Happy Monday, Big_Blocker here a little bit early for the Muscle Car of the Week seeing as last week we were without one (a new feature will be this coming Thursday as well). This week, we are going back to the beginning of the finest decade for muscle cars to look at a car that changed the way Detroit built high performance machines. If you ever listened to The Beach Boys, you may know already. The 1961 Chevrolet Impala SS with the “Oh so fine” 409.

By the early 1960’s the Big Three American automakers were pretty sure that the best way to sell cars was to “Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday”. It made sense as the most common place to show off high performance cars was at the local drag strip where, if you had the fastest car, everyone else would want one just like it. In 1961, two years before the car makers would have to back out of open racing support, Chevrolet had a brand spanking new engine design that would dominate on the track. This engine was based on a W-head configuration in which the intake and exhaust valves were staggered in order to shorten the block length. The result was an awkward looking head that had gaps of metal making it look like a W. However weird the design looked, the engine was a true performer and when it displaced 348 cubic inches made 340 horsepower. That was good, but not great, especially for racing purposes. So what did the boys at Chevrolet do? Well, they bored the 348 block an extra .2 inches and stroked it another .25 to make 409 inches of displacement.

The new 409 was a monster on the drag strip and with its 360 horses with the 4 barrel carburetor equipped could rip down the track in 14.05 seconds with nothing but a steeper rear end. 1961 was the first year of the 409 and during its first production run, the 409 was dropped between the fenders of 142 special Impalas that year. In fact, the Impalas with the first run of 409 were known as the first true Super Sports and also included: chrome body molding, power steering, power brakes, wheel covers, 4-speed floor shift tranny, heavy duty suspension and a steep cog in the rear differential. This was the first year of the legendary package and because of this, I chose it as the feature of this weeks installment.

For serious racers at the time however, the 409 could be ordered bored and stroked to 427 cubic inches and was known as the Z-11 drag package. This monster of an engine was fitted with a dual-quad carb setup and rated at 430 horses. Not for the faint of heart, but that is for another week perhaps.

The 409 would continue to sell in large numbers, especially with the youth groups until 1965 when the Mark IV big block that displaced 396 cubic inches became the go-to motor. However, if you were young and had some money back in ‘61, there was nothing like the sound of that 4 barrel sucking air into that legendary looking and sounding engine and cruising to your favorite tunes. Like say, The Beach Boys? Big_Blocker out.