Have at it
They left off the Honda 50cc motor from the Super Cub motorbike (You meet the nicest people on a Honda, motor). As of 2014, well over 87,000,000 built and still in production for third-world countries. I had one as my first motorcycle as a kid. I agree that the 4.0 Jeep I-6 was a winner. Still have one in a 1996 Cherokee that’s falling apart around it. Never owned any of the V8’s mentioned.
The Chrysler 318 isn’t on it? You got to be kidding.
The versatility of the Chevrolet 350 was incredible. If a vehicle had four wheels and a bow tie, the 350 was an option. The Ford 390 had similar versatility working well in trucks, family cruisers, or street rods. I have an old Ford truck with a 390 which still purrs like a kitten. I have a 427 side-oiler which I intend to rebuild, even though I don’t know what I’m going to put it in. There were some fine engines off that FE block.
aren’t the 454 and 427 almost the same engine?
I’ll never forget my friend Greg’s father’s 1970-something Ford Torino with a 351 engine. (he/we drove it much more than his Dad ;) This innocent-looking “sleeper” was a flat-out beast & could fly! Blew away many cars in the neighborhood, containing greater horses, off the line @ traffic lights ;))
I have to throw in the Nissan VQ30DE 3.0 6cyl. Had one in my 98 Maxima and not only was it still running strong at 300K when I sold it recently but did not experience any perceptible loss of power until about 220k. Thing was right as rain and ran on rails.
Great list, and posters have added other really good engines that deserve equal billing. It just doesn’t look like a list of ten is enough.
I have to add a couple more sort of quirky favorites of mine that I used to have in a number of old trucks:
International Harvester 302/345/392.
They were workhorses that were hard to kill.
Had a four cylinder in one Scout that was the same IH block as the V-8s, but they closed off one side. It was a real dog though. Not nearly enough power to suit me.
And for something really obscure, we had a couple of the humungous old IH 549s. They were practically indestructible. We had them in single axle semi tractors, and those things would pull a 55,000 pound trailer down the road at 55 mph. Might take awhile to get up to speed, but they would pull it all day long.
Of course, they were in cabover tractors, which meant the linkage to the transmission was really, really complex. It took a real artist to shift those danged things.
Small-block Chevy: check. Big-block Chevy: check. 426 Hemi: check.
Pretty much covers it in my book.
I would put the Chevy 454 ahead of the Hemi.