Hemi vs. 440

[F4R/T]

King of the hill is always gonna be a hemi.. how many other car companies can say they got banned because they kicked the competition square in the sack and laughed when they doubled over and puked!

 

[Jeff Peterson]

I've worked on allot of Mopars through the years.... Guys often stop by to BS while I'm working & often my GF pops in & makes a few comments... About ten years ago there was a Hemi RR in the shop... And about 5-6 guys all around the engine compartment BSing, Coral just starts busting up.... What's so funny? Well her comment we look like an episode of King of the Hill, we're all saying stuff normal folks wouldn't comprehend, we are have a beverage in one hand & the other half tucked into a pocket.... So now Hemi = King of the Hill

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Boomhauer's Dodge!

 

[Outlawd]

Hemi or 440? I would pic the one that has a 4 speed behind it....that's where the real fun is at.

 

[moparedtn]

About 15 yrs. ago, a friend purchased a real 70' TA challenger that had been completely redone, but was as disassembled as a unibody could get and the original drive train was long gone, anyway as he's in the building process, he found a big inch wedge from a local drag racer that he said would "wup a Hemi" which I have no doubt of but he was going to mostly show it and I told him if you go to a car show and there's 10 E bodies there and 9 have wedges, the other with a Hemi, which one do you think everybody is going to be gathered around?
He hung his head and said you're right, sold the race wedge and bought a Cummins crate 472, although everything is fine today, I could write a book on what he went through to get THAT POS right!
Edit: add picture, P.S. I like what he called it "one of none"
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Man, I'm sorry...but if that's a true pedigreed T/A, you don't do that to it.
T/A's fall under the category of "restore it as built - or sell it to someone who will" for me IMHO.
Tons of other regular e-bodies out there to mess about with, after all.

 

[Thunderlugs]

Hemi's just simply require a little more attention on the tuning side. Pre 70 valve adjustments , and maybe more plug changes. Once dialed in, it's definitely what you would expect, and it's always the Prettiest girl at the dance! I've had mine 45 years.

 

[moparedtn]

I built this one for a good friend back in Ky.
real AAR that the original drivetrain was LONG gone.

Car is running a 470 plus cu in Tim Banning built hemi with aftermkt air. Car has frame connectors , color changed from the original FC7 to limelight.
And he will be the 1st to tell you he has ZERO regrets building what HE wanted no matter what it was from the get go. He has owned the car since the very early 80s so its going NO WHERE as long as he is breathing air

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Again, really REALLY nice work there - but a true AAR needs to be restored as new or sold to someone
who will. Extremely rare car and precious few of them left in factory trim.... IMHO.

 

[moparedtn]

They may have been durable, but the Pontiacs were winning. Pontiac took 30 out of 52 Nascar races in 1961, and 22 more in 1962. Ford woke up and said they were ignoring the racing ban in 1963 and started winning, evolving their 406 to a 427 and getting 26 wins which was when Chrysler decided it was time to get serious and build the 426 hemi. Even then, Dodge and Plymouth took just 26 wins compared to Fords 30 for 1964.

Yep. Ma Mopar decided to upgrade from wedges to the Hemi in order to regain dominance in racing,
not the other way around.
Hemi's sound different, feel different when driving them, carry all the street cred AND are worth a shittake more
on the market.
Most Mopar fans dream of owning a Hemi... 'nuff said.

 

[747mopar]

I've never owned a HEMI so by no means am I someone who knows from experience but have read extensively about them. My take on it is the HEMI is built for racing, it's built for horsepower at higher rpm's so for a cruiser the only thing you gain is the cool factor. With that said you can't argue it's success in racing so if speed is your goal set the car up to run it like it should be ran... I look at it like a 2 stroke motorcross bike, I certainly wouldn't buy one unless I planned on running the piss out of it.

 

[moparedtn]

I've never owned a HEMI so by no means am I someone who knows from experience but have read extensively about them. My take on it is the HEMI is built for racing, it's built for horsepower at higher rpm's so for a cruiser the only thing you gain is the cool factor. With that said you can't argue it's success in racing so if speed is your goal set the car up to run it like it should be ran... I look at it like a 2 stroke motorcross bike, I certainly wouldn't buy one unless I planned on running the piss out of it.

*sigh*
I had one once, way back in the early 80's ('68 RR), totally base model. Rubber floor mats, the whole bit.
That thing was stupid quick for stock (only options were what came with the hemi and a 727).
It truly was "when all the others start laying down, the hemi comes ALIVE!" - car would scare hell out of me
over 5000rpms, when it woke up and it occurred to you that you still only had drums and manual steering to
hang onto the thing with.
Couldn't help it, though - very addicting to let that thing romp.
I remember paying like $2500 for it and selling it at a meet a year later for $6k, thinking I had just made
a fortune!

