Since 1955 one engine has been synonymous with hot rodding, horsepower, and performance. The legendary small block Chevy. Today we begin a journey into the history of the small block Chevy and over several articles we hope to give everyone a better understand of just what this engine is, why it’s so popular, and what it’s capable of.
Like all great things, the small block Chevy was born from the need to compete with Ford. Chevy’s Corvette and Bel Air both suffered from lack luster engine choices in the early 1950s and as a result could not compete with the offerings from Ford. So in 1955 the small block Chevy had come from idea to production in just 15 weeks! You can’t get a modern car company to order lunch in that amount of time. The first small block Chevy’s were put in the 1955 Corvette and Bel Air in the form of the now legendary “might mouse” 265 cu in V8. The engine was hugely popular and quickly gained a reputation in stock car and other forms of racing for its might and reliability.
For today let’s just look at the details of the very early small blocks. Namely the 265 and 283. The very first iteration the 265 was a pushrod engine with hydraulic lifters. This engine made 165hp on the standard two barrel but a four barrel was optional helping the engine to produce 195hp. By 1956 the Corvette came with three options on the 265 a four barrel (210hp), twin four barrel(225hp), and twin four barrel with a bigger cam(240 hp).
The 283 would soon follow in 1957. This was a bored out version of the original 265, but resulted in thin cylinder walls. Eventually the engine would be recast so that proper wall width was achieved after boring. A variety of options in carbs, cams, and even fuel injection were added to the engine giving the buyer plenty of choices when optioning there car. The Ramjet model was the first Chevy engine to produce 1hp/cu/in and only the second engine in the world to do so an impressive feat in engine engineering in 1957.
The first family of GM small blocks would end with a rather pedestrian 307 model that was a stroked version of the 283. It was not known for it’s performance and did not have a high performance version available. Soon GM would move on into the muscle car era leaving what many consider the first generation of small blocks behind. We will take a look at the second generation of GM small block later this week.