Hot Rods 426 day

Happy hemi day to all. this day of national recognition is for all mopar hemi head engines as declared some years ago by mother mopar herself. lets see some hemi power picks.

 

I'm a Ford guy but one of my favorite cars and engines ever built.....the A990 with the elephant of coarse.

 

Those were the days!!

 

There was a 426 Max Wedge too....

 

Our ford days are on the horizon. 427, 428, & 429

 

I only wish I could afford one with the distributor in the front.

 

A day late and a car length short, just like the old days.

 

430 if you include the MEL engine.

 

I’ve never seen that one before. I’ll have to find a copy.

 

View attachment 5385318 View attachment 5385318

 

The paperwork said it was for a little old lady from Pasadena.

 

I guess this is also a day any owner of the oddly optioned 426 Hemi AMC cop car gets to celebrate too

I know they're legit, I saw one in a movie

 

Moderator - Ryan says this picture is OK to post. Check with him if in doubt.

 

Back to the top!.....

 

Mine. (3 years ago). Now it’s waiting.

 

I’ve actually no use for a 426 Hemi.
But I’d love to be the guy who had one covered up in the corner and say “not for sale, gonna fix it up someday”.

 

1964 426 testing Lion’s Dragstrip

Hello,

It was a private affair with Chrysler executives present along with several well known Hemi powered drag racers for some testing on the 426 motor.

The power was there, but it still needed some adjustments. The odd thing was, it was supposed to take over the sales for the local hot rod guys versus the big motor Chevy Impalas. But, while some Impalas were on the street, doing their powerful cruising, there was only one Plymouth we saw at Harvey’s Broiler back then. When it fired up and made his move down the parking lot, it sounded quite powerful. But, it had a tinny sound overall. Still, it was impressive, knowing it had so much power for the street.

Jnaki

In our neck of the woods, it was time to move on to our college endeavors and when we did stop by for some of our favorite foods, “Gravy and French Fries” at the local drive-in restaurant, not one Dodge or Plymouth 426 sedans were around. When we went to other Long Beach drive-in locations, it was the same thing. Those fast cars just were not around and there had to be a reason.

For us, the big motor Chevys were pretty solid. But those Chrysler products felt a little shallow or “tinny” for the one we saw in Downey.

The only 426 Plymouth we saw happened to be at the 1964 all Gas Coupe and Sedan drag race at Lion’s Dragstrip in 1964. Impressive, but, not as impressive as the other race cars of the day. YRMV

 

The hemi option was around 900$ in it's day and only around 15 thousand hemi cars were produced between 1964 and 1971.....To make it perform it needed a 4:56 or 4:88 gear,,not conducive for the everyday street car to drive back and forth to work....Rare cars even back in the day....The only reason it was ever put on the street was to be legal for NASCAR racing....Now the aftermarket engines based on this design are running 330 MPH in Top fuel and Funny car racing....