Best all-around 1950's rod motor ?

What's your vote for best all-around swap-in hot rod motor from the 1950's

flathead Ford vs. nailhead Buick vs. Caddy vs. Olds Rocket vs. Mopar early Hemis vs. Mopar Poly vs. early Pontiac V-8 vs. Chevy small block vs. Ford Y-block vs. Lincoln Y-block vs. Ford MEL vs. early FE vs ??

I'm partial to the flathead, nailhead, and Olds. Wouldn't mind an early Cad either, if someone was giving one away. For some reason there's not as many early Hemis as one would imagine- how come ?

 

Uhh....Flathead.

 

Now that's just not fair.

My personal picks (other than the unfair obvious), is the nailhead or the caddy. All depends what you wanted out of it.

 

hey, that's an Ardun, that's cheating !

(laughter...)

just kidding- nice motors !

parts left out don't have to be guaranteed and can't break, i.e. pushrods and rocker arms ! they are one reliable motor when done right

 

olds rocket 303-324-371 is what rules my world
in my eyes the first real hot rod ohv engine (could be shared with the caddy v8 maybe as early ohv engine)

tons of speed parts, decently cheap to buy and find parts for
looks good, sounds good, got everything you could possibly need
eventhough hilborn and supercharger stuff is hard to comeby they are present...

ehm on the otherhand hey everybody stick to small block chevys.. i do not need more competion to find rare olds parts!
so no olds for anyone new that havent played with it before
and so you know if you ever have any olds engine parts for sale you better check with me first if i wanna buy it

 

something mopartic...those 4 little letters that spell doom to chevy...and makes fords cringe...and buicks (boat anchor comment)

 

Move
Over...
People
Are
Racing......

Gotta yell it, though, them real race motors are pretty loud.

 

I've ALWAYS been a die hard chevy guy, but after playin' with the flathead in our Hambster...I gotta new respect for the little motors.

 

Scrounger how about an intro?

Or don't you read...

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44274

 

I did a poll a while back and ended up with these results, I ended up going with the Flathead which in my eyes is the coolest looking hot rod motor there is.

55 331 Hemi 4 two's 47 43.93%
296 cube Flatty 4 two's 22 20.56%
324 Olds 4 two's 38 35.51%

 

I wasn't old enough to hotrod in the 50's, but my understanding is, if you went through the trouble to swap motors, it was for power. I vote for the early hemi. Garlits claims to have gotten 3000 HP out of his 331! Of course, that's at one 1/4 mile at a time, but still: HEMI!

 

Well I gotta say after owning everyting from Flatty's, Ponti's, Y Blocks, Small Block chevs and sixes, I'll stick with my '59 Cadi 390 and MY Detroit Racing Dual Intake with twin Rochesters... (smirk)

Allthough props go out to the early sixes, you can get some power out of those little suckers, just have a word with the clifford guys!

 

Although I have a few hemi's and flatheads, I must go for a 270 HP 283 chevy and I don't even have one. There is nothing on earth a wonderfull sounding as a 270 in full howl. The sound of the 2-4s and that goofy manifold is something that will be with me forever. Not a bad looking thing either. It was the most desirable engine to have in 57 and later.

 

1955 sbc

 

Primary problem with most of the 50's engines is the limited trans choices. The automatics from that period are all pretty bad, but can be made to work OK (hydramatic, push-button Chrysler, etc). The manual trans are not the greatest either as most are too weak and break with the new higher traction tires available.

Given that, I would say a 64-66 Nailhead (401 or 425) with the turbo 400 is hard to beat. Great looks, lots of speed parts available, and the best auto trans made bolts up.

For pure looks, the Hemi's or flathead's are the best for visual appearance. Put an adapter to mate the Hemi with a good trans and you have a great combination. Hemi has the intimidation factor, not to mention they can make big power numbers.

 

The coolest Hot rod motor is for sure the early olds....... its not even arguable......

History tells you the flathead was most popular at first, of course... then the Olds was probably the motor of choice, by the mid 50's, then by the late 50's early 60's you'd have been a fool to run anything but the SBC....

Of course the Hemis and big 394 olds ruled the drags.... but I am talking about street driven hot rods.....

But I would say the best all around Hot rod motor.... as far as looks, performance, realiability, and value is the sbc for sure..... thats why they are so popular in the first place.

They also "Fit" into early fords alot easier than most the other vintage V8's.


