Absolute Best 5 Muscle Car Engines of the 1960s

There were so many great engines in the '60s it is hard to pick just 5. The Chrysler wedges were great; they were tough and made lots of torque and power. The cross-ram 413, 426 Max wedge, even the old 383s were a lot of fun. The small block 340 was an awesome engine with 4 bbl or 6 bbl induction. And, of course, the Elephant of all engines. Chevy had a number of engines too. The LT1 350. The high horsepower 327s, coming in 350, 365 and 375hp; you can just hear the big cam idle. The various 396s and of course the LS 454s. Pontiac was right up there with the 455 SD, the early 389 Tri-power, the 326 and even the overhead cam 250 six. HO series, Ram Air series, SD series engines were all great engines. Olds had their share too. Start with the 330 in the first 442. The 350 w-31 and 455 w-30. The Tornado 425. Buick wasn't thought of as performance oriented, but made some great performance engines. The 445, 430 and 455 engines were tough and once they started the Stage 1 series, they really made people pay attention. Their small blocks were no slouches either, with the 340 and 350s. And of course, the most overlooked company, Rambler/AMC. In the mid 60s they had their own 327 that had reasonable performance, but once they changed to the 290/343/390 and then the 304/360/390/401, they really livened things up. Cars like the 390 AMX, the 390 SC/Rambler or Scrambler Rambler as it was nicknamed, and the 390 Rebel Machine. (supposed to be '69, but first produced in 1970) And as we saw, the Fords had a number of great engines. The 289s, 390, 427 with all the different heads, 428 Police Interceptor, CJ, SCJ, 429, 351 Windsor (which was never really taken to its potential), 302 Boss, 406 and 352. There were so many great engines, I am sure I missed some. The only question is, which company and engine is your favourite?

The street version of the Boss 429 was actually kind of a dog unless you ditched the smog pump and added a bigger carburetor, headers, and a more radical camshaft. Ford really de-tuned the Boss9 quite a bit from the factory. The Boss 302 definitely is not top 5 all time among muscle car engines...but it definitely is top 5 all time among small block muscle car engines though. And the Chevy ZL1 427 is an extremely limited production race engine like the L88 427...not really a street engine. Here's my top 5 all time muscle car street engines but not necessarily in this order: 1. Chrysler 426 Street Hemi(1966-71) 2. Ford R-Code 427 Side Oiler(1965-67) 3. Chevy LS6 454(1970) 4. Pontiac 455 Super Duty(1973-74) 5. Chrysler 440 6 BBL/Six Pack(1969-71) I would've added the Buick 455 Stage 1(1970) with its 510 lb/ft torque rating but didn't only because that engine only used 2 bolt mains and was known for cracking engine blocks in the lifter valleys under high RPM abuse because of very thinwall casting and it was well known for oiling problems too. I also had a hard time excluding the Chevy L78 396 and L72 427 and Pontiac 400 Ram Air IV too Here's my top 5 small block muscle car engines but not necessarily in this order: 1. Chevy LT1 350(1970) 2. Chrysler 340 6 BBL/Six Pack(1970) 3. Ford BOSS 351(1971) 4. Chevy 302(1967-69) 5. Ford BOSS 302(1969-70) I had a hard time leaving the Chevy L79 327 and Ford K-Code 289 off the list too

289,301,302,305,318,350,351,425,426,427,455...etc etc etc I missed a few but all were great in my days.

Gotta love those early ford engines!!!

No Sohc 427?? Thats one of Fords meanest V8's ever

You totally left out Pontiac 400 and 455 cid. They were vicious

The Ford 427 SOHC engine should be at the top of every list.

I'm a Ford man, but where is the 327? I have no problem with the Boss 302, but come on the 327 was one bad a_ _ small block.

There's nothing like American muscle

My pic is the 427 sideoiler ..Thats all ya need to win

BB Chevy Engine wasn't a ZL1 Engine, which is 427ci  Aluminum Block / Heads. The engine in the Video is an L71/89 427ci/435hp available only in 67-69 Corvette. OEM L71 had Rectangular Port Cast Iron heads. That engine had the Optional Aluminum closed chamber heads(#3919842) which gives it the L71/89 desigination. Triangular Aircleaner is a give away for the Tripower Carburation which used three Holley 2300 series 2bbl Carbs (also used on L68 BB) ZL1 Engine used a single Holley List 4296 850cfm DPer on a highrise open plenum aluminum intake #3933198 (same as L88)... ZL1 Engine available only in 1969 as an RPO Corvette engine option (2 made) and as a COPO 9560 Camaro ZL1 (69 made) Engine in Video was quite rare as the Aluminum head option was quite expensive ...

5:28 can't beat the sound of a Hemi!

Never lost a race in my 66 olds 442 racing all these production engines. That 400 would scream.

So much incorrect information in this video. Like the 427 side oiler being developed for the Shelby Cobra. The 427 side oiler was a engine developed through trial and error for nascar racing . And the Boss 302 having tunnel port Cleveland style heads is a new one to me. My 69 Boss 302 certainly doesn't have tunnel port Cleveland style heads. It does have heads quite similar to 351 Cleveland heads though.

Give me a gas guzzling, environmentally unfriendly, ball tearing V8, over a turbo rice grinder, any day of the week.

That was not a ZL-1 motor it was a tri power 427 out of a vette the ZL-1 was all aluminum even the water pump

Definitely needed the 327 on this list. My dad had 1968 c20 with a 4 speed and a vette 327 on doublehump heads, 4 barrel, stock ram horn headers into true duals with cherry bomb glasspacks. Said he got into it with a camero on his way home, camero passed him off first and second but once he hit 3 it was all over for the camero. The dudes in the camero followed him home and asked to see whats under the hood. One of his best friend had a 68 c20 with a 327 and a 3 speed colum shift. Said he had it to 120 and he was only mashed a 3rd of the way into the floor. I'm currently building a 69 c20. Its getting a sbc 350 4 bolt main, thumper cam(ill determine which one I want once I get the heads flow tested), 1.94 camelhump heads, victor junior high rise intake, holley 750 double pumper, hooked competition headers into true dual with either Flowmaster super 10, or cherry bombs. I'm swapping the 700r4( I put that in temporarily because my th400 has shot clutch packs. Only works on reverse and that 2 mph at 5500rpm🤣) anyways, im swapping it for a sm465 equipped with a gear vendors overdrive. I'm converting my diff to posi and keeping the same ratio which is 3.54/1. I'm here cause I'm looking at different motors to eventually swap. My ranger might get the 302.

427 side oiler over the 427 SOHC? Dont get me wrong, I got a side oiler and its a BAAD engine, but the SOHC makes it look like its carrying an anchor.

In 1965 Chevrolet 327 kicked out 365 horse with a single carburetor. Stock horsepower per cube is up there!

61 Falcon 144 six , 0 to 60 28 seconds , totally badass.