Usually whenever someone mentions either Chrysler or Mopar, most people think of the Hemi V8 engine. Introduced in 1951, the Hemi engine was known as the FirePower engine. The reason it was called a Hemi was due to its hemispherical shaped combustion chamber. This shape allowed more power to be produced by the engine.
Then there's the 426 Hemi, which is known as the Elephant because it weighed about the same. Despite being 7.0 Liters, it was able to produce 425 horsepower. It was used many times in NASCAR, most famously by Richard Petty. It was also used during drag races. One engine was able to propel a car up to 200 mph.
By 1971, stricter emissions laws and raising gas prices killed off the 426 Hemi. It's still sometimes used by drag racers and is an engine that's sought out by collectors. Today, a modern 5.7L Hemi is used in the current Dodge Challenger, which isn't quite hemispherical anymore. Even though the big block, muscle car era is gone, we can still celebrate 50 years of one of the heaviest and most powerful Hemi V8 engines ever built.
