All Time Great Engine Names

[Guest]

WHAT ARE THE NAMES MANUFACTURERS GAVE TO THEIR ENGINES?

I will start first as I know these like the back of my hand.

Pontiac:

Indy 4 (1/2 of the Pontiac V-8) 1961-1963 for Tempest only

Iron Duke (4)

Split Head Six

Pontiac Six

Silver Streak Six

Chieftain Six

OHC Sprint SIX

Silver Streak Eight

Chieftain Eight

Strato Streak V-8 1955-1957

Tempest V-8 1958-1960---in 1961 the name Tempest is reassigned to the new compact car, and because Pontiac had won so many races the engine was renamed Trophy V-8 for 1961.

Trophy V-8 1961-1965

Super Duty in house term 1960-1963, program was started in 1957.

Super Duty 1973-1974

Volkswagen

The "E" motor initial designed in 1936 for Porsche by Franz Reimspiess. Architecture used from 1936-1960 in all models, from 1961 to the August of 1965 in the Standard model only.

Edited September 20, 2012 by helfen (see edit history)

[Guest Skyking]

Buick Nailhead, (not really used as a name though) Chevy Blue Flame six, Chrysler Hemi.........

Edited September 18, 2012 by Skyking (see edit history)

[DAVE A]

The Crosley COpper BRAzed---COBRA First use of Cobra as a Car related name!!!

[Dave@Moon]

All Mopar "Magnum" engines, Willys Go Devil and Hurricane, Rolls Royce Merlin (nobody said "car engines")

[Aaron65]

Buick Fireball!

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

Buick Dynaflash

Buick Wildcat. Not the car. This was the name of the engine in the 60's

[NTX5467]

Chrysler "Fire Power" hemi

Dodge "Red Ram" little hemi

DeSoto "Fire Dome" mid-size hemi

Plymouth "Commando", "Super Commando", "Golden Commando", "Street Wedge", "Max Wedge"

Dodge "Magnum" (the engine)

Chrysler "T-N-T" first year, 1966, 440/365 horsepower

Chevy "Turbo-Fire" small block V-8

Chevy "Turbo-Jet" 396 V-8 engine family

Chevy "Turbo-Thrift" 6 cyl?

Chevy Trk "ThriftMaster" 6 cyl

Ford "Mileage Maker" 223 cid 6 cyl

Ford "Thunderbird" V-8, "Interceptor" V-8 332 cid "Interceptor 352 Special", 1958

Ford "ThunderJet" 429 V-8, "Cobra Jet" 428 V-8

Mercury "Marauder" V-8

Buick "Fireball" orig '53 "Nail Head" V-8

Buick "B-12000" 1958 Buick 364 V-8

Buick "Wildcat" 1959 V-8 Incl 225 V-6 in 1966

Oldsmobile "Rocket"

All for now . . .

NTX5467

[Uncle_Buck]

The 'Side-Oiler' 427.

[Uncle_Buck]

Can't beleive the Chrysler HEMI is not one of the first posts ...

[Guest billybird]

Ford 427 SOHC, commonly known as " a cammer".

[rhb1999]

The Ford Boss 302, 429, and 351.

[Dave Mellor NJ]

Ford "Thrifty Sixty", Merc Super Marauder

[Guest]

The Ford Boss 302, 429, and 351.

Since I created this post can anyone explain what the BOSS means?

[keiser31]

Can't beleive the Chrysler HEMI is not one of the first posts ...

It IS.

[John Byrd]

Helfen, when Larry Shinoda worked as a stylist for Ford and Semon "Bunkie" Knudson was his boss, they were close friends too, and he named the Boss 302 for Mr. Knudson because that's what he always called him. At least this is documented in some Ford club literature. Pardon me if I spelled their names wrong. This is just from memory.

[Guest]

Helfen, when Larry Shinoda worked as a stylist for Ford and Semon "Bunkie" Knudson was his boss, they were close friends too, and he named the Boss 302 for Mr. Knudson because that's what he always called him. At least this is documented in some Ford club literature. Pardon me if I spelled their names wrong. This is just from memory.

