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Everything starts
somewhere, so it isn’t much of a stretch to say that writing
this column is a humble beginning for me. There is almost a
surreal quality to it to think that a mere ten years ago, the
only thing I had ever written was a poem or two. Previous to
that I had composed a few Sunday school lessons and some church
talks, but I had never written anything about cars. Not that I
didn't think about cars mind you, but I was probably too busy
reading every magazine I could get my hands on. Like most when
we were younger, I was far more interested in turning wrenches
and getting more grunt out of the cars I owned as opposed to
waxing rhapsodic on paper. Not until years later when my future
wife asked in curiosity what was it about cars that fascinated
me so, did I consider putting those thoughts into words. Since
she was in New York and I was in Virginia at the time, we
exchanged a lot of emails and so the process began.
There are defining moments in all of our lives, and with most
gearheads the first day we get behind the wheel of a car tends
to be one of note. The day we actually drive a car by ourselves,
no matter if you were of legal age or status at the time, is a
day that sticks with us for the rest of our lives. The day we
get our first taste of speed is another thing entirely. Not
those early times of your Dad or your older friends scaring the
liver out of you. No, this would be the bold occasion when you
held the wheel and mashed the loud pedal to the floor and held
on to see what happened. For many, it begins as an exercise in
fear and finding the point where adrenaline takes over; for
others it’s a dare against themselves and the machine to see who
will win.
There have been many who have fallen into the latter category,
and they have set out on a never ending search for the limits of
man and machine. Plato, the great Greek philosopher said;
"Necessity is the mother of invention"...and nowhere is that
more true than in the quest for power and speed. This quest
always gets a shot in the arm during wartime. It is sad to say,
but nonetheless true, that wartime has driven more innovation in
more fields than any other time in our history. In this heated
push for power and speed we find the cradle of birth for the
Chrysler Hemi engine.
World War II saw the greatest strides ever in the development of
aircraft design and power. Chrysler, like all of the other auto
manufacturers, had been developing better engines for tanks as
well as aircraft. The XI-2220 was a 60 degree, inverted V-16
engine with pushrod activated Hemi heads. This supercharged 2200
cubic inch behemoth was fitted to the nose of a Republic P-47
Thunderbolt for testing. The longer, slender nose had less drag
than the big radial engine it replaced, but even though it had
600ci less displacement, it cranked out over 500 more
horsepower. These factors combined to push the test plane to
more than 500mph at 15,000 feet...a speed unheard of at the
time.
I have been to many air shows over the years, since I am almost
as enthralled with aircraft as I am with cars. One of the crowd
favorites at these events is the North American P-51 Mustang.
The V-12 Packard-Merlin engine that powers the Mustang sings an
unmistakable exhaust note that heralds the coming of this plane
before you ever make visual contact. The sound while it taxies
on the ground is enchanting but the full throated roar on take
off or during a high speed pass is absolutely intoxicating. I
can only dare to imagine what a V-16 Hemi, bellowing 400 feet
overhead at 400mph would have sounded like, but the vision in my
mind says it would be magnificent.
Sadly for the XI-2220, jet engines took center stage before the
mighty Chrysler could be produced. Today all three of these
historic prototype engines reside in museums. The one I saw is
in the Walter P. Chrysler museum in Auburn Hills.
The experience gained during the war did not go to waste; soon
after Chrysler developed a test Hemi head for one of its
existing six cylinder engines. The trial engine used chain
driven twin overhead cams to accommodate the canted valves since
the test engine was based on an L-head design. The power
increase however was undeniable and development moved ahead for
the legendary engine that we all know so well. The 1951 Chrysler
Firepower V-8 was the very first production eight cylinder
engine with hemi pushrod heads. This 331 cubic inch mechanical
athlete muscled out stunning numbers for its day, 180hp and 312
lbs ft of torque. The closest competitor to the Firepower of
that era was the Cadillac overhead valve V-8 which used the same
displacement but made some 30hp less in stock trim.
Previous to WWII, an Englishman named Sydney Allard had begun
producing small sports cars which he had equipped with a variety
of engines. One of his favorites was the Ford flathead V8 which
at the time produced about 100hp. After the war was over he
began to produce a car aimed at competition called the J2.
Allard knew there was a market to be exploited in America since
we were producing powerful engines but nothing in the way of
small sports cars. Since shipping engines to England was slow
and expensive, he shipped his J2 roadsters to our shores without
engines installed. The Allard J2 became one of the earliest
"transplant" cars and was a popular racing candidate equipped
with the Cadillac V8.
The new Chrysler Firepower engine found its way into an Allard
chassis in 1951, driven by Tom Cole, the Hemi scored its first
ever racing victory. Cole won the Bridgehampton Cup on June 9th
in Long Island, NY and defeated the best American Road Racing
had to offer. Ferrari, Jaguar, and a Cadillac powered Allard all
fell prey to the upstart Firepower engine that fateful day and a
racing legend was born.
I don’t know if powering a fighter aircraft to new top speeds or
trouncing the dominant marques in road racing on your first
outing would be considered humble beginnings. Words like bold,
auspicious, or even audacious spring to mind. Maybe that very
first six cylinder test engine could be considered humble.
Whatever adjective you choose to describe the infancy of the
Hemi engine, there can be no doubt about the history it created
and the names of those it made legendary.
So much of this took place before I was even born, and much of
the musclecar heyday raged during my pre-driving youth. The
things that I have seen and experienced, be it through actual
contact, museums or other forms of media, have painted a rich
canvas of the automotive art upon my life. Yet the people I have
met and the pictures I have seen have all shared the wide smiles
that this multi-faceted sport can bring.
The Hemi engine
is a dominant piece in this automotive mosaic and the legacy of
those it has touched and brought together is as complex as any
family tree. I am proud to be but a tiny branch on this
venerable giant that has stood the test of time.
Timmy
www.tobthebat.wordpress.com
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