Chevrolet Big-Block Muscle Cars by Anthony Young (1993, Paperback)

I like Anthony Young's books, and this is another really good one--except for the title, which is misleading. This is a follow up to his book that describes the history of the small-block engine. This book is about Big Blocks (the engines), more than it's about big-block muscle CARS. Once you're past that, he does a wonderful job of balancing the historical details of the engines with the historical details of corporate politics, the vehicles the engines were installed in, and the demands of public policy. He provides a nice background to the history of the engines themselves. There are photos and text that discuss the engineering goals, manufacturing, and the personalities involved.

Engines covered: 348 and 409 "W" blocks, and the 396-454 including some info on crate engines and a bit of information on the new-at-the-time-of-printing Gen 5 version of the 454. He just touches on the 502 on the last page of text before the appendices. The book is old enough that the Gen 6 and Gen 7 (8.1L) are not covered.

The appendices include a year-by-year chronology of the engines, and a couple of pages of specs. There is about one half page of index.

My favorite part of this book is the story of Cliff Gottlob's 1967 L-88 powered Corvette, which he raced in the 24 Hours of Daytona, in '69. They drove (not trailered) the car to the race, and were voted "Most likely to drop out during the first hour" by the other racers. Buy the book--read what happened--you'll laugh like I did.

Printed in 1993, disappointingly, in Communist China, but on slick paper and having an overall feel of "quality" despite it's despotic origins--at least when new. My copy, which I've had for several years but have not abused, now has a damaged binding as if the glue holding it wasn't up to the job. So the book "looks" quality, but in fact may have some problems in it's production. Mine's falling apart.

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