Re: [FWDLK] First Hemi

[brian <xm2cars@xxxxxxx>]

Even before WWII an enterprising young man named Thomas William Conoulty in Australia was building a little car called the Austin Seven Comet.  A successful racer with cycles in the early 1900s he eventually moved to building and racing cars. In the late 1920s he negotiated an agency for selling Austin automobiles in South Wales and soon after designed a new cylinder head for their engines to make them faster on the track. Conoulty combined this new head with a supercharger which proved to be very popular - and fast.

By 1933 he needed more power and changed the head design to an OHV with a true hemispherical combustion chamber. It included a pressed steel rocker cover with deep tubes for the enclosed plugs providing access.  He was granted a patent for the design on August 26, 1935.

This is the earliest account of a true "hemi" engine that I am aware of, perhaps others know of an earlier one?

(Conoulty's interesting story is told in AQ Vol. 42 #1)

Brian
D500s in MI

Joseph Bouboulis wrote:

Well the first hemi (not production!) was a prototype fighter engine built
during WWII. They built 3 2200 ci/2500 hp V16 hemi engines and tested them
but they never reached production. Wouldn't THAT be something in an FL car!

                    Garrett
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                    05/10/02 12:07 AM
                    Please respond to
                    Garrett

When was the Hemi first introduced?

I just saw this ad on eBay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1826565875&r=0

&t=0

Supposedly its a 1951 331 hemi...I didn't think the hemi was introduced
until a year or two later than that.

Is it the eBay listing, or am I mixin' up my facts?

Garrett in Central Ohio

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