Dream Car Garage

 

Last year, Rush drummer Neil Peart died of cancer.  He was a car buff, and his estate took care of disposing of his car collection, almost all silver cars, none of which appealed to my preferences:  mostly sports cars.  As I’m unlikely to earn Peart’s stash of money in my lifetime, absent a level of fortune I have no reason to expect, I can still dream.  And if I did come across enough money to be able to assemble such a garage of my own, here’s what it would include.

First off:  NO sports cars.  No Ferraris, no Porsches, no Lambourghinis, no fancy cars.  Exotic muscle cars, sure, but nothing with two seats.  And no silver cars. 

1967-68 Pontiac Firebird 400.  GM put out its first generation F-bodies (Camaro and Firebird) for three model years, 1967, 1968, and 1969.  The current fifth generation Camaro is based on the 1969 model body style.  As Pontiac was killed in 2009, there is no Firebird equivalent, although aftermarket companies have been making bizarre “Trans Am” models which graft second generation (1970-81) styling cues, like the shaker hood and Screaming Chicken, on what is essentially a remake of a first generation car.  Ideally they should simply make a white car with two blue stripes, which is how the Trans Am first came in 1969.  Anyhow.

I love the first generation Firebirds, especially since the Camaros of these years get all the attention.  Unlike the Camaros, the Firebirds got a chrome bumper, Pontiac V8s, and the entry level inline six was overhead cam.  There was even a souped up OHC model, the Sprint, which gave the otherwise mundane six a four barrel carburetor and the car itself a better suspension.  The intermediate models got a smaller V8 – 326 in 1967, 350 in 1968-69.

 And the top model, the 400, with its twin hood scoops, definitely is my favorite.  It used the same 400 cubic inch (6.6L) V8 as the GTO.  My own quest to purchase one in fall 1995 went nowhere, except Flint, Michigan.  I’d prefer a hardtop to a convertible, and a TH400 automatic to a manual.  Rather than insist on one of 2 or 3 surviving Ram Air II models, I’d just as soon get a regular 400 and upgrade it with Edelbrock heads.  Nothing too fancy.  Rally II wheels are mandatory.

1974 Trans Am SD 455.  Of course I’d have to have a Trans Am, but not the ’77-78 Special Edition, better known as the Bandit model (black & gold).  In fact, I had a 1980 S/E, back in 2000, but had to sell it when after removing the 301, the guy next door with a running 455 in a Bonneville or Catalina sold off the car to someone else, leaving me with an engineless T/A.  I’d take a Super Duty model, the last pre-emissions model, and 1974, so I’d be able to get Nocturne Blue (dark blue) with the Screaming Chicken.  Wheelwise it would be Rally IIs, not honeycomb. 

1968-69 GTO. The GTO began in 1964 when Pontiac engineers discovered that the big car 389 V8 would fit in the same space the smaller car 326 V8 did in the Lemans.  They added a triple two barrel carburetor setup, aka “Tripower”.  The 1964 model has horizontally stacked headlights, the 1965 has vertically stacked headlights, and the 1966 and 1967 models got a coke bottle body shape redesign, the 1966s keeping the 389 Tripower, the 1967 getting the new 400 V8 with the new four barrel carburetor, the Rochester Quadrajet.  This 400 also found its way into top of the line Firebirds, the 400 model, as noted above. 

For 1968, the A bodies – Chevrolet Chevelle, Pontiac Lemans/GTO, Oldsmobile Cutlass, and Buick Skylark -got new bodies, and the GTO got the first body color Endura front bumper, replacing the chrome bumper which the Lemans had – winning Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award in 1968 and beating the redesigned Dodge Charger.   It doesn’t have to be a Judge.  It does need the TH400 automatic with the Hurst Dual Gate shifter.  Again, not a convertible. 

1974 GTO.  In addition to the ’68-69, I’d take this one, another oddball choice.  For GTOs most would prefer the ’64-65, 66-67, or 68-69s, or a Judge.  But the 1974 model took the Ventura – Pontiac’s version of the Nova – and put a Pontiac 350 under the shaker hood.  I’ve seen someone put the Trans Am’s SD455 in a 74, and it actually looks pretty cool, especially with Rally II (five spoke) wheels. 

