50 years of the Elephant

[JB400]

The 426 Hemi turns 50 this year. Time flies by when your having fun.  What's your 426 Hemi story?
 


http://blogs.hotrod.com/mopar-celebrates-50-years-of-the-426-hemi-101447.html#axzz2q2MxzRtV

[Baldwinvette77]

Uhhhhh, my story is that i've never seen one.... thats about it 

[Ghoste]

You haven`t even seen one

[Baldwinvette77]

nah, only in magazines and tv shows, never in person, BUT i did see a hemi piston once, i tried to touch it, but the owner didn't let me

[JB400]

Mine would be seeing the shop where the Budweiser Boss is housed


and I remember seeing Hemi's lined up against the wall at R&R Salvage when getting parts for my Charger and a few other cars. Also seen a few at the drag races.

 Haven't rode in one yet.  A few Vipers, but no 426 Hemi's, but I have rode/drove several of the newer Hemis.

[Ghoste]

Baldwin I thought you were up by Toronto, surely you can get to a show or drag race

[68X426]

Only pretty girls get to touch my Hemi piston. Here's my story:

[rp23g7]

My friend Bob Kropp has a 70 Hemi Superbird, he took me for a ride in it.  Kinda anti climatic, especially if you have been a Mopar person your whole life, you hear HEMI, HEMI, HEMI all the time.  He didn't get on it at all, so it didn't feel any different than my 440 Bee, way cool car though.

Seems like everyone who doesn't have one wants one, but most people that have one say you don't want one, finicky, hard to keep tuned etc seems to be what a bunch of people have to say.  I still want one

[ws23rt]

My friend Bob Kropp has a 70 Hemi Superbird, he took me for a ride in it.  Kinda anti climatic, especially if you have been a Mopar person your whole life, you hear HEMI, HEMI, HEMI all the time.  He didn't get on it at all, so it didn't feel any different than my 440 Bee, way cool car though.

Seems like everyone who doesn't have one wants one, but most people that have one say you don't want one, finicky, hard to keep tuned etc seems to be what a bunch of people have to say.  I still want one

I heard the same things about finicky and keeping them in tune etc. But those were from when they were new and few. Never did get the whole picture at the time and came to find out they work just fine as a daily driver.

My experience is not as a drag racer but a fan and I used mine for driving around like most folks. The 68 hemi RR I had went 75,000 miles and was running just fine when I sold it. Did have to add a quart of oil every 2000 miles though It did have the hyd. cam so no need to adjust the valves.

When one thinks about it the shape of the combustion chamber is the difference between it and a 440 for example. And changing the spark plugs is easier.

They cost more to start with and were rare so if one could not swing the cost or find one it could help console them to hear about issues true or otherwise.

[charge69]

My story is that I have owned this Charger since 1976 and drove it regularly around town until 1982 when I put it away for a future restoration. Little did I know it would take until 2013 to finish the restoration! This car has over 82k miles on it as it was a daily driver for the previous owner from 1971 until I bought it in 1976. He was the second owner making me the 3rd owner.

It now has a custom-grind CompCams hydraulic roller cam installed to keep me from having to adjust the vaves regularly!  Snarly little beast dynoed at 588hp at 6500rpm. I love it!

[Tilar]

Time flies by when your having fun.  What's your 436 Hemi story?
 

Never seen me any 436 Hemi. That run as strong as the 440 Hemi? 

[ws23rt]

Time flies by when your having fun.  What's your 436 Hemi story?
 

Never seen me any 436 Hemi. That run as strong as the 440 Hemi? 

The time is near when it would be considered politically incorrect to make fun of those that make typpos or dyslexia have.

[Ghoste]

His spelling is normally good and he uses capitals and punctuation, a typo here and there can pass.

[ws23rt]

It passes fine with me.  Not yet ready for a special parking pass.

[1974dodgecharger]

What's a heammi?

[JB400]

Time flies by when your having fun.  What's your 436 Hemi story?
 

Never seen me any 436 Hemi. That run as strong as the 440 Hemi?  

I punched it out a little bit bigger.

[cavemanno1]

Come on guys,even i have seen a few at a mopar show,thanks to Brock Samson who took my wife and me there when we were on our honeymoon!

I would love one just because they look cool!However i would be just as happy with any other big block as with the Hemi!

People wants them because human nature is like that,we want something what we can not have!

[Ghoste]

And we all want the big dog.

[Tilar]

Time flies by when your having fun.  What's your 436 Hemi story?
 

Never seen me any 436 Hemi. That run as strong as the 440 Hemi?  

I punched it out a little bit bigger.

DOH, I shoulda known something was up. 

[cudaken]

While I have never owned a Hemi, I have driven one! 

Did a 68 Hemi Charger R/T for a friend named Steve here from the site. Car had a whole 32,000 miles on it! 

Steve was moving to Florida and want me to store the Charger here at my house for a few years!  Plus, he wanted me to drive it some, so things would stay working. I Can Do That! 

My wife wanted to know how much I was going to Charge Steve for storing the car?   

Cuda Ken

[Ghoste]

Didn't it overheat with all that newspaper blocking the rad? 

