Description
By: Anthony Young .
The term big-block is synonymous for power, performance, and speed. To describe a Corvette, Chevelle, Camaro, or even an Impala as a big-block car is to give it immediate high-performance status. The nomenclature of the Chevrolet big-block—numbers like 396, 409, 427, and 454—commands instant respect and recognition, especially when the numbers appear on the fender badges of big-block cars.
This is the story of the big-block, the engine that has powered Chevrolet passenger cars and trucks since the late 1950s. It has also powered high-horsepower Corvettes, Chevelles, and Camaros, and race cars from the drag strips to the high banks of Daytona.
In Chevrolet Big-Block Muscle Cars, Chevrolet engineers recall the theory, design work, and testing that went into big-blocks such as the original 348, the legendary 409, the mighty 396, and the biggest of them all, the 454.
Here is the story of the early 348 with its "neck-snapping" acceleration, the 409 that ushered in Chevrolet's Super Sport models in 1961, and the legendary "Mystery Engine" that was the talk of the 1963 Daytona 500.
More than 80 color photos capture the power of the big block and the style of big-block muscle cars. Here are cars like the rare ZL-1 and L88 Corvettes, a 409-equipped Impala SS, a 1967 Camaro with a Mk IV 396, a 1969 Chevelle 300 Deluxe with an SS396 performance package, and the one-of-a-kind Corvette ZR2 with its 454 engine. More than 50 black and white photos show the mighty engines' details and trace their development inside Chevrolet's engineering center.
Anthony Young has enjoyed great cooperation from Chevrolet designers and engineers as he researched and wrote Chevrolet Big-Block Muscle Cars and an earlier Muscle Car Color Series title, Chevrolet Small-Block V-8. He is also the author of Hemi: History of the Chrysler Hemi V-8 Engine and Hemi-Powered Cars, and Mighty Mopars 1960-1974.
