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

[Linked Image from 49fastback.com]