NeonLX

Or as it's known around here, the "five point slow".

I haven't personally driven a vehicle with the 4.8L; only the 5.3L and 6.0L V8s (a Suburban and an Yukon XL Denali respectively). A coworker of mine has a 2002 GMC 1500 2WD with the 4.8L and he says it doesn't have much low-end grunt, which makes sense considering the relatively small displacement. As you note, the 305 wasn't exactly a barn stormer either. I've also heard that these newer V8s are pretty rugged.

Updating technology to improve fuel economy and emissions? That would be my guess. The 5.3L apparently does pretty well but from what I've heard, the 4.8L is a real stone. Is the 6.0L engine a relative of the 4.8L & 5.3L?

"Oldsmobile...always a step ahead". Circa 1972? Still can't get that radio jingle out of my brain.

Hey, something just dawned on me. That thing looks like an early Toyota I saw once in some magazine long ago. I remember at the time thinking that the car looked like a pipsqueak version of the Chrysler Airflow. Is it an early Toyota?

I remember reading an article in Motor Trend or one of those magazines about the 153 CID four and 194 six that came out for '62. They made a big deal about how many of the parts were shared with the 283 & 327 V8s (I'm thinking it was rods, pushrods and valves; pistons for those engines were 3.56" so they didn't have an equivalent V8 counterpart. But the 230 and later 250 six had the larger 3.875" bore, which was the same as the 283 V8.

As an aside, anyone remember the "Toro-flow" diesels used in GMC trucks during the 1960s?

Heh. It looks like some kind of Chrysler Airflow knockoff, running on mini-spares from a modern car. But beyond that, I really don't know what it is.

I was looking through some GMC truck literature from the late 1950s and noticed that pickups were available with a 336 CID V8. The engine sure looks like a Pontiac V8 and indeed, GMC had used 287 CID, 316 CID and 347 CID Pontiac V8s in '55-'57 (same displacement as the Pontiac car engines). I'm wondering if the 336 CID engine used in '58-'59 was just an oddball version of the Poncho V8 that was used exclusively in GMC pickups...

I wouldn't be surprised if the hacked-off 3.8L & 4.3L V6s would be cheaper to produce over the long run because they shared so many innards with the V8s. They might even be able to come down the same assembly line as the V8s? Not sure, just guessing here. Didn't the 194/230/250/292s sixes share some parts with the SBC V8s as well (not to mention the 153 CID four)?

There were two configurations of the "six seventy ones" as well--the inline 6-71 and of course the 6V-71. We had a 1953 FWD truck with the inline 6-71 hooked to a 5X2 tranny. We converted it to a big feedwagon for use at our cattle operation. You could pull a mansion right off of its foundation in low-low with that thing. On edit: One interesting application of the 3-71 was Oliver's 99GM tractor from the 1950s: The Oliver 1900 model, introduced in 1960, used a 4-53:

Yup, the Hudson Hornet was the car I was thinking of. It could very well be that some other car fans used this slogan too--I know Clifford Research did a lot of work with inline sixes back in those days, especially the OHV sixes from Chevy and GMC. It wouldn't surprise me if the "inliners" who were breathing upon their sixes with Clifford equipment would rally 'round this "6 = 8" sentiment.

E-Z Mover's All-Natural Enema Kit?

Heh-heh! That signage is a little confusing.

"6 = 8". Hmm...that equation doesn't make much sense, but a fair number of enthusiasts of a particular make & model of car used to proudly proclaim it anyway. This was back in the 1950s. Anyone else remember it?

Yeah, but those aren't ridiculously sized. My pet peeve? The horrendously overused adjective "awesome". Of course, that's my daughter's way of describing almost everything.

Hemp seed oil. Hemp is more renewable than any of the "grains" like corn that are used for alky production. It grows like a weed because it is one. Plus we need the grains to feed people. Only problem is, hemp oil burns in a diesel engine but not a gasoline-style engine. Hey, at least it would take care of trucks, buses and farm equipment.

Don't forget the Jeep Wagoneer (introduced fall of 1962) , which was somewhat smaller but kinda the same sort of thing... Standard engine was an OHC version of Kaiser's 230 CID inline six. In 1965, an AMC-built 327 V8 became optional. The AMC OHV 232 six also replaced the Kaiser six that year. During the 1967 model year, a Buick 350 V8 replaced the AMC 327 mill. Later Wagoneers were powered by AMC engines, most frequently the 360 and 401 V8s. The AMC 258 six was also offered on certain models and certain years.

Ummm...I'm showing an Edsel "400" V8 that displaces 361 CID and has 400 lbs/ft of torque. This engine was rated at 303 horsepower and was essentially a slighty bored out version of Ford's 352 "FE" engine. The Edsel 410 V8, standard on the "senior" models of Edsel in '58, displaced 410 cubic inches and had 345 horsepower (with 475 lbs./ft. of torque). The Edsel 410 V8 was a smaller-bore version of the Mercury/Lincoln 430 V8. There may have been a higher performance version of this Edsel 410 V8 but I'm not finding any reference to it. http://www.edsel.com/pages/edsel58.htm#Engines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_MEL_engine

This one may surprise you--Mercury!! Top (optional) engine in the '58 Mercury was a 400 horsepower (!), 430 cube V8 with 3X2 carbs and a high compression ratio (IIRC, it was 10.75:1). The engine was referred to as the "Super Marauder". It was the same basic mill as the Lincoln 430. These engines were new for '58 and featured a wedge combustion chamber built into the block, a lot like the 348/409 Chevy V8s. The shape of the piston determined the size of the combusion chamber and therefore the compression ratio, just like the Chevy "W" engines. A slightly less potent version of the Marauder 430 with a single 4V carb was rated at 360 HP. This engine was standard on the top of the line Park Lane series for '58.

If you were buying a new domestic car in '58 and you wanted to get the one with the highest advertised horsepower, what would you get? Hint: In this case, we're talking about an optional engine.

You 'n' me both. Maybe that's why I like the current Malibu Maxx too! Somebody at work just bought a new LaCrosse. It's all black with some nifty chromey wheels on it. Sharp car. Anyone seen a Lucerne on the road yet? I haven't.

My neighbor is on a third auto tranny in his "flawless" Accord. He also had the windshield fall out after going over a rough railroad crossing. His next car? Another Honda because they build perfect cars.

Oh, sure! I'd love to find a nice '77-'79 model with the Olds 403 under the hood.

Just goes to show you what a codger I am--I immediately thought of the old six banger engines from the 1930s. I know the 1937 through the early 1950s sixes had the valve cover bolts mounted up on the top. My '55 Chevy six had the bolts on the perimeter though. Not sure what they valve covers looked like pre-1937 though. On edit: here's a Chevy six from 1950: