerous" aren't always the same thing. I think the flathead and the hemi are probably the two most recognizable (historically, not visually) engines tied to hot rodding history. Definitely not the most numerous though, but if every hot rodder could have any engine they wanted regardless of cost I don't think you'd see half as many sbc's as you do. They're cheap and easy, but I've personally never thought they were "cool". When I think hot rod engines the first thing that comes to my mind is a big old blown hemi jammed in the smallest car possible out at the drags, or a built flathead in a roadster or belly tank out at the salt flats .

But given the number of sbc's I see in hot rods these days (do something different people!) I'm probably outnumbered.

 

"In the day", if you asked anybody (then) what their favorite (flattie) was, it would have been the Hudson Hornet, Lincoln, or Caddy. Of course most settled for the Ford V8 because it was way more plentiful and cheaper.

It's pretty obvious that we all have our (current) favorite. It's the one we built last. It's well within my means, but I have no desire for a flattie Ford V8 or sbc. Mayby a 'banger or a Poncho L6.

 

Thats true about popular vs what everyone has. I remember 302 chev being a hot motor but not may had'em. Prob. same with 348, 409, hemi's, 440 and so on....

 

Very good point! The more common ones are easier to tune to your liking.

 

Gasoline

 

The Oldsmobile Rocket 303
That motor changed the hot rod world.

 

Like it or not SBC.
Flattie for old time nostalgia
Hemi's seem to be everywhere these days. Are Hemis the new _____fill in blank.
My fave old engine it the Nailhead

 

I would trade my motors for yours anyday!

 

some 348-409 love! pretty yes,popular no,untill just now.

 

well duh! SBC.cause you can get any part you want over night.but i've got my eyes on 2 firedomes and 1 flathead.Things might be a changing

 

Bingo! Well stated.

Bob

 

I don't know about that comparison on popularity equating to common and cheap. Flathead people will save and spend $500+ for those cool heads and $250+ for that special intake and $200-$450 each for those 97's; and that is the difference between sbc heads for $150 and those plain looking intakes for $75 and carbs for $50. That is what I meant by common and cheap. Rebuild a flattie? $2-5,000; rebuild a sbc? $250-1200. But the real test for popularity is if you put a flathead V8 and a sbc side by side at a public event you will see where the crowd is.

 

No not everyone has one,there is no sbc in my fleet of vehicles and never will and you wont find any parts for them in my garage and shed too so if you break one dont waste your time looking around here.