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What's it like, driving a Hemi?

This is not about the engine, it about owning a piece of history. Talking about how fast they are is not the point, back then , 1 HP per, 1 cubic inch, was lightning fast and the most you could hope for. Today you can make a four banger go fast and save a lot of money, but it won't be a Hemi. My 65 has a make believe Hemi in it and it gets with the program, but it's not that magical number 426 ... Bottom line.
 
Have a 66street hemi in a 66 Satellite,4spd,3.54
gears Edelbrock Carbs
Now 492cu inch.
Torque unreal,keeps you back In the seat all
though the gears.
Better be pointed straight when you hit the
loud pedal at start.
Idles a drives great,runs cool 185 degress
I building the same car now, good input from what you said. My Difference, 590 solid cam 4.5 crank 12.5 pistons and 4.1 gears. Trying to get the tallest widest street-drag radial under it, steel rims and little hub caps (sneaky) make it look stock but not!
 
I'm not too sure I could agree with that statement.It does take some knowledge to fine tune a dual quad hemi or a sixpack. IMOP the HEMI is the best!
I drove 60 miles round trip to the Rumblers car car show yesterday in Williamsburg in Brooklyn yesterday mostly in bumper to bumper traffic.Great show!!

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I agree with you and the street Hemi cars I've had run like they should. But, sometimes people think that a street Hemi is going to outperform every other car by a mile and in reality, such is not the case.
 
Sold already! Just goes to show the desirability of the hemi.
 
Sold already! Just goes to show the desirability of the hemi.
It was priced to sell!

I agree with much that has been said here. For me it's all about the history. That and the mystique get people's attention - even non-Mopar people. I've found mine to be very street friendly. It's not uncommon for me to drive it to shows 75 or more miles away with no trouble. The reputation for them to be hard to keep in tune must come mostly from the mechanically un-inclined. Heck, I'm still running the original dual point distributor and it starts and runs great. I rebuilt both original carbs 2 summers ago. They were a snap to work on, and it fired right up after reinstalling them. Getting them in tune was pretty simple, although I'm sure I could do some more tweaking to them. But the car is a solid, dependable runner with very little regular attention needed. It runs cool as can be, and I don't have trouble with it fouling plugs. As for adjusting the valves, it's really not hard at all. Not having power brakes makes mine a little easier, though.

My first car had a 440 6bbl. (Now that one liked to foul plugs.) I don't think my Hemi is much different light to light on the street than that engine was (both 4-speeds), but on the interstate - that's where the Hemi wants to run and really shines. I always tell people the only reason it stops accelerating on the highway is because I took my foot off the gas.
 
any good tuned BB is better, than a SB,
with very few exceptions, to that rule
(65 race hemi) 66-71 Hemi street hemi or their race versions
has the mystique, others will never have
even other engines with 2 times the HP

I've had a couple org. Hemi cars, they need to be fiddled with
but drive well for the most part, if used regularly
if they sit they are troublesome
not to speak of the prices were 2 times a BB (or SBM) wedge car
of the same condition, color, trans etc.

I've had quite a few faster cars with other engine combos

BUT;
my F/C chassis with a 23 T fiberglass body altered
with a Blown Hemi was almost unbeatable,
mild tune ran (1/4 mile) 6.90's @ 190 all damn day
it took almost 2 times the funds to build it too
(so did my blown Enderle injected max wedge combo, it didn't like the rpm's like the Hemi did
so did a N/A 427 BBC rect. port/PG combo, really good heads, Crower or Enderle injected alcohol
would run S/E 7.90 class limited to 7,000 in the traps, with very little, to no maintenance,
just seat time, & dumping the throttle, to run the numbers
)

the looks & attention, you get with the hemi,
is priceless

add a blower, hot ignition, proper camshaft & rockers,
better free flowing exhaust, 'to let her breath like intended'
(all hemi parts are expensive, all race parts too, if you didn't know already)
& it's the ultimate 'race' engine
 
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I could have built 3 stout wedge engines for what I have invested in my Hemi.
Yeah but if the world run out of gas and you had just one tankful left....that's when you choose the Hemi. It's a bucket list type of car, the dollars are almost irrelevant. It's like dropping a thousand bucks to see The Rolling Stones, or spending a fortune on a once-in-a-lifetime family holiday. Nobody's gonna be on their deathbed and say "my one regret was buying that hemi"
 
Bucket lister for sure ! Gotta have at least one in your life time. Mine is a 472. My brother and I started building this car back in 2006 and took 11 years to complete with big $$$$ spent. My brother has since passed away but he did get to put a few miles on it. Nothing looks or sounds like the massive HEMI,don't care who you are.I've been around hot cars most of my life and my first ride in a gen 2 Hemi was all it took.Need one ? Want one ? Don't neeeed one,, but gotta HAVE one !
 
As the saying goes. You either have a HEMI or you want a HEMI. They are totally streetable if tuned properly. Dual 1050''s and about 6 miles per gallon but who's counting.

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