You know, everyone always talks bout how obvious they are etc..... but its just as hard to find VINTAGE sbc parts as just about any other 50s motors...

Of course there are catolalogs full of sbc junk, but I'm talking about real vintage parts... That stuff is pretty rare.... I can find Olds stuff way easier and even Flathead...

I guess I get as much of a kick looking at a period dressed small block than any other vintage motor.... Old speed parts is old speed parts...


So anyway probably the best all around rod motor ever is the SBC.....

Coolest Hot rod motor is the early olds for sure.....

Coolest motor for a custom is the early Cad...... no doubt about it.

But of course I love all the vintage engines and all the neat speed stuff that was made for them.....

I think I like vintage speed equipment better in general than any one engine..

I would build an entire car around the right intake.......

 

I'm kinda partial to the flatties with a little breathing assist.

 

OLDS rocket and those valve covers are still the sweetest........muy cool

 

I m real partial to the Big Jimmy 6. Jay

 

I like the way Bob thinks

I like them all,
prefer the Olds motors,
will use one again soon.
doin the vintage Chevy for the next build
and used a Stude in the present one,
cuz I found this cool intake

 

My biased opinion...

W ENGINES!!

Long live the 348. If you must, get a '59 and not a '58. I suppose going into the 60's is cheating on this post. Yes, the SBC's are definitely easier to obtain and hotrod and all that. But pop open a hood and people see a 348 and you get these kinds of comments:

"Holy crap... is that a 409?!!"

"Those things are boat anchors!"

"How do you adjust and balance all 3 carburetors?!"

"Do you get good gas mileage?!"

Soon, I get annoyed and close the hood.

But the "wow" factor is worth it alone. The only engine with more visual appeal than the W engine is a Hemi.

Travis

 

yeah an 348 with a six pack wouldn't hurt to own one of the few chevy engines i wouldnt be ashamed of running,

 

I must say I'm biased on the Olds but Hemi's and W Chev's are pretty damn cool too......

 

Buick Straight 8.

Awesome, awesome boat anchor.

Maybe that's not quite the 50s...

 

They made power so racers used them, but they just didn't last long on the streets. Later ones lived longer on the streets but early ones gave out before they made high mileage.

 

Best how? Coolest? Most technically sophisticated? Best parts availablity then? Best parts availability now? Given unlimited funds, here's what I do for each part of the fifties...

Early-fifties: Pontiac inline 8; pure visual appeal with that long, flat cylinder head. Especially smoothed up and decorated with chrome acorn nuts. It's so long, too, that four carbs definitely wouldn't look out of place.

Mid-fifties: Olds Rocket, 303-324, please, unless it's a J-2 with the dimpled valvecovers, solid cam and three Rochesters. I believe the movie Dragstrip Girl features an early olds sporting two 2bbl carbs - verrry nice, and I figure by '55 the '49-'54 Olds engine was common enough in junkyards to be realistic.

Late-fifties: 270hp 283 with all the Corvette goodness. This would definitely be the easiest and cheapest motor to do - especially if you weren't dead set on having a 1957-1959 engine.

But there's so much more! The 332-352 FE motor (and the 361 from the Edsel) is definitely cool, or the early ChryCo B and RB wedge engines... how about a 250-327 Rambler V8? The '57 Rambler Rebel was as fast as a '57 Corvette fuelie!

 

THERE SHOULD BE RULES!

rule #1 NO hiding a Henry flathead under no hood. reason being: you wear out the hood latch showing people, but mostly from opening the hood to work on it to get home --- did i just say that out loud?! i like flatheads, just lookin at em the best though. - you have to be a 'hardcore' gearhead to run a flathead daily. my hat goes off to the flathead drivers!!!

me, id go with a Cadillac V8. reason being: they can make "POWER" REAL POWER, left front dangling in the air city block long 'dual black marks, etc...

 

im with 60s style... they are ALL cool, including SBC's

in my stable
3 hemi's
1 lincoln v12
1 8BA
1 59A
1 SBC
1 BBC
1 500ci cad
1 early poncho

also had... olds rockets, FE, early cads, y blocks...

i have a favorite (sometimes more than one) motor for every application.

 

Absolutely agree! The 1949-50 Oldsmobiles V8 had a huge impact, they made a lot of power for that time and by the mid 50's the average Joe could pickup one these engines up cheap, where the hemis had just come out in 1953 and were probably still pricey.

 

Old hot rod motors are like boobs for me.

-Jake

(and if my wife reads this I've only seen yours, babe)