68 gtx 440 vs. 426 hemi

[bobtile]

Hope you guys can see this. It is an article from Car Life magazine that I have . February of 68 Some interesting reading.

 

[Budnicks]

Thanks cool old article

 

[Tempest 455]

Cool. I have a similar old road test of '69 cars somewhere. If I can find it, will dig it out and post it.

 

[Budnicks]

funny line $604 seem allot of money, between the 440ci vs 426ci Hemi, if I could have ever gotten a 426ci Hemi ever for only $604 extra I'd have been all over it, even if it was only $6,000...LOL... also the 426 Hemi had 4.56 gears & 9.5" slicks ran best 13.44 et @ 104+ & the 440 had 4.30 gears & 9" slicks ran best 13.97 et @ 99+mph, it seems the 426 Hemi had an advantage to begin with, in lower gears & better traction.... cool none the less

 

[Hemi Rebel]

funny line $604 seem allot of money, between the 440ci vs 426ci Hemi, if I could have ever gotten a 426ci Hemi ever for only $604 extra I'd have been all over it, even if it was only $6,000...LOL... also the 426 Hemi had 4.56 gears & 9.5" slicks ran best 13.44 et @ 104+ & the 440 had 4.30 gears & 9" slicks ran best 13.97 et @ 99+mph, it seems the 426 Hemi had an advantage to begin with, in lower gears & better traction.... cool none the less

Hard to imagine there was a time when that was a lot of money, but it was. Thats why so few hemicars were made. And even at 600 to 800 for one, chrysler lost money on them.

 

[snakeoil24]

Very cool article, remebering these very days, the Buick GS 455 used to smoke everyone off the line at first. With its Monster stroke and relatively small bore this was the 1/8 mile monster. After this the 440 would catch the GS 455. But it took the Hemi to wake up at the 1000 ft mark and destry the 440 and Buick 455. Beleive me I had many times getting Buick smoke off my windshield.

 

[Budnicks]

Hard to imagine there was a time when that was a lot of money, but it was. Thats why so few hemicars were made. And even at 600 to 800 for one, chrysler lost money on them.

Yeah I know
I know it's all relative, it was a 5th or 6th of the price, but I'd have loved to had that opportunity to buy a new or even used car, factory equipped with a 426ci Hemi, for only an extra $604... was my point, it's now paid off, some 50-100 over today

 

[snakeoil24]

Remember Gas was .17 cents for 101 minimum wage was 1.32 IN 64 so 600 extra was big money!

 

[Meep-Meep]

Very cool article, remebering these very days, the Buick GS 455 used to smoke everyone off the line at first. With its Monster stroke and relatively small bore this was the 1/8 mile monster. After this the 440 would catch the GS 455. But it took the Hemi to wake up at the 1000 ft mark and destry the 440 and Buick 455. Beleive me I had many times getting Buick smoke off my windshield.

Actually, the Buick 455 was quite the opposite from Pontiac and Olds. The Buick has a bore roughly the same as a 440 but a 3.9" stroke. Regardless, they still made 510 ft lbs of torque. Another cool thing is a low block MoPar intake bolts on with special adapters that deal with the angle difference of the gasket surface.

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funny line $604 seem allot of money, between the 440ci vs 426ci Hemi, if I could have ever gotten a 426ci Hemi ever for only $604 extra I'd have been all over it, even if it was only $6,000...LOL... also the 426 Hemi had 4.56 gears & 9.5" slicks ran best 13.44 et @ 104+ & the 440 had 4.30 gears & 9" slicks ran best 13.97 et @ 99+mph, it seems the 426 Hemi had an advantage to begin with, in lower gears & better traction.... cool none the less

You bring up a good point. The gearing was probably selected to optimize each car for 1/4 mile use. The power band difference alone between the hemi and 440 would explain the ratios, however, I'm surprised the 440 was fitted with 4.30's. Seems to me that Road Runner cam would be all done well before the traps with 4.30's but the hemi would keep on truckin'. 3.55:1 would be my guess at an optimum gear with an automatic for the 440. I didn't read the article but I'm assuming both had autos? Also, why the convertible? A HT hemi GTX wasn't rare enough? I had a triple black 68 GTX 440 4 spd convertible back in the 80's.

