Sunday, November 08, 2009

"Well I saved my pennies and I saved my dimes
(Giddy up giddy up 409)
Before I knew there would be a time
(Giddy up giddy up 409)
When I would buy a brand new 409
(409, 409)."

5 comments:

One Fly said...

As a not yet licensed wanna be gear head how I would look for those 409 insignias and there weren't many. I had a 348 in a 58 Impala and found a tri-power to put on it. Did I mention I was a Chevy man. Later am putting up a post on a Chevy a friend bought on Friday.

Fearguth said...

I'm strictly utilitarian when it comes to cars, but I do now own a Chevrolet Silverado 1500.

T_P_K said...

Oh my, Fly.

I remember the 409s, too. They were bored-out 348s. A 55 Chevy was my first set of wheels, with a perfectly good straight 6— which I promptly yanked out and replaced with a 265 ci (that's right— "2") bored out to 327 with a Crower cam and a .456 rear gear. You could rap 10,000 RPM crossing a 4-lane intersection.

I eventually graduated to a new '66 396 SS Chevelle... okay I'm weeping now, that's enough.

Fearguth said...

I love it when you guys get down and dirty about cars!

One Fly said...

Well good Fearguth cuz here comes some more.

Back in those days Terry that's what you did. Hell it's what you was supposed to do wasn't it? There are not many out there that know the performance capabilities of these small block Chevy motors could achieve with over the counter parts without even doing machining as you did and boy did the motor you describe kick ass.

The 283 in my 64 Chevelle SS did not last long as it was replaced with a 365HP 327 that came out of a Vette. Did some things to it and simply it was fast-very fast.

The dimensions of a small block in a long block configuration are not much at all. To think that reasonably small chunk of iron can easily produce 400 plus HP without a whole hell of a lot still amazes me.

I love the smell of burning rubber not just in the morning but any time. Just can't afford it anymore. I'm a Suby man as well here in snow country.

Good times Terry !!