my favorites are the 348 and 409 chevy, flat head ford and the big chrysler wedge engines. open headers!
A high compression flat-four with a lumpy cam and big-collector stinger..... yes, I mean a built VW engine.
Heard a dealer promo record in the '60's of ZAD taking you, the listener, on a ride around the track in one of the first injected Corvettes. It had a rock crusher behind it. It was a symphony of engineering sound.
On a side note, way back when I worked for Panoz and we held the Petite LeMans at Road Atlanta the high-pitched, buzzy 12-cylinders would go by, the Vector, Ferraris, and Porsches, and then the Roush-blocked Panoz GTR-1 cars would go by at full throttle and if that V8 didn't sound like mortal hell, nothing ever will. In a sea of screaming that thing sounded flat evil.
I know exactly what you mean. I raced a limited cube volkswagon engine against fully built 1200cc motorcycle engined mini-sprints. 13k rpm bike motors and a 7500 rpm vw flat four. it always sounded like I had 23 bees chasing me down. not that they caught me that often..... I'm not a big fan of bees ya see
Ahh, yes. Vanilla Ice brings me back to 6th grade. I realize the 5.0 liters aren't HAMB material, but they do have a distinct, cool sound... especially built ones. I haven't been fortunate enough (yet) to be exposed to some of the exotic engines that have been posted so far. The closest I've been is a few NHRA meets with the Top Fuelers - those things are just UNREAL!! Malcolm
Ford 429/460 big block Ford FE's Boss 429 Cammer High revving solid lifter 289 A strong Y-block has a sweet sound too.
Full house Ford flathead. The best sounding stocker has to be the Duesenberg. Max wedge Mopars sound great, hell there are hundreds I could go on all night. It's all a matter of opinion.
The BRM 16 may be the best-sounding engine of all time. Story goes that it developed its maximum hp (600+ from 1500cc) with very short stub pipes at 12,000+ rpm (this is early '50s, too). Problem was that with this exhaust system, the harmonics were so horrendous that the driver would do a lap, and then come into the pits and barf his guts out. They had to put a less efficient exhaust system on it so the driver could live in the car.
For me it's an alcohol Hilborn injected, 15:1 360 inch or 410 inch sprint car engine. Throttle response like you wouldn't belive and sound awesome running wide open lap after lap. Also the Corvette C5R running past the camera's wide open at Lemans...
Anything that can turn a lot of rpms, but I really dig drag engines with a lot of compression and runnin alcohol.
Three nominations from '60s road racing. 1. Ford GT's used 289 SBF's with a basket-of-snakes exhaust system on top of the transaxle. Soon after that, many Can-Am cars also used mid-engine V8s with the same kind of tuned exhaust and megaphones. Whoopee galore! 2. 3-liter Ferrari V12s. I had the good fortune to watch Sebring in 1964 when two Ferraris, a 250TR and a GTO, went down the pit straight about a car length apart. 24 cylinders sounded like a brass choir! 3. The pace lap of NASCAR's first stock car road race at Riverside '63. The whole field went by in a tight pack, just rumbling along at medium revs, and it literally shook the ground we stood on. One more that I've never heard in real life, but I sure love its recorded sound, is the Falconer V12 based on SBC geometry. Unfortunately this board won't let me upload a .wav file. Oh, yeah -- best sounding motor I've ever owned was a sensational-sounding flathead about 40 years ago, but that's another longish story.
OK, O/T and you've probably seen it but this is one of the cooler transmissions I've heard...turn your volume DOWN!
A built SBC screaming through open 180 degree headers on a pulling truck makes a pretty unforgettable sound....
The Jesel Valvetrain Dodge Truck has one of the most wicked sounding normally aspirated small block Mopar engines I have ever heard. It makes most race cars sound tame. I wish I had a recording of it.
There are several great contenders, a basically stock 327 with three on the tree whining through the gears, a SBC with solid cam and Rochester FI particularly when you shut it down, Corky Cokers blown flathead Great Race Deuce, Hillborn injected A/Altered SBC powered belonging to Charlie Smith and called "Plain Vanilla" back in the 60's, any radial aircraft engine. Even the flat 16 cylinder Honda GP car that I heard hit 25K while living in Japan. BUT, I have to agree with jimdillon and fur biscuit, a Novi powered roadster at Indy is the sweetest music.
Ok.... I have to redeem myself for the post about the late model Jesel Dodge. D.W.'s blown Chevy is bad ass!
My favorite sound lately is my 250 6 with headers, straight 2" and cherrybombs. To be specific its when I take it from 1500-4000 RPM in second gear and then let off the gas............ in a small tunnel by my house. Always puts a smile on my face.
I'll second Fordman75's respect for the 271 horse 289, a buddy had one stuffed in a '60 Falcon with the rear fenders cut out to make room for tire on that 3.89 geared 9", awesome fun to party in back in the summer of love!
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