Sixties V8 engines
Discussion
Don't really know why I steering towards Ford V8 stuff back in the mid 70's........probably due to the fact that living perhaps 3 or 4 miles from the then dominent Ford plant at Dagenham and having several people in the family, friends, neighbours etc all working there plus the availability of a good supply of second hand Mark 1, Mark 2, Consuls, Zephyrs, Zodiacs and the later Mark 3 variants made a Ford the first choice for a yankee car. Hard to believe that one could buy service parts for a 60's American Ford from a UK Ford dealer. The Gates group used to sell new American Fords in the UK, albeit generally RHD conversions which tended to have fairly 'pony' engines and minimal options. However there were used Yanks that were avaialable from Europe, Holland and Belgium were a source of supply for some fairly basic Chevys and Fords. These were often 6 banger cars and the original buyer wouldn't have ticked the option list, so it would often be 2 bbl carbs, manual three on the trees and poverty level interiors.
Moving on from a 'history lesson' - my first US Ford was a '65 Galaxie 4 door hardtop with a well used 2 bbl 289 and 'three on the tree'. It kinda cemented my interest in Fords of all types. My favorite engine was the FE unit. Nominally the 390 cu in but with my dream car/engine being a 60/70 Mustang Mach 1 with CJ 428 and 4 speed. Never got one of these but did aspire to a Fairlane 390 GTA which was a great, well balanced alternative to a Chevelle or Dart of the day. Late 80's/early 90's financial 'crash' put paid to that. Favourite Ford owned was a '66 Galaxie 7 Litre with a hot 428 and 4 speed. Least favourite was a 69' Mustang Vert with 6 pot and three speed manual.......got rid of that after 3 weeks, horrible thing. Rarest Ford owned was one of 500 or so '71 Mach 1 429 SCJ's. The very best Ford engine to date (then) but a 'breadvan' body.
Nice reply rosco!
I worked at Warwick Wright Chiswick (for a while) in the bodyshop when it re-opened in 91.
They were famous for shipping in as 'RHD' imports of Plymouth Barracudas.
From 1967 to 1969, and I owned one in the mid 80's, my first Mopar.
One of only a handful of RHD convertibles that were ever made!
It was a hi-spec 318ci with 8 3/4 axle and a locker.
So when I was having trouble keeping up with The Fords and Chev's, I put an ex Jensen hipo 383 and 727 in lol.
Now it was really fast and totally out of control most of the time ...
I worked at Warwick Wright Chiswick (for a while) in the bodyshop when it re-opened in 91.
They were famous for shipping in as 'RHD' imports of Plymouth Barracudas.
From 1967 to 1969, and I owned one in the mid 80's, my first Mopar.
One of only a handful of RHD convertibles that were ever made!
It was a hi-spec 318ci with 8 3/4 axle and a locker.
So when I was having trouble keeping up with The Fords and Chev's, I put an ex Jensen hipo 383 and 727 in lol.
Now it was really fast and totally out of control most of the time ...
Edited by Gtxxjon on Sunday 20th February 15:58
I met a real nice guy in LA in 2004, his name was Greg.
He was living in his car, (in a parking lot) outside my friends workshop.
He had fallen out with his wife over a Mopar that he built for his son.
The Mopar was souped-up and unfortunately he died in a drag race.
He felt so bad and upset he left home and drove to LA to 'get some sun'...
The point of the story is, he lived in a 1969 Cougar CJ convertible, one of 90 made!
RIP Greg, may God have pity on you and your good wife...
He was living in his car, (in a parking lot) outside my friends workshop.
He had fallen out with his wife over a Mopar that he built for his son.
The Mopar was souped-up and unfortunately he died in a drag race.
He felt so bad and upset he left home and drove to LA to 'get some sun'...
The point of the story is, he lived in a 1969 Cougar CJ convertible, one of 90 made!
RIP Greg, may God have pity on you and your good wife...
The Cougar CJ is the 'real deal' in terms of rareity - that ex-James Bond film one (currently in the James Bond museum at Covent Garden) got a really silly price recently at auction. One of the local guys Lou (and a bit of a Mopar freak - you may know him - comes from Billericay) picked up one of these a good few years ago. It was much like the james Bond one, so metallic maroon, full leather interior, ragtop etc, supposedly a 428 CJ. It didn't perform too well as I recall, with Lou finding out that the orginal engine had been swapped-out for a cooking 390 I believe.
