History original name for the SBC

I was thinking to myself yesterday how chevy made the small block before they made the big block. Therefore, without the big block to reference it to what was the small block originally called. Someone suggested that to me that it was still called a small block because it was not as long as the inline 6. Anyone else have an idea or know for a fact?

 

V-8 Chevy, or what ever engine size you were talking about.

BTW, the flathead and early V-8 guys had other names for them. (G)

 

I'm guessing " The new 265 CI Chevrolet V8"

 

When they first came out we just called them a Chevy V-8. GM referred to the intro as the "Hot One", their campaign slogan in '56 was "The Hot Ones' even hotter".

 

Yeah, just Chevy V8. Then just Chevy, who cared about the 235 anymore?
Quote from Arin Cee: "Hey, man, this is like PERSONAL! We're punching out a CHEVY today!"
The success of the engine was so overwhelming and instant that engines were actually rare and hard to get for several years...they sold instantly at the junkyard whenever a Chevy was wrecked. The same period of scarcity repeated when the 283 and 327 were introduced. This was the engine that truly replaced the flathead on the street, and it was almost a bolt-in in any Ford rod. This and the hemi in racing made for the first really high performance OHV's for rods...the Olds and Cad were big torquers, successful through big displacement but not high revving rod motors. They immediately became for most rodders engines to use if you couldn't score a Chevy.

 

the '51 Chrysler was called a Double Rocker V8 before the HEMI was tagged on much later. That has nothing to do with the Chevy V8 but I thought I would offer it anyways.

And it would make sense that the first ones out were just called Chevy V8 since they were late to the game and everyone else had an overhead valve engine out pretty much.

 

They were called the death of the flathead.

 

I always thought they were called "Chrysler HEMI Starter Motors"

 

I heard they were called "Mickey Mouse Motors" because of the stamped rocker arms.

 

All my little books just refer to them as Chevys. No need for anything more than that, since no one was swapping straight-6s into their hot rods and there were no other Chevrolet V8s until the 348 of '58.

 

Nah, they don't make enough noise to be a Mopar starter.

 

The guys I know in So Cal called them the 265 Chevy, as in "I'm gonna pull my flat motor and put in a 265 Chevy - got beat by one last night real bad"

 

My grandfather still refers to it as "the overhead".

 

Wrong on the history guys. The chevy v8 did not replace the flathead. The flatheads were replaced by the Caddy and Olds which came out in 49. The caddy's and Olds were replaced by the chevy v8. So, now you know...........from a Ford guy,,LOL

 

Most junk yards marked parts with yellow grease pencil. Most Ford parts were marked simply V 8. Chevs were called what they were, Chev V8. I knew a fellow who wanted a 327 when they first came out. He was asked by the yards he called if he wanted to be on the list to get one. He bought new instead of waiting, part by part.

 

Bent stovebolts

 

For all you chevy lovers= What year did they make the first chevy v8.

 

1918

Russco is right, don't know why I'm always a year off on this.

 

1917

 

wasn't the 17 air cooled as well?

 

That was the copper-cooled Chevy 4 in 1923. According to Google anyhow

So the 1917 V8 was the last one until the "1955 Chevvy 265 c.i.d. OHV type vee-eight"?

 

Didn't they have some name on them, like "Turbo Fire" or "Turbo Flame" or something like that? I remember a sticker on the air cleaner of older Impalas with some name like that. I think the straight 6's had a name like "the Blue Flame" or something on the valve cover. My memory sucks though for names.

The 6's were blue right? When did they start painting the V8's orange, when they first came out with V8's?

 

I think the first V8s were red , My 216 in my fleetline says thriftmaster on the valve cover and is grey

 

Weren't all the V-8s pre SBC pretty big and heavy despite the C.I.?
The Chevy was lighter it must have had more advanced casting like the SBF did in the early 60's. It probably wasn't called a small block but it would have been compaired to other contemparary V-8's

 

I remember just calling them by cubic inches. But then I hung with Chevy crowd so the Chevy part was understood.

 

Like em or not,estimates are 100 million SBC's were made from 55 till end of production in the late 90's.That in itself has to be a production record.No doubt that SBC's have won more races than all other makes combined.Is a Small Block Chevy traditional? Fucking A it is.

 

Before big blocks they called them Chevy V-8's or 283's even if they were 265's. I've wondered when they started calling 348/409's W's.

Lucky667

 

We just called Chevy engines by cubic inches and we all knew what engine someone was referring to. 283, 292, 301, 327, etc. If it was non-Chevy engine, one would have to identify by make.

 

Man, you are just thinking way TOOOOOOO much! You need to get back to turning nuts, before you become one, ha!!

 

I guess the next question would be, when did the term Small Block first come into use? Was it after the 409/348 after the common big block was introduced, or at some other point?