Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines 1955 265 c.i. w/ powerglide

1955 265 Engine and powerglide transmission complete was running when renmoved form 1955 Chevrolet. $700.

is this outrageous or is it just me?

there's also a '54 235 w/auto running when pulled for $400
i think thats still too much.

am i wrong?

Most of the original 265 cid v-things in '55 passenger cars have been supplanted by some later version. For those who are attempting a high-dollar "numbers matching" restoration of a '55, a genuine 265 cid engine and powerslip may be worth $700 or more. The auction market (including ebay) has driven the prices of everything connected with '55-'57 Chevrolets far beyond any true value, either aesthetic or practical. Yet, as my father used to say, "it's worth what one will give and the other will take." As long as someone will give it, there will be those who will take it.

Many people assume that the small-block Chevrolet V8 immediately made all the hot inlines obsolete. This is far from the case. A "powerpack" 265 produced a claimed 180 hp from the factory, and it was and is no match for a well-prepared 261 or GMC 270 or 302. A 283 with fuel injection or dual four-barrels and a "Duntov" cam could more nearly hold its own, and those who ran inline sixes had to work to keep up. It was the 327 and the "big block" 348-409 that made the Chevrolet v-thing dominant. Yet just as not every hot rod before 1955 was powered by a flathead Ford, even so not every hot rod after 1955 was powered by a Chevrolet V8. There have always been those who swam against the tide, and we have not yet drowned.

God's Peace to you.

d

WOW;

Hey Don, thanks for the trip down "memory lane".

Seemed just like yesterday @ Bob's in Glendale/Burbank.

John M........

I'm a newbie and have a 6 with GM number 4 under it, CON2 3994 56 What is it? I have a 43 chev 1 ton truck that I want to replace.

Dear Gray;

A l943 Chev. 1 ton truck will have a 216" engine unless someone has changed it. The difference can be seen by seen by looking at the side cover on the passenger side. A 216" will have one that attaches to the head, others do not.

In the left bourder of the web page will have a Casting #'s listing. This will "dial it in" for ya.

Good luck & welcome to the club, John M......

NOTE,
The 1941 to 1949 (235) High Torque truck engine also has the tall side cover thats bolts to the head.The 1950 Powerglide 235 engine was the first to have the short side cover.
EvilDr235

Hey Don . . . been thinkin about your post for a couple of days now . . . how about a question from those us who've only had the opportunity look at the 50's in re-runs . . .

By the time I was old enough to grasp muscle-in-cars - well heck all of the GM divisions were in play!

So why is it that that the car world seems to look at at the emergence of v-thingies from the almost religious perspective of BC and AD . . . i.e. Before Chevy did them and After Duntov made them better?

After all, Olds was offering a valve-in-head 303 from '49 , and it was upgraded to 324 in '54. And Caddy was offering a 331 from '49 as well . . .

With all GM bodies being by Fisher why didn't any of these 'car' powerplants get hopped-up and swapped into Chevy's instead of a 261 or a GMC that started life in a truck?

Even more curious is how so many of us kids from the 60's could somehow conclude that there was no such thing as a 'modern' valve-in-head V8 offered by "The General" until Chevy did it in '55!

Until I cracked a few books I thought that all V8's prior to '55 where valve-in-block - which in fact only Pontiac was still clinging to in '54 with their anemic 127HP 268 . . .

curious indeed.

stock49

Chevrolet believe it or not, had a overhead valve V8 engine from 1917 to 1919.It was in the Chevrolet model D.It had nickel plated valve covers on it.
Many years before Ford had the famous Flathead V8.Chevrolet also has a air cooled engine in 1923 called The Copper Cooled.Just think,if the Chevrolet V8 of 1917 had been sucessful,there might not have been a Ford Flathead V8 or Chevy inline 6 cylinder.
EvilDr235

Ah yes; to relive it all again.

Cad & Olds were used throughout the 'fifties' in various engine swaps and there was speed equipment made for them. However they were low RPM & high torque designed to haul around the heavy Fisher body parts, often customized with lead.

After the Korean war cars became lighter using plastic & aluminum and by 1957 the higher RPM/HP Chevy. engines 'came of age' along with the Corvette which was made of fiberglass.

By the 60's the "muscle car" era was in full swing with many Detroit engines over 400 cid.

I can remember when some PHD predicted that cars would "never exceed 140 MPH in the quarted mile."

Today an EFI VW would beat most 50's quarter milers. Who would have ever thought? People stand in line to buy "jap cars" too??

John M......

Hey John, you can still go to Bob's in Burbank, I think it's Friday night that's the best. I believe there were 2 Bob's in Burbank. The original is gone but the second one is still there with the car hop service.
Terry

It is true that Cadillac and Oldsmobile produced ohv V8s in 1949, followed by Chrysler in 1951, DeSoto in 1952, and Buick in 1953. Ford introduced the "Y-block" ohv V8 in 1954, with 239 cid (same as the old 8BA flathead, but oversquare) and only 130 hp. W G ("Racer") Brown wrote a series about modifying a 1954 Mainline business coupe, but the Y-block didn't light any fires. The earlier and bigger V8s were immediately modified by serious racers and high-dollar hot rodders (inlines ruled at Indianapolis and the old USAC circuit until the 1970s). Yet the cars these engines came in were heavier and not made for speed, so that well-prepared flatheads and inlines in light chassis could stay with them and, usually, beat them--just as it took a decade or more of development for the Ford flathead V8s to beat the Model Bs and Chevy fours consistently.

i remember walking by Vandergriff Chevrolet in Arlington, Texas, on that day in the fall of 1954 when the 1955 models were introduced. It was wall-to-wall in the showroom, and from what i could see of it, that little V8 in its bright orange paint appeared tiny in its cavernous surroundings. The Chevy V8 was relatively inexpensive, compared to the other GM cars, it was relatively light, and Chevrolet would sell it in a form that would go fast, out of the box.

In Abilene, the contractor's son who had previously run bootleg liquor in his '53 Olds traded the Olds for a black '56 Bel Air hardtop with 283 "powerpack," 4.11 gears, and an overdrive. When he wasn't making money with it, he'd race against all comers at the old Taylor County airstrip, winning some and losing some. My friend James Sanders, already a master craftsman at 22 and making good money, had a '56 210 Del Ray with 4.56 gears and two four barrels. Premium was only 25 cents a gallon, and up to about 90 mph that Chevy would snap your neck in any gear.

Still the fastest car i remember from the mid-1950s was Paul Tyner's black 1953 Plymouth Belvedere two-door, powered by a built 265 cid Chrysler six, with Edmunds head and dual manifold, split exhaust, and Mallory ignition. In overdrive it would bury the speedometer needle all day long. On one memorable Saturday evening five of us left Abilene for San Angelo, late getting away, and arrived 62 minutes later--89 miles of two-lane, with one stop to leave the mandatory 50 pounds of concrete (for traction, unloaded)under a culvert. We outran one sheriff's patrol car on that trip, among many other memorable events. Paul never had a better car than that one, not in the 1950s. i wish i could find it now.

God's Peace to you.

d

Dear Terry;

Your right there was two Bob's in Burbank, one on San Fernando Road (#2) and one on Alemeda Ave (#6) which still exists.

It is rumored that Jay Leno cruises that one from time to time & there is a "cruise night" for 'classic cars/Hot Rods'. I don't recall which night though.

I'll go some night.

John M........

Great info and story Don.

John
Drew Cary goes to that one, for the food not the cars nad my daughter saw Tim Allen there one afternoon.