I guess my pick of the bunch although sadly never driven a car with these particular motors in would be
426 hemi
Boss 429
427FE, hopefully that will change as I plan at some point in the future to buy a 63.5 Galaxie R code
Also I'll add the 289 as I have two cars with a 289 motor, Mustang and the Griffith. It must be the most used V8 engines in historic racing circles
426 hemi
Boss 429
427FE, hopefully that will change as I plan at some point in the future to buy a 63.5 Galaxie R code
Also I'll add the 289 as I have two cars with a 289 motor, Mustang and the Griffith. It must be the most used V8 engines in historic racing circles
The one (two actually) V8 that needs mention is the little Daimler 2.5 litre engine - and perhaps the slightly larger 4.5 unit from the Majestic Major. I say 'little' V8 but it wasn't small physically and certainly wasn't any lighter than American all iron V8's, even with its beautiful Chrysler Hemi looking ally roocker covers and heads. With its two Su carbs and in a 1.5 tonne car like the Daimler/Jag it was not quick........put it in a rod or Pop livened thing up somewhat!
The mighty 426 Hemi is probably the best looking all iron V8.
I have had the pleasure of driving a few 426 hemi cars whilst in da States.
But the best by a long chalk was a triple black 1967 hemi Gtx 4-speed!
All original factory car with low miles and truly amazing.
It’s hard to compare without driving Fords and Chev’s, but it don’t matter to me.
For a brief moment in time, I was in the sixties ‘in LA’ cruising and feeling like a God...
If you could bottle that feeling of pleasure then you would be stinky rich lol...
I have had the pleasure of driving a few 426 hemi cars whilst in da States.
But the best by a long chalk was a triple black 1967 hemi Gtx 4-speed!
All original factory car with low miles and truly amazing.
It’s hard to compare without driving Fords and Chev’s, but it don’t matter to me.
For a brief moment in time, I was in the sixties ‘in LA’ cruising and feeling like a God...
If you could bottle that feeling of pleasure then you would be stinky rich lol...
With significant 'hindsight' had you asked me the question perhaps 30 years - "how do you make those old school American V8's more powerful" - my answer would have been to gone with 4 valve heads, double overhead camshafts and forced induction. The one thing that the both the OEM and aftermarket industry have done is to show us that 'simple' (certainly in mechanical terms) is better......the fact that normally aspirated larger capacity engines have become so efficient and powerful has proved that. With both Ford, GM and Mopar offering seemiung unburstable supercharged engines with economy figure equivalent to much of the european alternatives proves it. Who would have ever thought that cars with 600+ hp could achieve 30 mpg cruise figures.......
Too true!
Less is more when it comes to ‘moving parts’ lol...
David Vizard has proved that with a variable Venturi carb mileage’s up to 100 per gallon are achievable with a decent small block V8!
Why have they never progressed these facts?
When your country’s revenue is gas-tax, you promoted gas guzzlers lol...
Now we are at war with the Russian’s, gas will be £2.00 a litre this year!
Bring on electric ASAP...
Less is more when it comes to ‘moving parts’ lol...
David Vizard has proved that with a variable Venturi carb mileage’s up to 100 per gallon are achievable with a decent small block V8!
Why have they never progressed these facts?
When your country’s revenue is gas-tax, you promoted gas guzzlers lol...
Now we are at war with the Russian’s, gas will be £2.00 a litre this year!
Bring on electric ASAP...
Gtxxjon said:
Youtube top five are...
429 Boss, 859 made.
427 ZL1, 69 made in 1969.
Boss 302, 1,628 made
427 FE, side oiler, 66 to 69
Last but not least the 426 HEMI...64 to 70
Little known fact about the 427 ZL1s that found their way into COPO Camaros, they also made 2 (3 depending on sources?) ZL1 engined corvettes that were sold to the public. They were estimated HP around 560-580 and gave the car a 12 second quarter mile and 0-60 in 4.0s. A bunch of other ZL1 engines were made and sold to racers that year as well.429 Boss, 859 made.
427 ZL1, 69 made in 1969.
Boss 302, 1,628 made
427 FE, side oiler, 66 to 69
Last but not least the 426 HEMI...64 to 70
Also, surprised no one on this thread has mentioned the top offering from GM - the 454 chevy, or 455 bucik/olds/pontiac. The LS-6 variant of the 454 in my chevelle was "rated" 450hp and matched the 426 cuda in that rating, and the 455 from Buick had over 500 ft-lb torque, I believe the highest rated of any car of the era.
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