:-) He probably knew and endjoyed the challenge to gear the rear end. You'd have to gear a 409" (all else being equal) higher (e.g. 3.73) to boost the torque higher into the mid-rpm range. A 409" needed no off-the-line help .. . it tended to flag toward the top end, exactly where a Hemi would just keep going and going with its better breathing (especially if the ports were polished and the headers balanced). Funny, I remember very, very few hemi Mopars around here for some inexplicable reason .. . it was all (by '64) Ford 427" vs Chevy 427". I believe the Fords had the edge at that time, Chevy having just dropped out of racing .. .
wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@storefull-2194.public.lawson.webtv.net...
Well hell, I 'wondered' if chevy was bringing back the old 409. This is
> very deceptive advertising, especially to those of us who use to race
> back in those days! But with Dodge bringing back the Hemi...I
> wondered.......
>
> Some folks who ran those 409s could 'tune' them up pretty-good, but my
> Hemi was never beaten by one.....had some great races though and I
> always respected them. I remember this one ol-boy had a Red Impala
> coupe with a factory-badass 409. It was a beautiful car, probably worth
> a massive amount of money today, if it were still alive. We had a lot
> of 'match' races....he became very frustrated trying to beat my Hemi.
> The problem was he drove the car on the street and his gearing was wrong
> for drag racing....should I have told him? lol
>
> Dave S(Texas)
>