History of the 409 Chevy
Immortalized in song by the Beach Boys, the 409 Chevy became part of the American automotive culture. The strong big-block V8 was a vital piece of the American Muscle Car era of the 1960's. Initially introduced in the 1961 Chevrolet Impala SS 409 model, it soon became the cool engine to have and would instantly make anyone who owned one very popular. So what was it about the 409 that made it so popular?
While it is true that the 409 had a very distinct powerful sound, it was its' performance that was really turning heads. Race car driver Dan Gurney took a stock 409 Impala and went on to win race after race against some very popular racing cars. The stock 409 beat a lap record set by a suped-up fuel-injected 283 Corvette. It was leading a race against a 3.8 litre twin-cam Jaguar in England until the Impalas wheel fell off in the middle of the race. The 409 also became a suprise winner of the 1961 NASCAR Winternationals event. With that, the legend of the 409 was born.
The 409 was actually Chevrolets' answer to the popular Ford 375 bhp. It would become a staple of Chevrolet engines well into the 1970's and be used in everything from Chevrolet Bel-Airs to the ever popular Chevy Corvette.
The Chevrolet 409 came with a choice of a single or dual-four-barrel carburetor. It originally produced 360 hp using a single-four-barrel Carter AFB carburetor. Before long, the engine was improved to produce 425 hp at 6200 rpm's. Over the next several years, Chevrolet continued to improve its design, reaching a performance level of 435 hp with a 3x2 barrel carburetor in 1967.
The introduction of the 409 engine only served to solidify Chevrolets reputation as a great performance company. Chevy created the SS logo which stood for Super Sport. The moniker came about from a comment made by Zora Arkus-Duntov, father of the Chevy Corvette. When asked if the SS emblem of the Corvette meant it was a sports car, he stated that it was a Super Sports Car. The SS moniker came to symbolize high performance vehicles and was soon expanded to many other General Motors vehicles. In 2003 the SS logo was added to the Chevrolet Silverado with several more models scheduled to be added to the line.
One thing is for sure, the 409 Chevy will forever be etched into American folklore as the beginning of a new era in automotive technology and design. It may be a cliche', but they just don't make them like that anymore.
