It’s an icon, an engine that’s powered drag cars and street muscle and spawned a thousand how-tos. We’re currently focusing our Drag Race 101 series around it because when you think of engine installs, it’s the first thing to come to mind. To celebrate 60 years of the engine, Hagerty Classic Cars (www.hagerty.com) put together a time lapse video of a small-block build and it’s both hypnotic and really fascinating.
The V-8 engine launched for the 1955 model year available in the Corvette and the Bel Air, and by 1967, the 350 version had evolved into THE performance engine for Chevrolet. The engine was designed by Ed Cole’s team, and Cole eventually went on to lead GM. Engineers saw a lot of potential in the engine with cubic inch sizes starting at 262CID and rocketing all the way up to 400CID. The engine was powerful, versatile and beloved, and it’s not unusual to see the Chevy engine in the bay of mortal enemy Ford in a custom build or even in the disguise of a Jaguar or Nissan.
Enjoy the video. If only every rebuild could happen in time lapse.
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