shot and posted at the CC Cohort by Jerome Solberg
HEMI. Chrysler trademarked that name for good reasons, as it’s the only engine name that has become a genuine legend, a veritable automotive god. It all started here under the hood of this 51 Chrysler New Yorker. The new FirePower V8 had 331 cubic inches and made all of 180 hp, which may seem modest from today’s vantage point, but it was 20 more horsepower than a ’51 Cadillac. And that was merely a starting point; by 1957 it was making 390 hp in the Chrysler 300; over a 100% increase in power in just six years.
Who could have imagined in 1951 that this engine would soon power the fastest dragsters, LeMans racers, untold hot rods, exotic French sport cars and so many others, whenever maximum horsepower was the brief.
Chrysler’s engineers knew that the postwar era would require more than their venerable flathead sixes and inline eights could muster, so a completely new engine was called for. As to their decision to use hemispherical combustion chambers, it’s not like they were new or exotic; this 1901 or 1902 Truscott marine engine featured them, and may well be the source of that design which inherently provided maximum breathing capabilities to the gasoline engine.
It was next used on this 1905 Premier racer, and then quickly found its way to Europe and soon came to power almost all successful race cars and most high performance/luxury cars. The inherent advantages of the hemi were obvious; it was its inherent disadvantages that kept it from mass-produced American cars. That was its complicated valve gear if overhead cams were not used, and the considerable extra costs if they were.
Overhead cams were a bridge too far for the early ’50s, so Chrysler went with dual rocker shafts on each head. This combined with the inherently large and heavy hemi heads is what would cause the relatively early departure of the original hemi after 1958. So yes, it was a relatively short but brilliant life, before it was reincarnated as the 426 “Elephant” hemi in 1964.
But in 1951, it was a sensation; the first mass-produced hemi head engine in America, although the actual use of the term “hemi” was barely to be seen. Like with so many things, it was a piece of technical jargon that the marketers didn’t think important, but the gearheads soon came to call it by that name. And of course, it stuck.
This conservatively-styled black New Yorker that Jerome found on the streets in the East Bay hardly conveys raw power and speed, although its aftermarket wheels does take the edge off a bit. The new Yorker and Imperial sat on a longer 131.5 inch wheelbase than the lower-priced Windsor, which still had the flathead Spitfire six under its shorter hood, resulting in a 125.5 inch wheelbase, even if the new V8 engine was actually shorter than the six.
But looks are of course more important, and the long engine compartment that once carried the Chrysler inline eight now had room to spare, requiring a long duct for the engine fan, just the the long-nose Monte Carlo would some twenty years later.
The dual exhausts undoubtedly emit a sonorous bass rumble at rest, rising to a forceful baritone when pushed some. It probably doesn’t get up into the alto range too much anymore, but a warmed over hemi hard at work is a musically-gifted beast with an exceptional range.
Leave it to Chrysler to take a different (read: more expensive) route from the more pragmatic and ultimately dominant wedge shape combustion chambers pioneered by GM on its seminal 1949 Cadillac and Oldsmobile V8s. They even came up with a lighter and cheaper “polyspheric” combustion chamber, but that didn’t amount to much, and by 1958-1959 Chrysler capitulated with the wedge combustion chamber B-Block engine. But the inherent advantages of the hemi could not be ignored for long…
Related CC reading:
Vintage Sports Car Illustrated Review: 1957 Chrysler 300C – The Duesenberg SJ of the 1950s
Curbside Classic: 1956 Chrysler Windsor (and the Poly Engine) – The Semi-Hemi
R. S. Rarey and E. J. Moeller of Chrysler presented a technical paper to the SAE on March 6, 1958 titled “Chrysler Corporation’s New V-8 Engine”. The paper concluded with a question and answer section with Moeller responding to comments and questions from engineers working for its competitors. Many were as to why after years of touting the advantages of their hemispherical combustion chamber they were abandoning them. The following is Moeller’s response to J. D. Turlay with Buick Division: “Reference was made by Mr. Turlay of Chrysler having abandoned the hemispherical combustion-chamber design engine for one more conventional. This change is certainly admitted, but perhaps an additional comment is desirable. There is no change in the thinking that for maximum high-speed volumetric efficiency and power output, the larger valves and unrestricted port shapes in the hemispherical engine are ideal. However, the weight savings and general simplification possible with a line valve type of cylinder head made it attractive for consideration in the new engine. After development of the valve and port details of the new engine, it was found that engine output losses, as compared to the hemispherical engine, were negligible except for a small percentage difference at high speed in the range of 4000 rpm.”
In other words in daily driving situations the superior breathing of the Hemi at higher engine speeds was of little or no advantage. This is born out in a comparison test by Consumer Reports in the August 1956 issue of a Chrysler New Yorker, Packard Clipper and Lincoln Capri. Respectively the engine displacements were 354, 352 and 368 cubic inches. The Lincoln outweighed the Chrysler by 200 pounds and its V8 produced more horsepower, 285 vs. 280 both at 4600 RPM, and much greater torque, 402 ft/lbs @3000 RPM vs. 380 ft/lbs @ 2800 RPM. The Lincoln even with its greater weight had the best acceleration.
