So last year we screwed up and did not give the appropriate amount of recognition and love to the AMC 327ci V8 engine. Some people think that AMC used Chevy engines, they did not. The 327 AMC engine was the largest of the first generation of V8 engines produced by the American Motors Company. Starting with a 250ci version and then steadily growing, the 327 hadod guts. There was a forged crank and forged rods as well as a deep skirt block. Weirdly the 327 was going to get the failed Bendix “electrojection” EFI that some Chrysler engines got before it was basically pulled from the market and set into obscurity. This being said, there’s more to the story than that.

Born in the late 1950s and initially rolled out as a specialty engine, the AMC 250 V8, 287 V8, and 327 V8 share the same block and the same stroke but not the same bore. Kind of like the Pontiac engines we talked about yesterday, the three mills used an identical “case”. There’s not a lot of aftermarket support for these things but you can get cams and (we think) performance heads for them if you want to invest the time and money (and we want you to do that).

The 327 uses a short 3.25-inch stroke and a 4-inch bore to achieve its displacement. Through 1964 the only way to get one of these cars (other than really small production number specials) was in an Ambassador. From 1965 though 1957 these engines were sold to Kaiser-Jeep and they were called Vigilante V8 engines. In 1967 Kaiser-Jeep swapped over to Buick engines. There were also marine versions of this engine made for boats. Before 1960 all the engines had 9.5:1 compression but after 1960 there was an 8.7:1 low compression version that was offered as well.

These things made like 260hp from the factory and while they were not super powerful by modern standards, they were pretty gnarly by the standards of the late 1950s and early 1960s when they initially hit the scene.

We’re seeking redemption from our AMC fan readers this year. See, we didn’t forget!

Check out the videos below to see AMC V8 action and learn more about the engine –