Thanks John, you are correct. It seems many people called Kundsen Boss, such as Smokey Yunick when Knudsen was GM of Pontiac ( 1956-end of 1962) and fielding Pontiac race cars on the side with his own money. There is a bit of Pontiac in Ford cars in the brief time Knudsen was President of Ford.

[John Byrd]

" A bit of Pontiac". Yes sir, are you ever correct about that ! 70-72 (?) T-Bird, 70-71 Merc Cyclone in particular, and the split grille 150 trucks. VERY Pontiac looking I thought, but then I like Pontiacs and Fords, so it was all good, Ha !! ( I am a bit of a Ford lover, but like some of all )

[Restorer32]

Packard "Straight 8".

[Guest Skyking]

Metropolitan.........

1200

1200 B

1500

[JD in KC]

Packard 'Twin Six'

Packard 'Thunderbolt'

[Guest DagoRed]

'Rat' Motor .....

Chevrolet 396 (and beyond) 'Porcupine' head pavement rippers.

[rocketraider]

Oldsmobile "Rocket" derivatives- SkyRocket, Super Rocket, Jetfire, Starfire, J2, Rockette (aluminum 215) and Turbo-Rocket (turbo 215). Then in 1968 they went back to being plain Rockets, and by 1976 weren't advertised as Rocket engine at all. I cannot remember what they called the 1964-65 Buick V6 or the 66-76 Chevy 250 straight six when installed in Oldsmobiles.

I always liked Chevy's Turbo-Jet and Turbo-Fire nomenclature too, and Ford's Thunderbird Special and ThunderJet.

Snazzy engine names sold cars back then as much as styling.

[padgett]

Wright Whirlwind, Rolls-Royce Merlin MK 100, Knight Sleeve Valve but can anything top Ducati Desmodromic ?

ps GM had bosses ever since Boss Kettering.

Edited September 19, 2012 by padgett (see edit history)

[NTX5467]

As I recall, the use of the nomenclature "HEMI" or "Hemi" didn't start until the 2nd-generation "Keith Black" versions of Chrysler motors. The first gen "Donovan" versions all had divisional names, as listed. It was the 2nd Gen 426 family (with the "HEMI-HEAD" decal on the round chrome air cleaner) which generated the "Elephant" nick-name . . . as "Elephants" stomp on "rats"? hehe If the big block (396 family of "porcupine" head Chevy V-8s) were "rats", that made the small block Chevy V-8s "mouse" motors.

Donovan was, as I understand, a Chrysler engineer who later built race-only versions of the first-gen Chrysler 392 "hemi" V-8, with vastly larger displacements, for top fuel racing when supplies of 392 blocks in salvage yards dried-up. Keith Black did similar for the 426 "HEMI-HEAD" engines. Hence, if you hear a racer talk about "Donovan" or "Keith Black" (KB) motors, they're talking about different generations of Chrysler hemispherical combustion chamber architecture V-8 engines for top fuel dragsters and such. The other interesting thing is that when a "hemi" head is put on another brand of engine block, it magically becomes a "Chrysler" motor in the eyes of many drag racing sanctioning bodies.

Enjoy!

NTX5467

[CarlLaFong]

I don't quite follow the correlation between Black, Donovan, Chrysler and the hemi. I do know we called them "Hemis" when I was in high school in the mid 60s and probably before that. Keith Black and Ed Donovan both were engine builders and, later on, built their own versions of the engine, independent of Chrysler. Ed Donovan was not an engineer and never worked for Chrysler. He was a machinist and had worked at Meyer-Drake, building Offenhausers. None of the Chrysler Hemis were designed by either Black or Donovan. None were named after them, either. The Donovan engine was based on the 392 and Black used the 426 as the model for his version

As to the "mouse/elephant" deal, it has been argued over and over for years. It's all old lore and there is no correct answer. Like someone stated here, on another thread, you can't argue about opinions, only facts.

I suppose you could put a set of hemi heads on another engine, buy why? There are bolt patterns, coolant passages, pushrod passages and angularity, bore spacing and a hundred other issues to deal with in order to put a set of heads on a weaker block than the one they were meant to go on.

[stock_steve]

"Boxer" - the horizontally opposed engines by VW (4's), Porsche (4s' and 6's), and Ferrari (12's), and probably others as well...

EDIT: Also most Subies, most (I think) BMW motorcycles, and at least one Scion these days as well...