1991-92 Firebird Formula.  My own 1992 went up in flames in 2012, but I still have the Tuned Port 350 (L98), now balanced and blueprinted with AFR aluminum cylinder heads and an aftermarket camshaft.  It just needs a home.  Not a Z28 or IROC, not a Trans Am, but another Formula.  We’ll see about that.  Of all my dream cars, this is probably the most practical, and the only one I actually had before, from 1995-2012. 

1967-68 Camaro RS/SS 350.  I prefer the Firebirds, of course.  But the first generation Camaro SS is a nice model.  The Z/28 was a special model with the 302 V8, rated for high RPM HP with a four speed manual.  The regular performance model was the Super Sport, available with either the small block 350 or the big block 396.  The Rally Sport package mainly consisted of hideaway headlights, and could be combined with the base (non-SS) Camaro (simply called a Rally Sport), the SS (for an RS/SS), or the Z/28 itself.  In 1967-68 the headlight doors were black, in 1969 they had clear horizontal slits (“you still couldn’t see out of them, but at least other drivers could see you”).

1969 Camaro ZL1.  The only other Camaro I’d care for:  the aluminum block 427 model.  The car cost $3000, the engine cost $4000, roughly $70,000 in today’s money.  The funny thing is, back then the insurance companies refused to insure these cars, so no one could drive them even if they wanted to pay that money.  So Chevy wound up with 30 Camaros they couldn’t even sell. 

1968-70 Dodge Charger.  Of the MOPARS, this would be the classic model.  Yes, it’s the Dukes of Hazzard body style only for those three years, but I can do without orange or Confederate flags – or doors that don’t open.  426 Hemi or 440 Six Pack?  Not sure. 

Dodge Charger Hellcat.  The current, four door model, with the supercharged EFI Hemi V8 putting out 700+ HP.  My 2009 Charger R/T is gone, too.  Replacing it with a 2011-12 R/T might be doable.  But if money allows, I’d prefer the Hellcat.  Given that Dodge is discontinuing this model, I may have to buy it used – if ever. 

1969-70 Mustang Mach I 428 CJ.  To cover the bases, a Ford model would be nice.  Forget the 65-66 Mustangs, too boring.  Not a fan of Shelbys.  And not a fan of 302s.  And why get a 351 if you can have the 428 Cobra Jet? It was the optimal Ford street V8 of that era. 

The Formula - AGAIN

 Maybe a broken record, here.  I had a dream the other day that I got the Formula back (1992 Pontiac Firebird Formula 350) and was driving it down the road.  It was VERY fast – as I remember it being – but would need tags and insurance, and a place to park it.  As my 2009 Dodge Charger R/T was totaled in September, I’ve been driving my mom’s Chevy HHR around, and it clearly has far less than 370 HP.  Since I haven’t paid off the Charger, I won’t be buying another one for a few months. 

Blogs:  “The Formula” (11/24/2006); The Beast is Back in Black (5/24/2007); Hello Neon, Bye Bye Formula (1/31/2008); The Beast is Back….Again (3/17/2011); Welcome Back to 1995 (7/31/2015) and More Fire Birdy Stuff (8/24/2018).  Suffice to say I’ve talked about it.  I’ve also mentioned the 1976 Esprit, which I still have; the 1980 Trans Am I had in 2000 and which never ran – even before pulling its anemic 150 HP 301 V8; the 1968 Pontiac Firebird 400 my buddy Phil and I tried buying in Flint, Michigan in fall 1995; and the Pontiac 400 V8 I bought in 1998.  At least this car I had for 17 years.

