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BangShift Question of the Day: What’s the Biggest Underdog Engine?


BangShift Question of the Day: What’s the Biggest Underdog Engine?

There are a slew of engines that have come and gone over the years that were good runners, yet largely underappreciated by the masses. In today’s world hot rodders have an insane number of options to choose from regarding power plants. Old engines have developed niche followings large enough to support the building of weirdo aluminum heads and other components for mills that have been set aside for decades. More than one engine family has been schluffed off by the public but performed admirably.

Hell, looking back into the 1940s and 1950s there was the infamous Hudson “Twin-H” six cylinder that had all the engineering sexiness of a claw hammer and still managed to mop up on the NASCAR circuit, that engine, mostly forgotten today was certainly a huge underdog back when. There were people running those things in NHRA stock eliminator into the 1970s and by the time most of them quit they were down into the low 14 second range and that is with the restrictive rules of stock!

Maybe entries from Buick, Olds, AMC, etc? We want to know what your opinion is regarding the most underrated, under estimated engine of all time. That 390ci AMC mill shown in the lead photo was a thumper that made big torque and helped shove many finely tuned Super Stockers down the track in record time, but is big time short on love!

So, what is the most under rated/under estimated factory engine of all time? 

Olds 403

nailhead

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22 thoughts on “BangShift Question of the Day: What’s the Biggest Underdog Engine?

    1. Mark

      Oldsmobile Rocket 350ci. Built with Cadillac short-block and Olds heads/cam/intake. It’s a bullet-proof monster when tuned right.

  1. BeaverMartin

    My vote is for the AMC V8s. The 304 is a little rever that punches above it’s weight. The 401 is a bruiser. The 360 is a workhorse.

    1. Hoebs62

      Had several Jeeps with the 304. They were awesome, I was young and crazy and would run them really hard and was never left in a mud pit or the woods.

  2. Weasel1

    Ford 300 6cyl. A workhorse that was hard to kill. I had a couple with over 300,000 miles and have seen more than a few with over 1/2 million. We tried to “hot rod “ it and found that we could not get it to rev high enough to beat the v8’s .

    1. Michael Thompson

      Hands down the Ford Y-block. The scrappiest most under appreciated Detroit V8 maybe ever.

      While the Caddy and Olds were flexing their gym muscles on the street while all the magazine journalists gushed over them the lowly Y-block Ford with a big punch was kicking but all around the country in roundy round cars on dirt and asphalt.

      Look up the NASCAR record books around’56,’57,’58. See if I’m lyin.

    2. James Bauer

      An incredible engine, and IMHO more buildable
      (and inexpensive) power per pound than the Hemi 426.

  3. Mike

    Buick’s nailhead (especially the 425). A scrappy junkyard dog that lived in the shadow of the hemis and the Chevy/Ford big blocks.

      1. Mike

        Yeah!!! I have a switch pitch behind the warmed up 425 in my 1928 Buick hotrod. Great transmission in its day!

  4. Mike bresnock

    Hudson commodore 6 was a fantastic car. Plenty of power good gas mileage and plenty of necking room in the back seat

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