History Tell me again the SBC isn't traditional...1963 Hot Rod Annual

So flipping through my 1962 Hot Rod Annual, there's a thick section in the middle called "Hot Rod Showcase." I'm guessing these were cars featured throughout the year in the mag.

Engine choices are as follows:
Chrysler Hemi: 3 (Altered, Rail, home-built sports car for drag strip)
Chrysler Wedge: 1 (Garlits' 413-powered Swamp Rat IV)
Goofy air-cooled 4-banger: 1 (front engine rail, no less!)
Ford Flathead: 1 (T-bucket)
Ford Y-block: 1(Wood-bodied T-bucket)
Ford FE: 1 (Rail. Blower, 6-carbs)
Olds Rocket: 3 ('32 5-window, T bucket, Metro-bodied rail dragster)
Pontiac: 1 (T bucket)
Ford SBC: 1 (260-inch in a Falcon
Chevy W-motor: 1 (409-T-bucket)
Caddy:1 ('31 A-lowboy roadster; street and lots of drag racing)
Nailhead: 1 (482-inch, injected, rear-engine T dragster, somewhat like the SpeedSport Special or City Of Industry car, if I remember right)

Small block Chevy: 16, in everything; T-buckets, rails, Altereds, hot rods, a Belly-tanker and a sprint car.
16 of 32 cars featured in the 1963 Hot Rod Annual were powered by small block Chevy engines, with every kind of induction, in every kind of competition car.

-Brad

 

I love the sbc. it gets a bad rap with people because they say there not unique. I have thought about dropping one in my Olds and when I posted it in a question I got hammered.

 

Don't get the popcorn, but it depends on one's personal definition of *traditional*...a person of my age (66) might consider the traditional stuff to be prior to 1954 or 55........to me the '60's are a relatively modern era......and anything after that is hardly *traditional* in the hot rodding sense......

The small block Chevy killed the flathead which had ruled the hot rod world for 20+ years.......all things must pass.......

I still revere the flathead, think there's nothing with as much *soul*, and still drive one in my coo-pay today.....

But that's me.....

CB

 

The engine's popularity was so immediate that they were actually rare and hard to get for several years...any Chevy V8 that hit the junkyard was sold immediately. The same repeated as each bigger displacement block was introduced over the years.

 

They're cheap, easy, and effective. Tough to argue with the truth. There's nothing 'wrong' with them, and that's kinda the issue.

That being said, seeing something other than a SBC underhood merits further investigation. Building something else requires more effort, and many of us respect that additional effort and desire to be a bit more unique.

 

While I prefer the pre-'69 sbcs in open engined rods (the oil spout in the front of the intake is a sign of a REAL sbc rod engine!), it makes me laugh when people piss and moan about ANY sbc powered rod. Their immense popularity in hot rods was due to their weight, compactness, availability, and the way they responded to simple modifications......the same reasons that the Ford flathead V8 was so popular for the previous twenty years.

 

not special or differant but they run good!

 

This comment makes me think of what a 70ish year old once told me....he had a '49 Chevy coupe in 1962, wanted to update to late model sbc power, and ended up bribing one of the junkyard employees to give him first shot at the first 327 that hit the yard!

 

I've said this before, but hotrods were meant to be well...... HOT....as in fast. So why would i want to build a lower horsepower, slower engine when I can get 500+ horsepower for reasonable funds these days? I agree SBC's ARE traditional, in the sense since they came out, they were traditionaly found in most hotrods....because they made more horsepower!!! My truck is SBc powered, I'll take any one of ya for a ride if you want to stop by, and remind you why they are called "HOTRODS". Just remember a clean pair of shorts.


Scot

 

And to others that are young'ens like me at 53, traditional can extend a bit further, late 60's maybe, cuz that's what we grew up with.
Now the really young cats that grew up in an era of 80's smog mobiles don't have anything to cling to so they set different dates as to their concept of Traditional, and quite honestly seem to be the ones that have the biggest hard on about arbitrary dates and correctness.
As one guy i know who was there and is now 82 says, when the Overhead motors (and not just SBC) came along, we couldn't get rid of the flatty's fast enough!

 

Brilliant!!

'Nuff said

 

They are SO traditional and SO universally well received back in the day, that these days, they are "cliche". Much like Stairway to Heaven. Great song. One of the greatest A&R songs of all time. Any kid learning guitar is REQUIRED to learn it, as did millions before him. But after almost 40 years, when it comes on the radio, I can't change the station quickly enough. So there you have it.

