5 Best Vintage V8 Muscle Car Engines

There were many legendary V8 engines produced during the golden era of the American muscle car. Here is a list of the 5 best high performance V8 engines produced during this era. If you think we missed an engine or were wrong about an engine on the list, leave your comments and feedback below.

Special Note: the production Hemi equipped cars in this video refers to the 1966-1971 Dodge and Plymouth models equipped with the factory warrantied lower compression (10.25:1) 426 Hemi V8. The higher compression racing spec 426 Hemi V8 which was available in very few 1964 and 1965 Dodge and Plymouth models aren't considered production cars for this video.

[randycoursey]

Nice assembly of Detroit Muscle here. I've own a 1970 MACH I since 1977. 351 Cleveland 425 HP after the rebuild in 2016. Wife drove the car daily from 1980- 90. Then it became a Sunday driver. Wife loved it, she loved driving circles around most cars back then. Most were compression choked out dogs. The FOX MUSTANGS with the 5.0 V8 was pretty fast though.

[jeremyboehm]

The 426 Hemi is hands down king of the drag strip.

[dianelee]

Love learning about how great American cars were in the day. So I redid a 1969 AMC AMX 390 GO PACK WITH EVERY AVAILABLE OPTION. IT IS BUILT .040 OVER AND IS A BEAST. GREAT VIDEOS. THANKS

[paulsmallriver]

If you are old enough you can sit in your favorite chair, close your eyes, and you can hear those beautiful engines as they cruised Main Street and the local drive-ins. What a glorious time that was.

[howiemack]

I started working on these muscle cars when they came out new. I knew all of them well. All the different engines had their unique qualities and weaknesses. What we did back then is go to the local junk yard and buy these engines out of cars that were wrecked usually at a bargain price. One engine that gets overlooked but was a great engine and lots of power was the Ford 428" motor that was commonly put into station wagons. They had a longer stroke than the 427" but were powerful and could be bought for about $250 dollars most of them had less than 30, 000 miles on the engine. We made a lot of sleeper cars using these engines. I was glad I got to be a mechanic during that era. We had many fun times street drag racing. Today everything is so regulated to the point you can't hardly breathe without someone destroying your hobby.

[johnkendall]

I'm of the age of Viet Nam war vets 1 person I knew saved all the money from his time in Nam and wanted the hottest car he could get when he returned He didn't want a corvette or Hemi so he bought the Buick 455 stage 1 the dealer told him about an even hotter set up called stage 2 which was only dealer installed but he would need to leave the car there a couple of days. His best times were low 11s on a size wider than stock street tires . That meant it would probably be a mid 10 second car with slicks. Always wondered what happened to that car.

[mijomcgyver]

It's a tough task to only pick 5 engines out of the dozens that were noteworthy during the musclecar wars of yesteryear. I can't find fault with this group, but I can think of many others that could easily have been on it:
The Ford Boss 429 & 428SCJ, Chevy L72 & L88 427s, Pontiac RamAir IV, Chrysler 440, and the mighty-mites - Ford Boss 302 & Chevy DZ 302 - are all worthy of mention (as are many others).

[johnriley]

The Chevy 327 Turbo Fire was pretty hot. Factory Edelbrock Hi Rise intake, with a huge Rochester 4 jet Carburetor. Rated @ 360 HP. The 63 Bel Air could really scoot with the Powerglide.

[briansd]

Thanks for including the Pontiac SD-455!

[craigmanning]

I loved my 289 A-Code in my 65 fastback mustang. Plenty of power, got 26mpg. Loved that car. Too bad I got married.

[Papasmurf]

Enjoyed your video. Brough back many memories. I bought a brand new 1969 Plymouth Satellite convertible, April '69'. Special order car. 383 cubes with a big(for a 2 barrel) Rochester carb(when first taking the air cleaner off, it looked like a four barrel). If my memory serves me right, it had 300hp. 4 barrel only brought it up to 330hp, I think? Don't know exactly how fast it would go, but had the needle pinned many times, and still more to go! Again, thanks for the video.

[johnfuchs]

One engine that was missed was the 4 cylinder used in the 1972 vega. I had a friend with one. He actually drove it over a curb stop. Well, half way, then the trans went out. Never mind.

[NHfiddle]

I was lucky back in the day. I've owned three Dodges, two Dodge Dart 340s, '68 and '70, and a 68 Dodge Charger w/426 hemi and a 4 speed behind it. All three were manual transmission and my fave was obviously the Charger. the motor outlasted the body so I restored it, being only 7 years old it had been thru a lot but we got it done and I had a "real" muscle car.

[randycoursey]

Loved these engines. I could actually work on them! Now today you can't find the engine, so much stuff to dig through.

[sanfranciscobay]

Well done video. Rest In Peace Muscle Cars. Your memory lives on.

[Widebody]

For me I loved the Pontiac tin indian powered with a 421 engine.

[tomnekuda]

I really enjoy the videos you guys put up. When you guys do a video the cars involved must stand by their merits instead of some favoritism. Good job!

[bartstarr]

Missed a big one guy's...the Ford 427 cammer was the standard for monster V8's. Headers, a little bigger carb and a slightly more aggressive cam put this badass motor at 600+ horsepower...that why Nascar outlawed it as soon as it hit the mostly due to complaints from Plymouth, due to the fact that it smoked the 426

[mikeb]

Awesome info there. I was aware of the 455 Buick but had never heard specs on it. Wow.
Those were all big engines. There were a few small block cars that broke into the high 13's in the 1/4 mile but they were in small cars like the Dodge Dart and the Mustang or Comet.
The insurance companies started whacking anyone under 30 with high rates hoping to discourage young guys from buying the really hot cars. Face it, young drivers with only a year or two of driving experience were far more likely to crash a hot performance car. Faster reflexes are a poor substitute for better judgment and experience.

Anyone who was willing to do the work or hire it done could modify a chevy 350 or 396, a ford 390 or even a 289/302 in a mustang and get it into the mid 13's. Cams, big valves, headers could easily add 50 hp to an engine. I had a 69 Road Runner that was modified by a guy who used to race at Nascar. It was a factory 383 but when he got through with it, it was faster then a factory GTX with 440. Back then $400 could buy a lot of performance. I bought street legal Mickey Thompson slicks, they had just enough sipes to make them streetable. They were so sticky it was unbelievable. If I held the tach at 3000 let the clutch up fast and mashed the gas at the same time it launched as if a car had hit me from behind. It only took a few weeks of abuse before the pressure plate gave out. When the dealer removed it it was so warped it rocked back and forth on the floor! One of the adjuster screws had backed off so they warranteed it for me! I did NOT leave the slicks on when I took it in.

A friend had an early Mustang with 289. He had a guy do some work on it. It got really fast before he got hit by some body who ran a stop sign. I never got to race him but I bet it would have been close. If he slammed second gear and popped the clutch at full throttle it would break both tires loose and get a bit sideways.

Ah, the good old days. Those muscle cars were not terribly more expensive than the grocery getters back then. But now, they are at least 35% more expensive some being twice the cost of a basic car.

[quincee]

I love the 73 Trans Am 455 Super Duty. Really the last good performer .