Plant bids farewell to big block
Amid whistles and applause from onlookers, Willie Ray Jr. hoisted the final L18 made at General Motors’ Town of Tonawanda engine plant off the production line and onto a metal cart.Borepatch had a great idea:
The moment was filled with meaning for the plant’s past, present and possibly its future.
It was the last of the “big block” V-8 engines made by the plant, a legacy dating to
1958 and a local connection under the hood of some renowned GM cars.
Maybe a Friday Fun thread of cars that used this engine?
I think that's a fabulous idea. So here goes. Here's the Top Ten GM cars powered by the L18 big block V8:
1. 1970 Pontiac GTO. 455HO. 360 claimed horsepower, 10 less than the Ram IV small block 400. However, the 455 ran much smoother and provided power in a wider range of RPMs than the tempermental 400.
2. 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle 454SS LS6. When GM lifted their ban on large displacement engines in mid-sized cars, they wasted no time in stuffing 454 cubic inches of big block goodness into the Chevelle SS. The LS6 option was rated at 450 horsepower and could propel the Chevelle from 0-60 in 5.2 seconds.
3. 1967 Chevrolet Corvette. 427 cubic inch motor putting out an "official" 430 horsepower, the 427 was much closer to 500 or more actual horsepower. This optio was significantly less abundant than the 454 big block which would go into later Stingrays.
4. 1965 Chevrolet Impala SS. 427 cubic inches of V8 goodness offering up 425 ponies. What's not to love about that? The Super Sport option on the Impala was available in any engine from the inline 6 cylinder 235 ci through the Turbo-Jet 427, meaning that when you pulled up next to one at the stoplight, just about anything was possible...
5. 1969 Hurst/Olds. Oldsmobile was able to get around GM's edict that no car smaller than the Corvette could have a big block engine by claiming that the motors were Hursts. That's how they were able to get a 455 cubic inch plant in a mid-sized car when everyone else was running hot 400s.
6. 1976 Pontiac Trans Am. The '76 T/A was the last to feature the 455 ci big block, but by that time the motors were rapidly having the life choked out of them by emissions and such that the more commonly known 400 (the 6.6L emblazoned on the hood in the middle of the phoenix) was just about faster.
7. 1970 Buick Gran Sport. Might as well throw the GS on the list, as it also had a 455 ci motor under the hood. The GS completes the GM quadruplets (442/Chevelle/GTO), the mid-sized, insanely overpowered muscle cars competing against the Torinos and Chargers.
8. 1971 Cadillac El Dorado. The biggest of the big blocks, the El Dorado had a 500 cubic inch monster under the hood. The 500 made only 400 ponies, but was rated for up to 500 hp... Mated to a front-wheel drive car that was several blocks long, it made for interesting performance specs to say the least.
9. 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado. The '66 and '67 Toronados had to make do with a mere 425 cubic inch engine; it wasn't until the redesign in 1968 that the 455 motor was available. Either offering made more than enough power for the personal luxury land yacht.
10. 1968 Pontiac Bonneville. The '68 Bonnie had a 390 horsepower 428 ci motor available as an option, however the triple Rochester carbs were no longer available. Interestingly enough, the 428 put out more power than the larger 455 ci motor.
How did that expression go? Passes everything but a gas station? That pretty much sums up this list. These were cars built for a different time period; days when gas was pennies for a gallon, roads were wide open and not clogged tight with road warriors; when adventure was to be had on the open road, and the journey itself was as much fun as the destination.
One thing's for certain - no one's going to write a song about the Prius...
That is all.
5 comments:
Even the cop asked me "Man, what'd you have in this thing?"
I had a fouuurrrr-fifty-five Rocket!
The very kind you drive.
You wanna watch yourself when you take that turn
'Cause she was made for the straight aways
She grew up hating Chevrolets
She's a Rocket, she was made to burn
Lord, she's a Rocket... and she was made to burn
My girlfriend's mother had a 70 Skylark with a 455 in it. They made me take that when I took Karen to the prom instead of my POS Pontiac Tempest... Man, what a car.
BEST. FRIDAY. POST. EVER.
What a collection of great cars.
And reading it made me think that, as with cartridges, you want an engine whose displacement starts with a 4 ...
We had 454ci powered ambulances in the 1980s, before we had to convert to diesels. Those things would fly.
Nitpicking (again...) this is Top Ten GM cars powered by a Big Block V8, rather than powered by L18's--In the 60's, each car division had their own big block, Often with similar sizes, but mechanically different from each other.
Thanks for making me feel all nostalgic, Jay. I drove a built 83 Chevy Scottsdale 4-door 3/4 ton for a couple years, until Grandma sold it. I should have bought it, but I was getting married, and was talked into letting it go. That beast had a freshly rebuilt Tonawanda 454 under the hood. 8 miles to the gallon, loaded, empty, uphill, downhill, headwind, tailwind, it didn't care... Man, I loved that truck.
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