Both the Chevrolet Camaro and the Pontiac Firebird were meant to compete with the Ford Mustang, a relatively inexpensive 4 seater, 2 door, front-engine rear-wheel drive car of fairly light weight.  The base models started with inline sixes, then V6s, and in some years, 4 cylinder engines (Fox body - 1979-93 - Mustangs and 1982-86 Camaros and Firebirds).  The performance models had a V8 of varying power depending on the years, with the 20th Anniversary Trans Am (1989) having a special turbocharged Buick V6, the same engine as the Grand National and GNX.  The top performance model of the Camaro started out as the SS (Super Sport) and then switched to the Z/28 and IROC.  For the Firebird, that was the Trans Am and the Formula.  Generally the Formula was available with the same engines, transmissions and suspension as the Trans Am but was a bit more subtle.  Even the '73-74 Super Duty Formulas got the Trans Am's shaker hood but not its "Screaming Chicken" hood bird.  I generally prefer the Formula to the Trans Am.  

Sometime in 1992 I acquired a Pontiac catalog which listed all its 1992 vehicles, including the Firebird.  From that I learned that the Formula – much slimmer than the Trans Am, lacking the ground effects package – was available with the 5.7L V8, 240 HP.  But without a decent job, I wouldn’t be buying one any time soon.

November 1992.   My third year in law school, I went from putting books back on the shelf in the law library for $5.50 an hour, 10 hours a week, to working for a real lawyer (Jerry), on real cases, making $10 an hour for 20 hours a week.  This meant I could finally qualify for a new car loan.  I couldn’t afford a Formula 350 ($19,000) but in any case by then, those were all gone.  But I could afford a new Firebird, base, with the 5.0L (TBI) engine.  Black on black, loaded with options (unfortunately including ground effects) it was my first new car.  The 5.0L V8 wasn’t a rocket, but the car could certainly get out of its own way.  Plus it had T-tops.

June 1995.  I was back to earning a full salary working for Jerry, and could qualify for a loan again,  I purchased a used 1992 Firebird Formula 350.  This was in aquamarine, black interior, but with almost no options:  no t-tops (which I didn’t miss), no power windows, no power door locks, but at least it had A/C.  Moreover, the original owner had upgraded with the SLP Package, which added 50 HP.  That included a cool air intake, larger throttle body with air foil, siamesed intake runners, a performance PROM chip and cooler thermostat, 1 5/8” headers, 3” exhaust running from the dual catalytic converters to the muffler, and a freer flowing muffler with both tailpipes going out the same side (driver’s side).

For my part, I had a Jacob’s Ignition system installed; 2800 stall converter with shift kit in the 700-R4 automatic transmission, 3.73 gears in the rear end (10 bolt), and sturdier trailing arms and panhard rod.  I also had installed the TPIS Big Mouth (lower) intake manifold.  I still have the original as well.  

September 1997 to January 1998.  Jerry and I had a client down in Stafford, Tim, who ran a body shop.  Tim wanted more custody with his son, so Jerry took his case in exchange for doing a color change from aquamarine to black.  The car was supposed to be done by late October, but ended up not being done until January 31, 1998.   

12/4/07.   In fall of 2007 I was working for a law firm buried in the woods near Fairfax.  Driving home in the cold, the car spun 180 going around a curve and plunged backwards into the woods.  Somehow I managed to get Tim to fix it up again, though it wasn’t back on the road again in my possession until May 23, 2008. I never did put the decals back on (FORMULA on the doors and rear bumper, “5.7 LITER F.I.” on the hood bulges, Firebirds on the sail panels).

Through much of 2008-2009 the Formula had engine issues which prevented it from passing emissions, until a hot rod shop at Fairfax Circle managed to figure out what was wrong with it and get it running property again. 

12/8/2012.   I was working at the office on Saturday and my Formula had an engine fire.  The car wound up in a towing lot in Stafford, the engine wound up in a machine shop in Fairfax.  Efforts to fix the Formula without an engine went nowhere and I eventually simply signed off on the title to Billy, who owned the towing lot.  The engine was rebuilt by a machine shop, but I ran out of money halfway through the rebuild.  In February 2013 I purchased a brand new Honda Civic.  On January 22, 2015, I traded the Civic in for a 2009 Dodge Charger R/T.  