 

[Nevada dan]

Nascar banned them for a reason, they dominated

 

[Darter6]

Prettiest girl at the dance!

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

Funny thing about them about then HEMIs,either you want one or you have one
The difference in cost is the valve train w/rockers

 

[Jeff Peterson]

Man, I'm sorry...but if that's a true pedigreed T/A, you don't do that to it.
T/A's fall under the category of "restore it as built - or sell it to someone who will" for me IMHO.
Tons of other regular e-bodies out there to mess about with, after all.

The story goes, the best I can remember is that after 10 or so years, the original owner completely tore the car apart to restore it and like a lot of these projects, nothing happened, after many years go by, he passed away, widow finally sells the car but some pieces are missing.
Now we're on to the next owner who again doesn't get much done AND he also passes away!
So, car gets resold and again even more missing parts, there may have been another owner after that but don't remember, and somewhere along the way it was mini tubbed/ springs moved, anyway a bodyman in central Illinois ended up with what was left and painted it in the beautiful red (orig. green) you see, he was not a Mopar guy and bought just to flip as this was the time of the gen III Hemi truck adds(that thing got a Hemi?)" when the mopar prices started to skyrocket.
Anyway Vince brings whats left home and built an absolutely stunning car from scratch, all documentation is there to prove it is a TA.
He took it to the mopar nats. in I think 2008? and one of the mopar magazines thought enough of it to have a small article on it.
Really is a nice car, Hemi of course, custom air cleaner base the mates the 2x4's to the TA hood scoop perfectly, Tremac 5 speed, 4:10 Dana, march pully's w/ A/C power windows.
And if somebody wanted, nothing he did could not be reversed to put back to a 340.
At the time he also had a true, Mr. norms 340 TA, unfortunately a few years ago he had a stoke and sold the cars, but another friend bought and it sits next to his #'s matching 4 speed AAR!

 

[gtx6970]

Again, really REALLY nice work there - but a true AAR needs to be restored as new or sold to someone
who will. Extremely rare car and precious few of them left in factory trim.... IMHO.

You are most certainly entitled to your opinion.
But its HIS car and has been since around 1980 . I think he told me once he paid something like $1200 for it with a running 318 in it.
Its HIS car and always will be I assure you. So he decided to build EXACTLY what he wanted with what he had .
Other than the color change and the subframe connectors,,,, everything on the car can be converted back in a weekend .
That car is probably the best running street hemi Ive ever driven or been in ,,,my car included.

 

[Jeff Peterson]

Dodge and Plymouth took just 26 wins compared to Fords 30 for 1964.

Ford may have won more battles but Plymouth won the war!
1st Richard Petty points 40252

 

[Runcharger]

"The Hemi turns on when the others turn off" I think Don White was quoted saying that in the Scat Pack advertising for 1970 and it's true. If you aren't topending the competition, then your Hemi has something wrong with it. I understand the Boss 429 breathed like that as well although I doubt it with the standard single 4 barrel.
Honestly in street racing other cars could be competitive if you didn't run the full quarter. When you get into high gear is when a Hemi settles in and gets it all together, it feels like there is no end to it.

 

[6PKRTSE]

My sixpack and my Hemi. While, still not cheap I pieced my Hemi together out of the best parts and best deals I could come across. I still have less into it than a crate Hemi cost and it makes twice the power. Even off the bottles. Still streetable even.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Which engine got banned cause Ferd and GM complained about getting bitch slapped?





426 Hemi

Actually Ford didn't bitch, they tried to build better engines & cars.. They had a serious race engine, the SOHC 427 but when Nascar changed the rules and Chrysler tooled up Ford backed away from production runs ....

But later came back with the Boss 429...
They also had the Talladagas & The Cyclones..

GM was the company that always wanted to outlaw or rule out anything they couldn't compete with.. And that was true in Nascar & NHRA...

 

[Andew Sury]

I give you....ART

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I owned a 71 Hemi Challenger, it's gone & I don't miss it... I enjoy driving my cars not sitting in car shows talking about how bad *** my cars are...

Yes Hemi's can be reliable & fast but they also represent allot of $$$$ invested to get there... Considering how few Hemis are really out there you sure hear allot of stories about issues people have getting them right...

The MP/Cummins Crate Hemi was always a kit, it came with most of the pieces but you know it had to come apart and be gone over with a fine tooth comb.. There were blocks with porosity, core shift, machining errors...

In all the years of organizing car cruises I've never had a Hemi car come out for a second drive.... The first drive sure, then you let them know about a second drive & you hear crickets.... Those guys would rather go to a car show & talk about it while me & my buddies are out putting on the miles...

I've had guys in 427 Cobras show up for allot more drives than Hemi cars... I hear about Hemi cars that get driven... But I sure don't see them...