My name is Don, I don't have a 348/409 right now, but did have an unrestored 58 Impala 2dr ht that won the unrestored class at, I think, the 1996 Impala Assoc nationals in Spearfish SD.
I am on a quest to stop the incorrect rumor that the 348/409 was initially a truck engine. Does anyone here remember Fran Preve? He passed away some years ago but he worked at the Tonawanda Engine plant and was the acknowledged expert on the 348/409 at the time. He showed me the actual paper documentation that traced the origins of the beloved "W" head 348/409, and nowhere is it called a truck engine. The very first document mentioning a bigger engine after the 265 small block was approved, mentions the need for that bigger engine and that expected production was something like 10 times the number of car engines as truck engines, and both were mentioned at the same time. No mention of building a "truck" engine, but just like almost all engines before or since, it was intended from day one as a dual purpose engine, with the majority going into cars.
One of Fran's Pet Peeves, from Fran Preve (fun to say that)
was to get this incorrect information about the 348/409 corrected. His widow still has that documentation to the best of my knowledge. IN fact Fran was a friend of mine, and used my unrestored '58 as a guide, to help build a display engine for the Tonawanda factory. Because my engine had never been painted, he could see what was and was not painted, and how all the parts were plated or presented.
Anyway, I just read that the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals coming up November 21-22 in Rosemont, IL is going to have a feature on the 409 and their article in their publication promoting the show, once again, incorrectly calls this engine a "truck" engine. To be exact, the quote is: "The 409 may have been based on the 348 cubic inch truck engine that was introduced in 1958, but nobody can dispute the impact it has made on our sport.
It is high time that this engine gets the correct recognition as a car engine first and truck engine second. In fact this site repeats it, I would invite the people in charge to contact me to talk about this.
I would ask everyone here to tell people this story, and set straight, anyone publishing the wrong story.
Don
I am on a quest to stop the incorrect rumor that the 348/409 was initially a truck engine. Does anyone here remember Fran Preve? He passed away some years ago but he worked at the Tonawanda Engine plant and was the acknowledged expert on the 348/409 at the time. He showed me the actual paper documentation that traced the origins of the beloved "W" head 348/409, and nowhere is it called a truck engine. The very first document mentioning a bigger engine after the 265 small block was approved, mentions the need for that bigger engine and that expected production was something like 10 times the number of car engines as truck engines, and both were mentioned at the same time. No mention of building a "truck" engine, but just like almost all engines before or since, it was intended from day one as a dual purpose engine, with the majority going into cars.
One of Fran's Pet Peeves, from Fran Preve (fun to say that)
was to get this incorrect information about the 348/409 corrected. His widow still has that documentation to the best of my knowledge. IN fact Fran was a friend of mine, and used my unrestored '58 as a guide, to help build a display engine for the Tonawanda factory. Because my engine had never been painted, he could see what was and was not painted, and how all the parts were plated or presented.Anyway, I just read that the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals coming up November 21-22 in Rosemont, IL is going to have a feature on the 409 and their article in their publication promoting the show, once again, incorrectly calls this engine a "truck" engine. To be exact, the quote is: "The 409 may have been based on the 348 cubic inch truck engine that was introduced in 1958, but nobody can dispute the impact it has made on our sport.
It is high time that this engine gets the correct recognition as a car engine first and truck engine second. In fact this site repeats it, I would invite the people in charge to contact me to talk about this.
I would ask everyone here to tell people this story, and set straight, anyone publishing the wrong story.
Don