On September 1, 2020 I had an accident which resulted in the Charger being totaled – less than a year left on the loan.  As of now I’m driving my Mom’s Chevy HHR, as noted above.  I stopped by the machine shop and made another payment on the Chevy V8.  

Sadly, circa 2020, Firebirds of all years are very rare.  When I took classes at NOVA Alexandria in 1995-98, I spoke with a fellow Formula 350 owner who had been living in L.A. at the time he bought his own ’89 model.  He actually saw it built at the Van Nuys factory which was making F-bodies back then (up to 1992).  He said they were making 3-4 Camaros for every Firebird.   By now all third generation Firebirds (1982-92) are at least 28 years old, and they only made Formulas from 1987-1992 of those years; the mid-model from 1982-86 was the S/E, somewhat like the 1970-81 Esprit.  Oddly, on the rare occasion I find someone selling an 1988-92 Formula in decent condition, they’re asking at least $10,000 for it. 

Dragstrip.  I took the car to Maryland International Raceway (MIR) once, on a hot summer day when no one else was at the track.  The best I could do, after dropping the tire pressure in the rear tires, was mid-14s in the quarter mile.  Then I learned about 75/80, up near Frederick, and took it up there a few times.  By that time I had it down to 14.28, around 99 mph.  The original owner, shortly after installing the SLP package, had it doing high 13 second quarter mile times.  Though I never took the Charger, rated at 370 HP, there, according to the specs, those are the same times a stock Charger R/T will do.  Go figure.

Dodge Charger

While I’ve been driving a 2009 Dodge Charger R/T for a few years now, remarkably I have not blogged upon this model, though I did write a tribute to its famous engine, the Hemi, a few years back (1/23/15).  My former employer, Jerry, alerted me to a Nicolas Cage film, “Drive Angry”, in which he (Cage, not Jerry) drives a ’69 Dodge Charger with a matte black finish and a 440.

The car originated in the 1960s with the 1966 and 1967 model years (first generation).  Both are fastbacks and both available with the famous 426 Hemi V8.  Some prefer this style, but most prefer the subsequent style.  Note: there were no Charger coupes (all fastbacks) nor any convertibles.  

Second Generation 1968-70.  Obviously the most popular – this is the body style of Dukes of Hazzard General Lee.  There are slight differences between the 1968, 1969, and 1970 models, but all three came with the 426 Hemi.

Dodge was confident that its 1968 redesign would win Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award.  However, Pontiac had also redesigned its famous GTO, in particular with body-colored Endura front bumper instead of the chrome bumper the LeMans and most other cars had at that time.  Moreover, Pontiac’s general manager John DeLorean travelled to L.A. in person to pitch the GTO, which so impressed the Peterson crowd who ran Motor Trend that they gave the GTO the award.  Dodge: “D’oh!”   But MOPAR laughed next year when the Plymouth Roadrunner (“meep! Meep!”) won the award.

Plymouth?   Oddly, there is no Plymouth equivalent of the Charger.  The Superbird is based on the GTX/Road Runner, for which the Dodge equivalent is the Coronet.  By the way, Oldsmobile wanted to make its own F body, i.e. an Olds equivalent of the Chevrolet Camaro and the Pontiac Firebird, but GM thought that would be spreading things a bit thin, so it let Olds make a Hurst special edition Cutlass, the Hurst-Olds, which for 1968 was black and silver with an Olds 455 V8.  Anyhow.

Charger 500.   At this time the Charger was running in NASCAR, but the elusive 200 mph target was a bit out of reach.  So they took the ’68-70 body, made the front grille and back window flush, and this allowed the car to go a little faster.   But not quite fast enough to top 200 mph. 

Charger Daytona.  Then they went a step further, gave the car a pointed beak and a high spoiler to clear the trunk decklid, and this one finally passed 200 mph.  Spectators watching the Daytona sprint around the track said it sounded like a jet plane. 

