I thought this to be an interesting bit of history. I never owned or drove a 396 ci, but I did have a 400 ci buick. That motor did not perform great, but it was okay.
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I had this idea that I could rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it. The first st...
So much BS in the lead up to why production ended. 396 in a 65 Corvette was rated at 425 HP. Ford didn't offer the 428 in a Mustang until 68 1/2. Pontiac, 389, Buick and Olds, 400, were the options in mid size cars. Anything bigger in full size cars only, or in Chevy's case the Corvette. 1970 was the year GM dropped the limit on engine size. 455 in BOP, 454 in Chevy for mid size cars. By 1974 high performance was pretty much dead, so no market for big block performance cars.
ReplyDeletethose old motors breathed better than the newer ones ( it's all about volumetric efficiency ) the old small block 202 heads are a good example. yep i'm old enough to remember when a 65 mustang was a 2 yr old car. and a dime a dozen sitting on every curb and parking space. all gone now, replaced by things that all look alike. bubbles in a walmart parking lot.
ReplyDeleteI had a 454 big block in my '86 Chevy C20. That engine was CRAP. Didn't have much power, considering its size. Overheated a lot. Vaporlocked at will. I'll never buy a gas-powered truck that big again. Turbodiesel is the only way to go on something like that!
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