[cudaken]

Didn't it overheat with all that newspaper blocking the rad? 

Not that bad, but it was real hard to see with the windshield masked up.

By the way Ghost, your inbox is full! 

Cuda Ken

[JB400]

Hot Rod Magazine has an issue out that is doing a special on the 426 Hemi with new photos from the archives and also a feature on a 64 Plymouth Petty tribute with an original Petty Hemi.  On newsstands now.

[1974dodgecharger]

What's a hemi 

[Ghoste]

It's voodoo.

[Homerr]

Seen a bunch static at car shows.  Never ridden in a Hemi car.  Did a car convoy to a car show once with a Hemi RR.  Didn't seem all that different than other dino-burners, went down the road between the lines.

[odcics2]

What's a hemi 

This, is a hemi...    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdwhM5xB-8Y     

[68X426]

What's a hemi 

This is a Hemi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG9r-5PdT7o

[68X426]

What's a hemi 

This is a Hemi, and then some. 10000 hp top fuel motor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxyEtC6G5U4

[green69rt]

Seen lot's of Hemis, only rode in one.  69 GTX with what the guy told me was a Stage II Hemi, if that means anything.  All I remember is going down the Virginia Beach expressway and some guy in a Judge came up beside us and gunned it.  My friend must have floored it because after just a second of hesitation that GTX (auto in third gear and going about 50MPH) set me back real hard in the seat and pealed out to about 100.  Went around that judge like it was nailed to the pavement.   BIG RUSH!!!

[Cooter]

Anytime hemi is mentioned, I go back to this douche with a 64 Plymouth hardtop. 4 speed car.
came down to a buddies shop with it. Bought the engine back when one could buy a small house for the coin he spent trying to be "big dog". Anyway, he had some putz put a cam in it and mixed pushers up. Blew it up. Paid another douche here everybody seems to think is "God" when it comes to Mopar, to rebuild it again. Finally has about $40k in what he exclaimed was "The fastest car in 3 counties"...

I hear him squawking and think typical hemi owner, when another guy at the shop says"fastest around huh? Wanna explain that to that little blue Valiant out there?"...
My buddy Jarrod owned it. Very quick little car for a basically stock 440.
In typical style, dude explains that he MUST be spraying it because it ain't got a chance..

Long story short, 3outta 3, That little blue car wore is ass out. I thought dude was gonna cry. He kept saying "I just don't understand. This thing has like 700 hp???"

That was when i decided to go with the 440 from then on. That was bout 20 years ago now...

[c00nhunterjoe]

Having the most hp doesnt mean you are the fastest.......

[ws23rt]

For me the hemi was from the start just plain cool to look at. I was 13---Btw the first chrysler hemi I believe was 1951---the year I was born  

I was not into racing but was into muscle cars and the hemi cars had an air about them.  I learned early on that chrysler put the 426 on the street as part of a marketing image and that the street hemis needed attention to be what they were designed to be.

When one remembers the few special engines offered by ford and chevy in the day and how they their impact on the racing world compared to the hemi It would be a stretch to say that the Hemi was not in front of the rest.

And I would bet that many more people use the word hemi than have a clue as to what it is  That speaks to the place it has taken in our history.

I like em    

[odcics2]

Anytime hemi is mentioned, I go back to this douche with a 64 Plymouth hardtop. 4 speed car.
came down to a buddies shop with it. Bought the engine back when one could buy a small house for the coin he spent trying to be "big dog". Anyway, he had some putz put a cam in it and mixed pushers up. Blew it up. Paid another douche here everybody seems to think is "God" when it comes to Mopar, to rebuild it again. Finally has about $40k in what he exclaimed was "The fastest car in 3 counties"...

I hear him squawking and think typical hemi owner, when another guy at the shop says"fastest around huh? Wanna explain that to that little blue Valiant out there?"...
My buddy Jarrod owned it. Very quick little car for a basically stock 440.
In typical style, dude explains that he MUST be spraying it because it ain't got a chance..

Long story short, 3outta 3, That little blue car wore is ass out. I thought dude was gonna cry. He kept saying "I just don't understand. This thing has like 700 hp???"

That was when i decided to go with the 440 from then on. That was bout 20 years ago now...

I feel sorry for you.   

[don duick]

One of my mates took me for a drive in his boss"s  stock hemi challenger, he was making a real big deal about it. Unfortunately was out of tune I was expecting  a lot more  I just had to be polite and tell him wow this is so exiting. It only had 2.25 exhaust which I think would restrict some power also. It sounded really good, love to have a hemi but for me not worth the cost. A hemi crate motor in Australia would be over  $20,000 by the time you have it running in your car.

[Cooter]

The only problem I see with the hemi is money. I mean, way too much BS surrounding that motor.
way too many stories about how nothing could touch it back in the day. Well, you own one and it doesn't live up it's obvious reputation, that's gonna hurt. And cost a small fortune to make it compete with it's rep.

Too bad, cause now, it seems it only a novelty. Even today, a junkyard, plug and play hemi will set me back over $5k.
I can get a 5.3 P.S. for around $500-1000 depending on miles, and that's just sad. And we wonder why there aren't more Molars around.