HEY! THAT THANG GOTTA HEMI?
131.5 inch wheelbase. Our beast of a Suburban is 131. Hope it has the optional much derided “full time” power steering.
In the mid 1990’s I was working for L.A.P.D.’s Air Support Division and discovered two old military wheeled gen sets built to start out 1964 Vietnam Surplus Bell 203 helicopters .
These massive gen sets used Chrysler hemi 331C.I.D. V8 engines and were 6 volt and had Holley 2 barrel carbys .
I was able to get one started, it ran well and sounded glorious .
They were sold as scrap shortly thereafter .
The engines were not good for Hot Rods because the bell housing was cast as part of the engine block .
-Nate
The official Chrysler term for it was “Double Rocker” engine, the poly was the “Single Rocker” as used in the parts and service manuals and their paper presented to the SAE (a very interesting document) . I had the former in’58 NYer and ’57 300C converts, and the latter in several ’57 and ’58 Windsors and Firedomes. The poly is an excellent engine also with it’s staggered crossflow intake and exhaust arrangement, and even performance fans are beginning to embrace them instead of automatically yanking them for SBCs or other equally mundane powerplants.
That said the new wedge 413 in the 300E was actually a better engine in some respects, and cheaper to produce. If you ever want to win a bet against a GM guy state that Mopar made a 350. They did, but only for one year in the ’58 DeSoto FireSweep and Dodge Custom Royal, the first and smallest of the wedges, It’ll get ’em every time.
Is it certain that the 350 poly was available in the 1958 Dodges? I thought it was an option only available on the 1958 Plymouth Fury, which had the carryover 318 as standard equipment. 1959 and later years would see the 350 grow to 361 and 383.
Plymouth was the only division to ‘not’ get an early Hemi. The other divisions all used a Hemi V8 1951-58 (and then each division had their own, specific displacements and names, as well).
Dodge = Red Ram
Desoto = Firedome
Chrysler/Imperial = Firepower
It wasn’t the 350 poly; it was the 350 wedge. There was no 350 poly.
My Encyclopedia of American Cars shows the 350 (B-Block) as being standard on the 1958 Dodge Custom Royal wagons, and not available on other models, somewhat oddly. The 361 was also available as part of the D-500 package.
“Dodge = Red Ram
Desoto = Firedome
Chrysler/Imperial = Firepower”
The Chrysler was the first of the group to be sold, and had the largest/widest bore centers at 4.562″.
DeSoto came the next year, with somewhat reduced bore centers at 4.3125. Less displacement, smaller engine block and heads
The Dodge had the smallest bore centers–4.1875, and the least displacement.
All three of these Hemi engines had a regular, and a raised deck surface version. A raised deck can allow a longer stroke assuming there’s room in the crankcase.
These engines were very similar, but very little would interchange among them. To grossly over-simplify, it’s like Mopar dropped the original Chrysler Hemi blueprints into the photocopy machine, and copied them with some reduction in size for the DeSoto engine, and with more reduction for the Dodge.
The Chrysler and Dodge Hemis were developed into the Chrysler and Dodge Polyspheres. The DeSoto did not have a Poly version. The third Poly engine was the Plymouth “A” engine; now you know why the later, bigger Mopar engine was the “B”. The “A” engine later became the Light A, or LA with inline valves, and the B was developed into the taller, wider Raised B, or RB.
Car buyers of the 1950s had been raised on flathead 6s and 8s that made all of their magic at low rpms. Enthusiasts may have appreciated the output at high revs in the hemi design, but as noted in the 1st comment, that benefit was lost on the general public. What impressed people most was that feel of getting pushed back in your seat when you hit the gas pedal. Chrysler lagged the competition on this score.
1951 Cadillac 331:
Max torque: 292 lb.ft. @2200 rpm
Max power: 160 hp @3800 rpm
1951 Chrysler 331″
Max torque: 312 lb.ft. @2000 rpm
Max power: 180 hp @4000 rpm
The hemi had a fatter torque curve than the Cadillac. I don’t buy that about about the Chrysler lagging on that score. True, the 1959 413 did have a better torque curve than the (smaller) 392 hemi, but that was a brand new engine that Chrysler had learned to optimize for that purpose.
As to the 1956 comparison, there may be other factors, such as the specific state of tune of each engine as well as the transmission. The ’56 Chrysler would still have had the 2-speed Powerflite whereas the Lincoln had a 3-speed automatic. Rear end gearing would also need to be considered. The ’56 354 hemi also made its max. torque at the same 2800 rpm as did the Packard and Lincoln, although obviously the Lincoln had a higher max. torque output.
My point being that the (any) hemi’s breathing potential at higher engine speeds was not inherently at the expense of low speed torque output; that was a matter of engine tuning (cam, carbs, etc.). There’s nothing intrinsic about a hemi having less low-end torque. Hall-Scott hemi truck and marine engines were famous for their huge torque output. It was the hemi’s cost that killed it, as Chrysler could achieve the same (or better) with a wedge head.