2nd EDIT: When VW redesigned the Vanagon engine to incorporate water cooling for the '83 & up models, it was known as the "Wasserboxer" or "Waterboxer." Evidently this engine turned out to be rather trouble-prone, ref: http://www.sub5zero.com/great-moments-crappy-engine-history-volkswagen-wasserboxer-w-video/

Edited September 21, 2012 by stock_steve (see edit history)

[Sweepspear]

When Jeep used the Buick V6 and named it the Dauntless 225.

[Rusty_OToole]

How about the Stutz Vertical Eight or the Marmon Roosevelt straight eight advertisement with a squad of Revolutionary War soldiers firing a volley "eight firing in line".

Or the Harley Davidson line up of flathead, knucklehead, panhead and shovelhead motors?

[Harold]

Plymouth "Powerflow Six"

[Guest]

As I recall, the use of the nomenclature "HEMI" or "Hemi" didn't start until the 2nd-generation "Keith Black" versions of Chrysler motors. The first gen "Donovan" versions all had divisional names, as listed. It was the 2nd Gen 426 family (with the "HEMI-HEAD" decal on the round chrome air cleaner) which generated the "Elephant" nick-name . . . as "Elephants" stomp on "rats"? hehe If the big block (396 family of "porcupine" head Chevy V-8s) were "rats", that made the small block Chevy V-8s "mouse" motors.

Donovan was, as I understand, a Chrysler engineer who later built race-only versions of the first-gen Chrysler 392 "hemi" V-8, with vastly larger displacements, for top fuel racing when supplies of 392 blocks in salvage yards dried-up. Keith Black did similar for the 426 "HEMI-HEAD" engines. Hence, if you hear a racer talk about "Donovan" or "Keith Black" (KB) motors, they're talking about different generations of Chrysler hemispherical combustion chamber architecture V-8 engines for top fuel dragsters and such. The other interesting thing is that when a "hemi" head is put on another brand of engine block, it magically becomes a "Chrysler" motor in the eyes of many drag racing sanctioning bodies.

Enjoy!

NTX5467

Actually the word HEMI appears in the 1951 sales literature to explain the FIREPOWER engine, although the name of the engine is FIREPOWER. Hemi will appear in the second generation and beyond on valve covers and air cleaners.

http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/chrysler/51imal/bilder/1.jpg

Chevrolet never referred to their mystery engine of 1965 as the "RAT" or "Porcupine", but simply Mark 4 design. The small block Chevrolet engine was never called a mouse motor. I have seen a 1955 Chevrolet comparison booklet ( to other competitors ) call the 1955 V-8 the Turbo Fire V-8. http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1955-Chevrolet-Original-Turbo-Fire-V8-Brochure-RARE-/00/s/NzM0WDk3OQ==/$(KGrHqZ,!i!E7DhvviSuBO3Dg+lIn!~~60_35.JPG

To distinguish big block from small block Chevy's big block received the name "Turbo Thrust".

[Guest]

Here is a neat 1954 Ford description of it two passenger car engines, the Y and the I

http://mclellansautomotive.com/photos/B24533.jpg

[28 Chrysler]

The early Chryslers hot tempered Red Head

[stock_steve]

Porsche's highly complex double overhead cam engine for the high-performance "Carrera" version of the 356, the mid-engine 550 Spyder, and probably other race-only models: "The Fuhrmann Engine," ref: Ernst Fuhrmann - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[caddyshack]

Still like the V-16 and V-12 designation of the 1930's Cadillac.

[mrspeedyt]

wasn't there a 'belchfire' V8?

[Dave Mellor NJ]

Postwar Chrysler straight engines were labeled "Spitfire". Early Dodge Hemi engines were "Red Ram".

[Bleach]

Here's one that I'm surprised that seems to have been overlooked.

The Triple H Power.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

Looks like a plumbers nightmare. Neat. What was it in, Bleach?

Ben

[Restorer32]

I'll stick with my hemi head 1955 Jaguar.

[sambarn]

Sixteen. Written out, not in numbers or utilizing a "v" surname. just Sixteen. S.A.E.'s engineering advancement for the 30's. The High point (and swan song) for the engineering greatness that was Marmon.