Dukes of Hazzard.  The Duke Brothers’ General Lee is probably by far the most popular Charger and makes the second generation body style the best known.  It was Hemi Orange with a roll cage and a Confederate flag on the roof, along with 01 on the doors.  The series ran from 1979-1985.  By that time no one could go to a Dodge dealer and buy a ’68-70 model brand new.  At least with “Smokey and the Bandit” I (1977) and II (1980) the S/E Trans Am (black with hood bird and T-tops) was still being sold brand new, and Pontiac dealers considered the movies to be de facto commercials which drove customers into their showrooms from the theaters.  

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974).  “The Dukes of Hazzard” gets most of the attention, but this earlier film with Peter Fonda deserves recognition.  Bank robbers ditch their Chevy Impala and pick up a Charger to continue their escape.  They wind up against a cop pursuing them from a helicopter.  The cop knows that Larry has a police scanner and is listening to their pursuit efforts, so he turns the tables by referring to nonexistent patrol cars, manipulating Larry to go where he wants…

Drive Angry.  Nicolas Cage finds himself driving a Charger through most of the movie, eventually having to trade it in for a 1970 Chevelle SS.  He’s accompanied by the babacious Amber Heard and stalked – whose side is he really on? – by “The Accountant”, played by William Fichtner.  In addition to the Charger, there’s also a fair amount of full female nudity which makes the movie even more fun to watch – once.  

Third Generation.  1971-74.   Now more of a fuselage style, Daisy Duke drove one, and Michael Weston (Jeffrey Donovan) drives one in “Burn Notice”.  Obviously not as popular and only the 1971 model available with the Hemi, its last year. 

Fourth Generation. 1975-78.   Looks exactly like a late 70s Chevrolet Monte Carlo.   Any performance angle is completely absent.  Dodge was going for a luxury attitude which didn’t work.

Fifth Generation 1982-87.  Front wheel drive, top engine a 2.2L four cylinder with EFI, turbo and a manual transmission.  There was a Shelby version.

Sixth Generation 2006-2010.  Starting with the Magnum, which was actually a station wagon, then bumping to a sedan.   No coupes or convertibles, sorry.  The R/T model has the Hemi, now 5.7L with EFI and two spark plugs per cylinder, with a coil on each cylinder, putting out 370 HP.  My own car is a 2009 R/T.   The next step up is the SRT8, which has a 6.1L HEMI putting out 420 HP.   I actually drove one before deciding on my ’09 R/T, as 370 HP was enough and the ’09 was newer, allowing me to stretch the payments longer back into my price range.  Note that as a sedan, the insurance on the late model Charger is cheaper than an equivalent coupe with the same engine, i.e. the Challenger R/T.  Oddly, the 2018 Charger R/T engine is still rated at 370 HP. 

Seventh Generation 2011 to present.  Still a sedan, though looking a bit more like the classic second generation.  In addition to the SRT8 model continued, they added the Hellcat, which drops a supercharger on the engine to boost it from 420 to 707 HP.   For $70,000 I’d say that’s an excellent bargain, which I’d be happy to take if I had $70k to spend.  For the time being I’m getting by with base level Hemi and almost 200k miles.  Note that Mopar Performance is making the 700 HP supercharged Hellcat engine available as a crate engine – not sure I want to know how much it costs, but probably well under $70k.  Drop this under the hood of a ’68-70 Charger and see what happens – especially if you don’t beef up the suspension and stick with the stock wheels and tires.  Oops! 

Hemi vs 440 Six Pack.  While the 426 Hemi gets most attention and notoriety, many Mopar enthusiasts prefer the 440 Six Pack.  This was a 440 cubic inch V8 with wedge combustion chambers – spark plugs coming in from the side like most other V8s – and three two barrel carburetors, the so-called “six pack”.  The Hemi ran off two Carter AFBs, basically 8 barrels – though the NASCAR Hemi actually had only ONE four barrel – but the Six Pack set up was a bit more street-friendly.  The engine ran off the middle two barrel at idle and part throttle, the outboard two barrel carbs opening up at wider throttle settings.  Of course, Pontiac’s 3x2 setup on the 389 V8 from 1964-66, “Tri-Power”, was also famous.  All 1967 GTOs got a 400 cubic inch V8 and the new for that year Rochester QuadraJet four barrel carburetor.   Not all 440s got the Six Pack, with the Carter AFB (aluminum four barrel) being standard. 

