Mopar’s Hemi V6 for 1951: blueprints and talk

Hi there, this is Dave from Motales, and I'm back in my non-animated form, just like this

to tell you about some V6 hemi blueprints that Tom Rock found

And I do mean V6-Hemi. I'm not talking about a V8 hemi, and this was something that was planned for the early 1950s

because the original hemi, which, of course, at the time, they called the dual racker

because it was the first hemi not to require two cams, what they did

instead was two rockers activated by single cam. It was an ingenious design and it saved them a bunch of money

and it made it possible to have a practical hemispherical head V8 engine in the 1951 Chrysler lineup

And then it spread on to the other brands after that. So 1951 you had your 331 hemie

And of course it's kind of funny because the guy who used to be in charge of tuning Chrysler engines, Pete Hagenbook, once told me, you know

Here they are, and they've got this incredible performance engine with a hemispherical head design that's just engineered for flat-out performance

And what do they do? They make a tiny little 331 cubic inch version, and they shove a two-barrel carburetor on it

They were really big into engineering and they wanted the most efficient design they could get and the hemi was it They weren thinking ahead too far in terms of how easy it would be to actually make these things

And the answer is it was not easy to actually make these things. It was impossibly hard to make

these things. And that's why we never saw a V6 hemie. A V8 hemie made a lot of sense in a way

although you'll notice that eventually they change that hemie into a polysherical head

thinking, well, we'll get most of the benefits with a little bit less cost and a little less size

And then later on, they went to the wedge because they realized that, again, quoting Pete Hagenbook

that silly Pallis Fier didn't really do anything at all for them. So they had this, and the idea was that they would replace their old flathead straight six engines

which were already, you know, reaching their sell-by date in the late 40s, early 50s

and they would replace these with a matching V6-Hemi, or more likely they were looking for the cheapest Chrysler to have the V6 hemi

and then the pricier ones would have the exclusive V8 hemi, and Plymouth wouldn't have any at all

And that seems to be the most likely path. But let's talk about what we had here

Now, there was an experimental engine, the A-173, according to Willem Weartman

who later was in charge of all Chrysler engines and this was a dual cam design and this would have been an early design before they figured out how to make them with a single cam because a dual cam design would have been too expensive even for

the people running Chrysler engineering at the time. It wasn't practical at that point in time

And this was a 235 cubic inch experimental engine. That's not the one that we have these blueprints of

Powerplant and research and engine design also developed in line sixes, with hemi heads in addition to the V6

The one that these blueprints are showing was actually intended for production

but it was vetoed by an executive, and in some ways we can say

well, that's a real shame. It would have been really, really cool. And in other ways, we can say it's probably a good idea

because it was kind of impractical, and they were, again, expensive, slow to build

and you could get everything that you got out of it with, by throwing cubic inches and a wedge head at it, much cheaper and much faster

Of course, then, price would have had a B6 in its heritage, and it probably would have been a much more efficient engine

but efficiency wasn't really on Americans' minds for the next 20 years after this

Not until about 1973 did people suddenly say, oh wait maybe gas mileage is a thing we should be concerned with Just a coincidence this was a 3 engine just like today Pentastar v6 One could actually see European exotic cars adapting this hemi v6 with suitable Weber carbureation

rather than using a little Ford V8 or even a hemi V8

It would have been really ideal for that purpose. A welcome replacement or supplement for the Flathead 6

For Chrysler alone, not for Dodger Plymouth, adding to Chrysler's technological reputation

but it probably would have cost more than customers were willing to pay. These drawings show just how amazing those old-time engineers and draftsmen were

So that's basically the story of this engine. It was never meant to be

The V6 semi basically faded into obscurity, and there was no real proof of it until Tom Rock found these blueprints

and he corresponded with William Weirkman, and confirmed that, yes, it was meant for production

and no, it never actually got that. there. That's it for the on-topic part of our show today, but may I suggest that you visit

NJ Auto Show.com to see some vintage Chrysler and other cars in October. That's in New Jersey

if you happen to be around there, and it's put on by the restored rusty relics. Also, no

matter where you are, you can visit motels.com to find plenty of mopar tales. This is Dave, signing out