Posted on 09/06/2018 1:25:26 PM PDT by Red Badger
Yes it was....................
But yeah... a workhorse of a small truck engine that just couldn't keep up with modern emissions requirements.
Nobody informed these guys:
Wish I still had my straight 6 ‘51 Chevy.
I had two Plymouth 225 slant 6 engines...put around 250,000 miles on them and the engines still ran good. The rest of the car died. Transmissions were good too. 1965 and 1967 Valiant and Belvedere. Single barrel carburetors...good gas mileage. Super easy to work on. Frequently putting ball joints on the front suspensions for those cars.
I put a new long block in my 75 Chevy C-20 pick up
about 10 years ago and it’s still going strong.
292 Six inline.
“Powerful V8s took over the American auto industry from the 1950s to the 1970s as cars grew monumentally large and gas was cheap,....”
Here’s an example: Premium gas for my ‘69 GTO was $0.379 when it was new in 11/68. Now a gallon of premium is about $2.80. Adjusted for inflation, that 1968 gallon of premium gas cost $2.70 in today’s dollars (hard to believe, I know, but it is true: https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm). Note, however, that my GTO never got over 15 mpg, whereas today’s rough equivalent - a Camaro with a “big” (by today’s standards) V-8 probably gets about 22.5 mpg. Thus, the price-adjusted cost of gas per mile is about 1/3 LESS right now than in the pre-OPEC “glory days” of the late ‘60s.
These are the good old days - especially with how performance cars accelerate and handle.
My dad bought a 1950 Pontiac Silver Streak Straight 8 new. He got an automatic because my mother assured him she would learn to drive an automatic (never happened). However, I learned to drive in it. It had decent power and was a tank. While driving down a narrow street, someone opened a door in my path. I didn’t realize I had knocked that door off until checking the rearview mirror a few moments later .
It lasted 14 years. By then it was only getting 8 mpg.
It's a 2015; just got it, to replace a 2005 that I put 480,000 miles on.
Maybe you should look at a better class of FWD cars ...
Well the inline six I drive everyday has somewhere between 600 and 650 hp. I don’t know how much torque. (Yeah it’s in the 03 Pete I drive. A Cat C15, model 6NZ. Probably the best truck engine Cat ever made. Most days it will average just over 7 mpg, which ain’t bad for a big truck)
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Never will I spend money on one of those blister bombs.
The Maz cost $1000 and had only 40,000 on the odometer.
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Smooth, torquey, reliable, long lasting, and plenty of power as long as the power to weight ratio was reasonable.
They sound pretty good too. The BMW Z4 has them (among many other models) and bone stock they sound mean. Makes it a low cost of ownership too. I had a straight 6 in a 1970 Camaro back in the day. Kept running and running and running.
I learned to drive in a Checker Marathon. Since then, I’ve been behind the wheel of ... smallest was a Prius (rental car) ... largest was a 25,000lb commercial truck (GMC chassis). Everything has its place. For snow, I’ll take the front drive.
everything has its pros and cons:
https://www.carthrottle.com/post/v6-vs-straight-six-the-pros-and-cons/
Had two Plymouths and a Dodge rot and fall apart around their 225 slant sixes. That torsion bar front suspension just wasn’t made for the pothole filled streets of Fun City in the 60s, 70s and 80s. The low distributor would sometimes fall afoul of the rinse in a car wash. (LOL)
A lot of cruising boats used them also. Not new, but as replacement engines. They could just hum along, day after day.
It is a straight six with 120° crank throws. The heads and valve train have evolved but BMW has been producing a straight six of the same basic design for automobiles continuously since 1933.
IMHO, the two best automotive engines available today are the Dodge Ram/Cummins Diesel I-6 and the Subaru Boxster H-4. I own one of each so I’m a little prejudiced... I do not have any experience with the Subaru Boxster H-6 but I suspect that is a good engine too.
I read an article in Popular Mechanics years ago that discussed engine designs and which were the smoothest. I-3, H-4, I-6, V-8, V-12, V-16, etc. were all inherently smooth. I-4 was awful and required a counterweight on the crank to prevent the engine from vibrating itself apart. Put two I-4’s side-by-side to make a V-8 and that balanced it out. V-6 is a poor design that requires counterweights as well. Two V-6’s make a V-12 which is balanced but would make a huge engine.
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The motor pictured is not an “L6.”
It is an “I6.”(overhead valves)
L6 is a flathead.
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