Yeah and IIRC that's about the time restricter plates and all that garbage began to appear on the scene.
I always laugh out loud when I hear someone expounding on the virtues of 396's and 409s as race engines! Those thing began life as TRUCK engines.
@Bigun Ironically enough,I own a 409 Chevy engine. Was driving my old (62) Ford wrecker back home one day and had plenty of time,so I decided to stop by a garage owned by a guy I knew to see what he was doing. He was a big GM guy,and asked me if I knew anybody interested in buying a 409 Chevrolet engine that ran good. He bought it to put in his rollback,but then found a 454 and wanted to sell it.
I told him "I'm no fan of GM engines,but tell me how much you want for it,and I will spread the word around for you and try to help you find a buyer.
He says "$100".
I say "Wait a minute while I back my wrecker up to it. Here's 100 bucks." Damn thing was complete right down to the breather and fan belt,and when I pulled the heads I discovered a stock bore with no ridges..
I have a old late-40's-early 50's "East Coast Style" 32 Ford 5 window coupe that is channeled and has a wheelbase extended to 122 inches with a suicide front end with a genuine Dago dropped axle up front. I bought it to get it running,drive it around one summer,and then sell it. I was going to drop a 350/350 in it,but now I am thinking about adding a dual quad intake to the 409,and bolting up a Powerglide to it. I'm betting that 409 with the finned aluminum "Weiand" scroll valve covers I found for it will raise the selling price by 3 grand.
Here is a photo of the 32 I took the day I bought it. The chassis was bent,twisted,and "boxed" using sheet metal and body plastic. One side was 3/8th of an inch higher than the other,and the shocks were bolted to the radius rods,so they didn't work at all. I ended up cutting it off and sliding a new chassis stub made from boxed plate over the stub
The other two photos are of it as it sits in my shop today. The engine in it is a junker 283 I pulled out of the weeds to use to make motor mounts,trans mount,headers,and radiator mounts. I had the 6x2 intake laying around the shop,so I just sit in on top of the engine to freak out people who have never seen one
I think if I paint this one baby blue with red flames and put some slot mags or 5 spoke Cragers on it,I can get some pretty good money for it at one of the big swap meets.