I have only ever seen one Hemi in person. Circa 1980, a family friend rebuilt one in his garage. I got the chance to see it on its engine stand. It was a massive thing, with the heads being particularly large. The interwebs list the Hemi’s weight as 700 lbs, which is not as much as I would have thought, which is only 25 lbs more than a Chevrolet big block. That means it was quite the piece of engineering!
FWIW, the 331 had a lower deck height than the latter versions. The 392 weighed 740 lbs.
My father owned a 1952 DeSoto FireDome 8 station wagon with the 276 ci version of the hemi. That car was a family favorite.
In the 1980s my boss took me for a ride in his 17 foot racing boat that had a 426 hemi. Fastest and loudest boat ride I ever had.
I was too young in 1965 to make my bid when my Mom’s oldest brother traded his grey 1951 Imperial for a 1965 Chrysler. He had kept that car pristine and word was that it never appeared on the used car or auction list at B&H Motors in San Francisco. Somebody knew what it was.
“HEMI. Chrysler trademarked that name for good reasons, as it’s the only engine name that has become a genuine legend, a veritable automotive god.”
I could make a (perhaps weak) argument for the OHV Oldsmobile “Rocket” V-8 here. As this post points out, it wasn’t really until the introduction of the second generation of “hemi” engines in 1964 that Chrysler started using that term in advertising and marketing materials, whereas Oldsmobile used the “Rocket” naming from the very beginning, and it had a LOT of cachet with the public. So much so, that arguably the first Rock n Roll song ever recorded was/may have been “Rocket 88”.
In the end, the hype of the “Rocket” naming helped GM shoot themselves in the foot in the mid-1970s when buyers of Oldsmobile cars opened the hood to discover that their Oldsmobile was built without a “Rocket V-8”, but a lowly Chevrolet engine instead.
Agreed about the Olds Rocket V8.
The 350 wedge was also standard on the ’58 Firesweep, and it was an option on some Custom Royal Dodges in 2 or 4 bbl form ie: sedans and hardtops, not just wagons apparently, though early brochures may differ, 350s were in somewhat short supply at first. I’ll have to dig out my ’58 brochure to see what it says. The 350 was std in the spring ’58 Regal Lancer model, and I’ve personally seen a CR sedan with a 350 2 bbl. and have a friend in Denver with a ’58 Spring Special Dodge convert with a 350 4bbl. In Plymouths it was the Golden Commando 350 (305 hp) and 315hp w/fuel injection (few if any built, none existing afaik, any were probably converted). I had a ’58 Firesweep with a 350 (pic). The other ’58s I had were a 392 hemi 4 bbl, 2 Firedomes w/ 361 2 bbl, and a Windsor with a 354 poly 2bbl. The std ’58 Dodge V8 engine was a poly 325.
When I was growing up my family owned a car like this only gray in I believe from 1955-1957 and was the 1st car that my stepdad drove it with me at 100 mph
I have seen this car parked in different places but I haven’t actually ever seen it driving around. But it seems to be well-cared-for.
Silly me, I always thought it still had the Chrysler Straight-8 with the long hood. I wonder if that became a problem for Chrysler from a publicity standpoint? The body isn’t particularly well-proportioned, I think.
Thanks for posting these pictures, Paul!
I can tell you modern Challenger owners are pissed at the modern Hemi V8 cancelation. I own a GT AWD version with the Pentastar, gets 20+ Imperial mpg pulling my boat, yes you read that correctly. It gets mid 30’s to low 40’s highway. In town, not so good, it is a 4100 pound car. The Pentastar has less issues than thr Hemi. I have no issues with the Charger replacement except if Premium gas is needed, new Jeeps throw misfire codes on regular supposedly. I currently run Premium in my boat and my 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass S. Much like new Challenger owners are pissed at the Hemi cancelation, I didn’t like GM’s handling and cancelation of Oldsmobile. The second generation Rocket V8 was very good, the small block being my favorite V8.
The “small block” 350 Rocket is also my favorite, though in reality the 260 to 400 isn’t properly a small block as they share the same basic block with the 425 and 455s but have a 1″ lower deck height due to shorter strokes, so concomitantly because of the shorter block height they’re 1.5″ narrower at the top of the block. So though “small block” nomenclature has become common, technically it’s not quite accurate. Imo the Rocket 350 version through 1970 (type 5 and 6 heads) was the best overall GM V8 ever.
Great article and comments. I am a driver and owner of a 22,000-mile 1955 Plymouth with the huge 260 Polysphere V8 that makes 240 lbs torque at about 2000 rpm and sends it through the stout PowerFlight 2-speed automatic and the sedan accelerates effortlessly with that “hemi growl”. Great fun Mopar from the 50s. I am usually the only Plymouth at small shows.
I’ve found the 3 or 4 polys I’ve had to be excellent running engines, the reason they were replaced were the usual suspects of cost, weight (as thin-wall casting came into play), and size (originally to fit the 273 into the Dart and Valiant).