History the "wonderfull" chevy v8?

My uncle was the low man on the totem pole at a chevy dealership in 1955. He had to do the warrany jobs wich paid very little. And the 55 265 engine had solid lifters and no valve reliefs in the pistons as you mentioned. They would rev till the points bounced. Then guys learned to double spring the points and collision between pistons & valves happened. 90 day warranty. So my uncle got to swap engines and get paid about $12.50 for the job. In 56 they went to Hyd lifters and solved the problem. But My Uncle always called any small block chevy a 90 day wonder. In 1955 He quit Chevy and went to work at ford because he got tired of changing engines

 

Not much changed with gm
I left a gm dealership for ****py warranty pay scale in the 90s

 

All these years and still being talked about today.

 

The Ford guys forget the pre war Ford is a POPULAR car for hot rods not because they are more stylish, its ease of building and availability, just like the chevy small blocks in most of them.
Anybody with a Drake catalog can build a ford, it takes real motivation to build or restore a chevy.

 

It also takes real motivation to restore a Mopar. I wish we had a better market. It has improved some, but without restoring a muscle car, it's really tough for sure! I wish that I was a Ford guy.... My search for parts would be over. LOL

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Hello,

Generalizations are always needed to be cleared up. We grew up with the 55-58 Chevys. Of all of the cars we and our friends drove, the Chevy 265-283-348 motors ran well, had very few problems and were the most reliable motors for all of us. Our whole teenage high school group had the 55-58 Chevy v8 motors of all kinds and sizes. (single carb to multiple carbs)

56 Chevy at Lions
Those Chevys were easy to work on and parts were interchangeable for most of the time. Rear axle gear swaps, carbs and manifolds, valve covers, all within range of budding mechanics in high school. There were very few of our friends that had Fords or other brands, other than family cars. But, at the drags, it was fun beating those v8 Fords of all kinds, even with those Paxton superchargers in stock form.

Impala vs Paxton Ford

The motor we chose for our 40 Willys gas coupe and sedan cl*** build in late 1959? Several of our friends ran a modified 283 that was bored to 301 and it was a fast 56 Chevy sedan. Pre-measured, it would fit in the 40 Willys, too. So, naturally, we got a long block SBC to begin our 40 Willys Gas Coupe adventures. As things progressed, the 283 SBC ran well and when it was boosted to 292 C.I. + a 671, that got us closer to the national record for C/Gas.

Fast, yes, the Chevys were fast. Read the history of Tom McEwen in Bixby Knolls. From the time 55 Chevys came out with the 265, his was the fastest. My brother would come home with tales of the Cherry Avenue Drags that was very exciting for a young teen. McEwen’s exploits were legendary, not just at the dragstrip. His high school days and into the early 60s were some exciting times.

Jnaki

The big question was: how could a teenager have the latest Chevrolet on the market with all of the extra go fast stuff that no one else had? A new 55 Chevy for Bixby Knolls cruising and racing, then a new 56 and finally a new 57…Santa Claus was his dad and supplied him with those goodies.

With a few extra “mods” and he was now in the Gas Coupe and Sedan Cl***. A completely stock, street running, daily driver that had one or two mods gets recl***ified and put in a Gas Coupe/Sedan Cl***. That is how the rules were developed for stockers with mods. They may look stock and on the streets, they were stock as far as the guy in the next lane was concerned. But, the results were usually the same, McEwen was the winner.

 

Jnaki, another very cool story! Thank you for sharing them!!

 

Howard Johansen had one of the 1st 265's in 55. He in quick order went from 3x2's to a GMC style chain driven blower & started setting records. Check out 'Speed Mechanics' magazine from that era. Do you naysayers know something he didn't?!

 

Being the perverted retired machinist that I am; I can relate to your quotation.

"If it ain't smooth enough to rub your peter on then it ain't smooth enough!"(overheard from local machinist)

 

There's nothing like the sound of a small block Chevy engine!
-Boyd Coddington

 

Bump for Boyd

 

Hello,

We grew up in the land of Chevy, small blocks in Long Beach. All of our friends had Chevy motors, from 265, 283 and one bored out to 301. (The hold outs were a big Olds motor in a 34 coupe and a Pontiac 389 Bonneville) With all of the Chevy motors, working on them was easier, since everything was interchangeable and parts were easy to find. Our first drag racing motor was a 283 long block with an Isky Cam and Jahns Pistons. We put together that long block with new Chevy truck heads, (ported/polished) and purchased a 6 carb Stromberg/Weiand set up for the drags. That was an experience since we started from scratch and gave us valuable information for future work on the SBC group.

The Chevy V8 cars were: a white 57 Bel Air Hardtop, a silver 56 2 door post, a 55 two toned B/W 2 door post. (my brother's friend's, 301+) When I got my 348 Impala from my brother, and later in 1962, one other friend bought a big block, 61 Biscayne 409, those started to change things all around.

During this time, one of my friends with a 57 Bel Air Hardtop, had a 283 with a 4 barrel carb. It was stock and mated to a 3 speed. His family friend had a 60 Corvette with dual quads and a 4 speed. The Corvette friend, just did not like the finicky tuning and drive-ability of those dual quads. So, of all things, he told us that if we did the work and tuned his car, he would exchange the dual quad set up for the single 4 barrel carb. We jumped at the offer in lightning speed.

The swap was not that difficult after careful planning. It did not take very long and both cars benefited from the swap. We were proud to show off our work in the back row of the drive-in restaurant parking lot during those Friday/Saturday cruise nights. The dual quads looked like two jewels in that 57 Chevy engine compartment. (The Corvette driver was very happy as his car ran well and he now had a driveable sports car with enough power.)
57 4 barrel before 60 Corvette dual quads in 57 Bel Air
56 265 two barrel 56 4 barrel add
55 Chevy 265 added a 4 barrel
Of course, these Chevys stayed with all of us until they started to be replaced with more modern family style cars and trucks. Life intervened and hot rodding started to fade into jobs, college, families, and military, etc.

Jnaki
But, thinking back to the teenage years of December 1960, 61, 62, they all made the trip up the local mountains for the annual “Gathering of The Tribes,” a Long Beach High School tradition up in the Big Bear Mountain resort area. There was no such thing as an “after Christmas” sale at the local stores, so this mountain event was the hit of the vacation and end of the year activities. Of course, they all got the carburetor adjustment so we all had good running cars in the higher al***udes.

 

I was the town hot rodder in late 54 and had complete disdain for the Chevy Stovebolt six. My ride was a 34 5W coupe with a 303 Olds engine (anyone remember a McBar adapter?). One of the dealership salesman brought a new Chevy to my house for me to drive, not me going to the dealer. I was impressed since the 54 Ford with the 239 OHV engine was a dog. The 265 had ****ty flat log type exhaust manifolds, the Power Pack hydraulic lifters were duds, and the two bbl solid lifter engine would have a push rod stab right through the lifter if spring pressure was increased, but the biggest downer for a hot rodder was if one run them up to the max rpm wise ALL 8 pistons would have cracked skirts. The ton and a half cast iron two speed Powerglide only had two forward speeds and howled like a banshee when idling in park. Why did rodders love GM's POS engine---because the SOB WOULD RUN. Our faith was rewarded when they became nearly bullet proof and reached power levels never dreamed of in the 30's and 40's. I predict that the LS series engines with 400hp and 25mpg will be the new king when they get enough years on them to be HAMB friendly so it looks like the sbc in one form or another will be around a long time.