Why the early Hemis were discontinued (Was The Forward Look)

["A. Foster" <monkeypuzzle1@xxxxxxx>]

Don;
 The early hemis were dropped for a number of reasons, all of which are more
plausible then hemis being banned.
Starting in the late fifties, I think in 57', there was a voluntary industry
ban on racing but that was limited to manufacturer sponsored cars. This was
on cars not just hemi powered ones. In the seventies it was a different
story. The Hemis were banned from racing, thanks to General Bullmoose, and
since it was a small production race engine it didn't make sense, at the
time, to continue making them.
 The main reason that they were dropped in 1959, and the polysphere
developed, was the cost of production. Each division in the Chrysler
Corporation had their own Hemi engine and there was very little interchange,
in the way of parts, between one division's engines and another. In mass
production economy of scale is everything and each division having its own
unique but similar engine makes no sense. Another reason for the cost was
the fact that the hemi required two rocker arm shafts and a machined
combustion chamber. This was the reason why the polys were developed, they
had most of the positive attributes of a Hemi but had one rocker arm shaft
and a cast combustion chamber, making them cheaper to produce.
 No one wants to hear this but by the time Chrysler discontinued making the
early hemis they were an outdated engine anyway. This is not to say that the
Hemispherical concept was outdated, many engines before, during, and since
were built with Hemi heads, just that the Chrysler design was. By the time
the RB wedge engines replaced the hemis in 1959, actually in 1958 on DeSotos
and Dodges, the hemis had been bored and stroked to their practical limit.
In order to go any further in displacement with any of the early Hemis they
would have had to come out with a new block.
 In short it only made sense to take advantage of the situation and
rationalise engine design between the five divisions, RB big blocks for the
large cars and "A" series small blocks for the smaller cars. Since the
Windsor's polysphere shared the same block as the Chrysler Hemi they
disappeared as well but the poly lived on until the mid 60's in the "A"
series engines. Had Chrysler used the same Hemi V8 engine in all divisions,
and high octane gas not come on the scene, they wouldn't have had the same
incentive to change over, except maybe for reasons of trimming weight or
increasing displacement.
Best Regards
Arran Foster
1954 Imperial Newport
Needing A Left Side Taillight Bezel and other trim parts.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Nonnweiler" <dnonnwei@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, December 22, 2002 7:50 PM
Subject: Re: IML: The Forward Look- more than just fins/Exner SAE Paper


> >From what I've been told part of the reason Chrysler stopped making the
hemi
> first in 1959 and then in 1970 was they could not use them in the racing
> circut anymore, plus the cost of making them was expensive  and shortage
of
> fuel in the 70's
> Don
> 59 Crown