.

the car junkie daily magazine.

.

Question Of The Day: What Would The Hot Rodding And Aftermarket World Look Like If The LS-Engine Never Came Out?


Question Of The Day: What Would The Hot Rodding And Aftermarket World Look Like If The LS-Engine Never Came Out?

Kind of an interesting thought, right? The Pontiac guys are probably still boiling about the Trans Am we posted earlier, the Mustang guys see red when a Fox body has an LS in it and then there are the Chevy-to-Chevy swaps like the one pictured below that seem to literally happen by themselves overnight while the car is in the driveway. Every company out there has one or more product lines devoted to LS engines, development money continues to pour into making them better, more powerful, easier to swap, nicer looking, and more efficient. It can be logically argued that the most important development in the aftermarket since the Fox Mustangs has been the LS and at that, it could be the biggest thing since to original small block Chevy. So what if it never happened?

Would companies have gone out of business? Would the seemingly mined out market for traditional small block Chevy parts still continue to evolve at any sort of pace? Would there be more investment into “other” engine types for Buick, Olds, Pontiac, and Chrysler guys? What’s a world without the LS engine look like?

WHAT WOULD THE HOT RODDING AND AFTERMARKET WORLD LOOK LIKE IF THE LS-ENGINE HAD NEVER BEEN BORN?

 


  • Share This
  • Pinterest
  • 0

8 thoughts on “Question Of The Day: What Would The Hot Rodding And Aftermarket World Look Like If The LS-Engine Never Came Out?

  1. The Outsider

    The aftermarket was already so Chevy OHV oriented (and most Bangshifters so conservative) that they’d be pushing SBC parts.

    Of course, the LESS is the world’s ugliest engine, so the aftermarket would be a lot prettier if the LESS had never oozed out of bankrupt “Government Motors.”

  2. Shawn

    The SBC would still be the popular choice, I think the aftermarket blocks would be the starting point for most projects.

  3. aircooled

    The Mopar and Ford guys like to whine about the LS but look what it did for them.
    Without the LS, there would not be any Gen III hemi.
    Without the LS, the mustang GT engine would still be a 215 hp SOHC mod motor and there would be no supercharged terminators/GT500’s.

    And worst of all, the Sport Compact / rice burner/ fart can movement would probably still be going strong.

  4. BBR

    I don’t think the creation of the LS is really that big of a deal. They certainly have a following and, but I don’t think their impact on the hot rodding world is anywhere near that of the the Fox Mustang/5.0L engine that literally pumped life back into hot rodding.

    It’s overhyped importance certainly does benefit from media guys who carry on about their market impact though. lol j/k

  5. cyclone03

    More R&D money would have gone to Ford and Chrysler.

    Ford is dead set on not going back to pushrods,so the aftermarket would shift ,or at the time,continue to shift to the Fords.
    MoPar went HEMI as thier speed platform and money would be spent there too.

    As for the swap/custom business I think high end builders would have shifted away from the SBC,instead with LS they just went with what they know. That is put a Chevy in everything.

    My question is what would Fords V8 be IF they didnt read the spy reports wroung about GM’s new engine?
    (Thats my theorie ,Ford got word that GM was doing a new V8 and it was ZL1 like DOHC etc no push rods,so they HAD to get in the overhead cam business pronto,missinformation works….)

  6. Russell

    Why do hot roders like the LS motors. Strong button end, good flowing heads small package, and they grow on trees. If there was no LS motor hotroders would use what ever is cheap and easy to make power with!

Comments are closed.