 

Show me one post that says they aren't traditional.

No one says they aren't... I think the gripe is with how most "hot rods" that run SBCs do it in such a bland way, a stock engine with a Performer intake and an Edelbrock carb.

They're as cool as anything else when done with semi-exotic parts, which are really easy to come by for an SBC. A well detailed, well built, STRONG small block Chevy is awesome...

 

....which is why, even fifty years after the fact, you still see (fill in the OHV V8 blank) to '32-'48 Ford transmission adapters at almost every swap meet.

 

It's not that they're not traditional. It's that they are boring and everyone's got one. If that floats yer boat, just go buy a new civic.
I do give them credit for the amazing automotive aftermarket out ther today, because they broke so many parts due to poor engineering, it forced the aftermarket to respond.

 

I built my roadster in what I considered a traditional style which included a typically "stolen Corvette" looking SBC. I don't particularly like SBC motors though that's what powered my race cars because the rules were built around them.The 270 hp 283 was what most everybody wanted in the late 50's. My .02.

 

^^Another rich guy heard from.

However most of us prefer the SBC for low cost, availibility, power and durability that the whiners can't get from their dare-to-be-different straight eights and other weird engines.

 

I agree 100% Brad. I just bought a small collection of Hot Rod, Rod & Custom, and Popular Hot Rodding mags from years 1959 thru 1966. The use of the SBC is dominant. I agree they should be dressed in vintage parts. Just read a "rod test" in the April '62 issue of R&C featuring our fellow Hamb member Dean Lowe and his '29 ford P.U. Very cool!

 

Thank you...

again thank you...

Yep, I've never heard anyone say they weren't traditional.

blah blah blah, a Nailhead is just as durable and makes more torque..
It's not low cost but the best things in life aren't

 

Well-stated (and correct).

 

Ah give me a break, if it was poor engineering the small block chevy wouldnt have made it to the dare I say legendary status that it has today, and we'd all be hoppin' up flatty's instead. The fact remains that the small block is a great engine and the aftermarket got with the picture quick and realized what was on their hands. Thats my opinion

 

I read somewhere that small block Chevrolets have won more races than all other engines combined. If that doesnt gain some respect for them I dont know what will.

 

They may be boring but they are reliable and it's easy to get parts for them.

 

Yeah, but they have probably flooded the competition 300 to 1

 

It is not that anyone really thinks they aren't traditional, or at the very least somewhat, it is that too many times, people choose it because it is the easiest, cheapest way to solve their problem of having a motor. And nothing too wrong with that in general, but let's face it, building a hot rod is already not taking the easiest and cheapest way to solve your problem of having a car. So, if you chose to use an SBC and take that approach with something as important as the motor pretty much means you are cutting corners and building a half-ass hot rod. And that is just not something to get to excited over. Solves the problem, but not very nicely.

So my thoughts are that if you chose to use and SBC in a traditional hot rod, you kind of need to put even more effort into it to make it something worth appreciating. You can throw any old hemi or a nailhead in and almost no matter what you do, it is instantly respectable. But, you need to do a lot more than throw in a SBC to make it cool. You need to go the extra mile and really make it cool otherwise its just another boring so-what SBC.

 

I dont build my cars to impress anyone, its for me..so I can put what ever i want in it...if you dont want to look at it..or feel i didnt do it your way..thats because its mine.
I love Mopar engines and Pontiac engines and Olds engines..and many exotic engines..
but i do like the SBC..we have become one together..love my 327's

but if one of you guys that cringe each time you see an SBC in a Rod..than just go throw me a nice Hemi or Nail head all done up..I'll put it in there just to keep you from being offended..as long as its your money...any offers?

didnt think so

what really gets borring is the constant bashing the SBC gets..drag out the ol dead horse and lets beat the shit out of it again

 

Bingo.

If you like SBC's thats cool. But a lot of SBC guys think they are the only engine worth a shit. If you have a nice traditional early SBC in a car- great. But how many times have you walked by a flippin car with a SBC with an edelbrock intake, HEI, late 4V carb, MT valve covers and block huggers? Not saying that theres anything wrong with that, it just looks out of place in an otherwise bitchin car. It's that kind of look that gives em a bad wrap.

 

Here's what gets boring....350/350 combo.

 

Dude ... just build what you want. If someone else dosen't like it, they don't have to look at, wrench on or ride in it.