My 1963 Nova SS with a six cylinder 194 cubic inch engine had so much room around the engine you could get at anything.
When I bought it, it had blow-by so bad it would raise the dipstick and blow oil all over the underside of the hood.
Tapped a dowel into the dipstick hole and drove it for 50,000 miles.
Hey it’s always good to keep the underside of the hood well lubricated!
A classmate of mine had a '60 Plymouth Savoy with a Slant Six, and it was also easy to work on. The engine sat there with plenty of of room on the right side he didn't need, and wide-open spaces on the left.
You could also sit there and watch them rust away. And you were never getting 150,000 miles on that 1963 Chevy engine either. Sorry. Give me todays cars anytime. I’m driving a 14 years old Nissan right now and it runs just fine… I have no hesitation taking it on a road trip.
My 1960 Chevy Biscayne had so much room, I could put a person under the hood, shut the hood and drive it. Now they wouldn’t enjoy the ride LOL, but there was that much room.
Changing a fan belt was easy, spark plugs were easy. Even the starter was easy, but nowadays, nothing is easy.