I am not now, nor ever have been, nor am I likely to be, rich enough to afford a 1968-70 Dodge Charger in decent condition, even without a Hemi.  Even one which was roadworthy would not be a practical daily driver.  Add the Hemi to the equation?  Well, the price guides indicate to double the price of a given Mopar muscle car if it has the 426 Hemi under the hood, meaning I’d have to win the lottery or win a huge case to earn an original Hemi Charger in my parking space.   In any case, knowledgeable enthusiasts might be inclined to go with the 440 Six Pack anyway.

But despite this, I have been able to afford a used late model Charger R/T with the 5.7L Hemi.  Comparing the 426 and the 5.7L?   The 426 works out to 7.0L and 350 net horsepower, notwithstanding its original 425 gross HP rating.  The 5.7L cranks out 370 net horsepower.  The modern version has EFI and two spark plugs per cylinder, as with the older model coming up off the top of the valve covers as opposed to into the side as on wedge engines by Mopar, Ford, and GM.  The EFI engine gets around 15 mpg thanks to almost 200k miles.  I don't want to know how thirsty the 426 was with two Carter four barrels.   And the Flowmaster mufflers certainly piss off the ladies....

New Cars

A quick one, while he’s away.   Err, a quick one before off to a viewing.   I’ll have more to say next week. 

Recently I had an accident, and had to rent a car (paid by the insurance company) while my own car was being fixed.  It was a Ford Fusion, relatively new.   Although I appreciate having something to drive instead of walking, riding a bike, or Ubering everywhere (including New Jersey), some things bugged me.

Let me start with the good things:

1)         Awesome brakes

2)         Decent acceleration

3)         No mechanical issues

Ok, done those.   Here are the features I did not like, relative to my 2009 Dodge Charger R/T, which has over 100k miles on it and isn’t exactly new.

1)         Push button ignition.   Call me Henry Ford, but I prefer putting a KEY into the ignition.   Then again, call me Freud.  

2)         AUX vs. USB.   I use an iPod and Spotify through my Smartphone (Galaxy S6).   If you plug in iPod into a stereo with a USB port, the stereo takes over.  The catch is that the interface is 10x slower than the wheel on the iPod.  Hooking it up through an AUX connector lets you keep control with the iPod.  Moreover, you need the AUX to access Spotify through the cell phone.

Now I’m hearing that some newer cars don’t even have CD players.   HUH?   Ok, that truly sucks.  

As of now, my priority means of listening to music is CD.   I use the iPod and Spotify, but mainly it’s CDs.  I have a vinyl player and if it’s Friday night I might listen to a record, but for the most part it’s CDs.  So I appreciate having a CD player in the dashboard.  

3)         No auto lights.  My Charger has a setting where the headlights come on and off automatically based on light conditions.  The car won’t run down, and the lights will come on when it’s night or a garage.   The Ford didn’t have that.

4)         Horrible dash.  Whoever designed the Fusion dash needs a new job.   Speedo front and center, OK, but the tach?  Right next to the fuel gauge, parallel thereto, really as an afterthought.  An up-down vertical indicator, which is OK for a fuel gauge but sucks as a tach. 

Here’s how that worked out back at Ford:

Manager:          “Dude, where’s the tach?”

Designer:          (Blank stare) “Tach?”

Manager:          (Facepalm) “Give me a damn tachometer.  Figure out what it is and do it.”

5 days later

Designer:          “Here it is.” 

Manager:          (Sees shitty tach but too late to fix it).  (Sigh). 

Charger, Firebirds, Honda Civic, all had round tachs.   No excuses, Ford.  Come on.