 

[ws27]

funny line $604 seem allot of money, between the 440ci vs 426ci Hemi, if I could have ever gotten a 426ci Hemi ever for only $604 extra I'd have been all over it, even if it was only $6,000...LOL... also the 426 Hemi had 4.56 gears & 9.5" slicks ran best 13.44 et @ 104+ & the 440 had 4.30 gears & 9" slicks ran best 13.97 et @ 99+mph, it seems the 426 Hemi had an advantage to begin with, in lower gears & better traction.... cool none the less

And the 440 had A/C, that couldn't have helped.

 

[Meep-Meep]

I'm sure everything was done to make sure the hemi would win by a large margin. As pointed out earlier hemi sales were not as expected and this was two years into the production run.

 

[snakeoil24]

Meep I stand corrected about bore size, the torque the Buick Gs put out was astounding in those days.. It was a time we raced as kids on Park Ave a deserted 4 lane road into a industrial yard. we marked the road with white shoe polish. Every 60 or 75 feet. These Buicks never got any credit from any one.. Every time we raced it this same Buick then the 383 Dodge followed by the 440 Superbee and finally my 67 coronet or 70 charger. We barely could afford any parts but came across a rat roaster cheap. We milled the cover plate to add better air flow at lower rpm's. It made a difference taking the cover plate down 1/8 inch.. But still required 800 to 1000 feet to pass the Wedges.

 

[Tempest 455]

HEMI vs 440 - Part II 1969













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Very cool article, remebering these very days, the Buick GS 455 used to smoke everyone off the line at first. With its Monster stroke and relatively small bore this was the 1/8 mile monster. After this the 440 would catch the GS 455. But it took the Hemi to wake up at the 1000 ft mark and destry the 440 and Buick 455. Beleive me I had many times getting Buick smoke off my windshield.

Just the opposite. Buick 455 has a short stroke and large bore. Small ports and cam timing make it a TQ motor.

 

[Meep-Meep]

Meep I stand corrected about bore size, the torque the Buick Gs put out was astounding in those days.. It was a time we raced as kids on Park Ave a deserted 4 lane road into a industrial yard. we marked the road with white shoe polish. Every 60 or 75 feet. These Buicks never got any credit from any one.. Every time we raced it this same Buick then the 383 Dodge followed by the 440 Superbee and finally my 67 coronet or 70 charger. We barely could afford any parts but came across a rat roaster cheap. We milled the cover plate to add better air flow at lower rpm's. It made a difference taking the cover plate down 1/8 inch.. But still required 800 to 1000 feet to pass the Wedges.

I do like the Buick GS Stage 1 cars! And you are dead on about the underrated street potential.

 

[moparcanuck]

There were few Hemicars and Buick GS cars on the street back in the day. Even GTXs were not common. My best street race was against a Boss 429 Mustang. Beat him by half a fender with my 440 GTX auto with shift kit. I also raced Corvettes and 427/396 Camaros. The trick was to start off easy enough not to smoke the tires but hard enough to get to the next stop light first. :toothy2:

The Vettes and big block Camaros had a real hard time with traction off the line.

 

[Budnicks]

HEMI vs 440 - Part II 1969

View attachment 167564

Just the opposite. Buick 455 has a short stroke and large bore. Small ports and cam timing make it a TQ motor.

Great old article, thanks for sharing Tempest... I agree with the others about the ol' Buick GS's not getting much respect, for an executive hot rod, pretty rare & select market buying them.... I had an old friend Scott Holman that had a couple of them over the years, always had great respect of them, to the shock & awe of many youngsters, he waxed many a Camaro & Mustang with them too... Love them GSX's & GS Stage I & II cars....

 

[Pops1967GTX]

The 426 Hemi vs. the 440 Magnum​

https://chryslerperformancehistory.wordpress.com/2014/03/08/the-426-hemi-vs-the-440-magnum/