Happy 426 Hemi Mopar Day!

By Dave Ashton

The infamous 426 HEMI engine turned 50 back in 2014 on April 26th, a nice coincidence with the numbering 426, so we thought it was only appropriate to give you some idea of why this mighty engine is still so popular today.

Today’s 10,000HP funny cars that can top 300 mph are still based on the 426 HEMI and with some of the rarest muscle cars in the world housing the Hemi engines, it’s no surprise the name is so renowned.

Tom Hoover, the father of the Hemi came up with the design in 1962 with the engine being finally built in January 1964 to take on the 1964 Daytona 500. Casting issues were the main initial problems with blocks cracking, but this was soon solved for the likes of Richard Petty, Jimmy Pardue and Paul Goldsmith to blitz the field in their Plymouths for the coming seasons.

1966 saw the the appearance of the ‘street Hemi’ to take on Ford and General Motors with the 426ci. and 440ci. versions winning the fields at AHRA, NASCAR and NHRA. Now arguably the best muscle car engine ever built.

There are some great resources online, which document the mighty engine. The Scat Pack Forums have a great page showing the men and women that were involved with driving the cars that housed the 426 HEMI back in the day.

Wikipedia is obviously a good starting point for getting some background history on the Hemi engine as you can find here.

We obviously have a ton of information on the mighty 426 Hemi engine from News, videos and example muscle cars, which you can check out here.

Allpar also have a wealth of information from technical specifications and the whole back history of the engine as you can find here.

Even today, the Hemi name still resonates and is used today in modern Mopar’s.

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