HEMI

This simple word inspired awe and fear from 1966-71, and still does today.  An original Hemi vehicle from Dodge or Plymouth is worth twice as much, or more, than its non-Hemi version – and might be a major star at Barrett-Jackson, a top auto auction. 

First of all, what is a Hemi?  Usually it refers to the 426 Hemi V8 used in Dodges and Plymouths from 1966 to 1971.   The Dodge models included the Charger R/T and Daytona, the Coronet R/T, and the Challenger; in Plymouth this would be the Barracuda (“Hemicuda”), the GTX & Road Runner, and the Superbird.  Plymouth did not make an equivalent of the Charger. 

Ok, fine.  Still, what does it mean?  It means hemispherical combustion chamber.  Each cylinder of the engine could be visualized like a grain silo you see at a farm: a tall cylinder with a hemispherical top to it.  The top has two circular openings, the valves. 

Four-stroke cycle.  Bear with me, this may be interesting (maybe not).  The piston goes up and down the cylinder, lubricated with oil.  Freudian, no?  Sometimes a piston is just a piston.

Intake.  The piston goes from its highest position (top dead center – TDC) to its lowest position (bottom dead center – BDC) in the cylinder.  The intake valve is open.  The piston’s downward movement sucks in the air-fuel mixture waiting outside the intake valve, which ideally fills the combustion chamber and cylinder.

Compression.  Both valves close, and the piston rushes up from BDC to TDC.  In doing so, it compresses the air-fuel mixture.  The ratio of this compression is the “compression ratio”.  The higher the compression ratio, the more power the engine can make, but it also makes the air-fuel mixture hotter and more likely to spontaneously combust without the spark plug’s assistance.  Highly volatile gas has a LOW octane rating, whereas relatively less volatile gas has a HIGHER octane rating.   This is why performance cars typically require 93 octane while economy cars can run on 87, and why running the wrong octane is a bad idea:  87 in an engine needing 93 may result in detonation, while 93 in an 87 engine is wasted.

Firing.  The spark plug fires, igniting the air-fuel mixture.  This is not an explosion, but rather a controlled burn which spreads out from the spark plug like a blooming flower.   Both valves are closed.  This is the stroke which produces the engine’s power: the piston goes back from TDC down to BDC.

Exhaust.  The exhaust valve opens, the piston goes from BDC back up to TDC, and the exhaust gases are pushed out of the combustion chamber.  Bye bye!

In a HEMI engine, the combustion chamber is hemispherically shaped, the intake valve is canted towards the intake side, the exhaust valve is canted towards the exhaust side, and the spark plug is close to the top of the combustion chamber between them.  Thus the valves are lined up parallel to the flow of air/fuel/gases through the combustion chamber.

Aren’t all engines set up this way?  Actually, no.  Most use a “wedge shape”.  The chamber shape is raised on one side and slants down to the other.  Think of those soft cloth caps working class men wore in the early twentieth century.  Nowadays pretentious people like Samuel L. Jackson wear them backwards.  Anyhow.  The valves are side-by-side, perpendicular to the flow of air-fuel/gases, with the spark plug coming in from the side rather than the top.

Looking at it from the outside, the HEMI engine has its spark plugs coming in the top of a large valve cover, whereas a wedge engine has the spark plugs coming into the side of the engine.

Power.   It’s not surprising that Hemi engines do in fact make a good deal of power.  What’s counterintuitive, though, is that the wedge design is remarkably competitive.  So much so, that the Hemi is the exception and not the rule.  Why is this?  In other words, why doesn’t everyone use a Hemi design?

            First, the Hemi head is much larger and more complex than a wedge head.  This makes it heavier and more expensive.  It makes the engine much wider and more difficult to fit in to an engine compartment.  Hemi cars needed special modifications and different suspensions and chassis stiffening.  Putting a Hemi in a car was a major undertaking.

            Second, as noted above, the wedge design works very well.   This includes all GM engines, all Ford engines (though the Boss 429 could be considered a hemi design), and the 440 V8 from Mopar.  With three two-barrel carburetors, the so-called 440 Six Pack was actually very competitive with the 426 Hemi on the street, and many enthusiasts considered it a better street engine than the Hemi. 

            In fact, the current run of GM performance engines in Camaros and Corvettes still keep the wedge design, although the LS combustion chambers are much different than the prior wedge heads.  The same holds true with Ford V8s, even in Shelby format.  While undeniably impressive, the Hemi design is not the only one which makes serious power. 

First Hemi.  From 1951-58 Mopar made the first generation Hemi engine, a 392.  This can be distinguished from the second generation by having a rear-mounted distributor the way most other engines are; the 426 has a front-mounted distributor, as all Mopar big blocks do.  The 392 was dropped, the 426 picked up later, and nowadays the 392 is esteemed only by those preferring the 50’s cars and insisting on authenticity.

Second Hemi.  The legendary 426 Hemi:  from 1966-71.  If someone refers to a classic era Hemi, they probably mean this one.  The Hemi was also used in NASCAR at this time; but the NASCAR engine only had one 4 barrel carburetor, while the street hemi had two – “dual quads”.  The street hemi also used mechanical lifters, which made it an especially noisy engine; to quote Muscle Car Review on a Hemi Road Runner, “even blindfolded you know it’s not a Lexus.” 

Street racing the 426 Hemi.  By now many of us may have seen the YouTube video which claims to show a Challenger Hellcat being blown away by a Tesla electric car at a dragstrip.  Of course, the Hellcat owner redlighted, i.e. immediately disqualified and thus no reason to blaze down the track.   Hemis are good engines, but a poor driver is always fair game for competitors with fast cars and better skills. 

            Jim Wangers, famous for promoting Pontiacs in the 1960s, gave some pointers in his book Glory Days.  What works well at the dragstrip might not translate well to the street: the 426 Hemi had a bad reputation for fouling spark plugs at idle and low speed.  Tactic?  Spool around in traffic for awhile before the race begins, so the Hemi driver’s engine is fouled.  Also, break off the race sooner rather than later, claiming victory; do not let the race go on further, as the Hemi WILL catch up with a vengeance.  This is how Royal Pontiac’s 421 4-speed GTO vanquished a Hemi Road Runner. 

NHRA.  The Hemi never died in drag racing.  Current top fuel dragsters run supercharged Hemi engines with nitromethane fuel: 8000 HP, with the supercharger draining off 850 HP by itself.  The cars go from 0-60 in half a second, cover the quarter mile at 4.4 seconds at 335 mph.  That’s fast.

Modern Hemi.  In 2003, after 32 years of dormancy, Mopar reintroduced a hemi V8 engine, in 5.7L displacement.   The new version has an aluminum block, aluminum heads, electronic fuel injection, and electronic ignition.  No more dual quads!   The modern Hemi came in Jeep Grand Cherokee, Ram pickups, the Dodge Durango, the Magnum (an oversexed station wagon) (2005-2008), the Chrysler 300M, the Charger (2006-present) and Challenger.  Like the drag racing versions, the modern version has two spark plugs per cylinder.  They’ve also introduced MDS (Multiple Displacement System), which is a cylinder deactivation system supposed to improve fuel economy without sacrificing power.

SRT8.  This is a 6.1L version of the engine in Chargers and Challengers.  The 370 HP of the 5.7L is bumped up to 425 HP.

Hellcat.  Very recent – and very powerful.  Finally the factory put a supercharger on a Hemi, and the result is 700 HP.  Be careful.

Crate Engines.   Mopar actually sells 426 Hemis (and an improved, larger version, the 528 Hemi) as crate engines.  They’re brand new and have a warranty, but they are very expensive.  Potential uses:

1.   Replacing a valuable original Hemi engine;

2.   Replacing a non-Hemi engine (e.g. 383 or 440) in a non-Hemi car, e.g. Road Runner or Charger which was originally available with a Hemi;

3.   Here’s the fun part:  putting in a small, light car like a Demon or Duster which never came with a Hemi.  Don Yenko was terrified by 427 Novas, imagine how terrified you can get with a Hemi in a Demon.