The Muscle Car Era - 1960 Year In Review

Ford’s 352 Engine

Auto historians generally agree that the muscle-car era of U.S. automotive history ran from 1960 through 1972. Not that there weren't some strong, exciting cars around before the 1960s. But that was the year Ford threw down the first major musclecar challenge, in the form of its 352 Special engine - a big-block V8 that was engineered from the oil pan to the air cleaner to give virtual race track performance and durability for everyday street driving. Previous high performance street engines had been essentially off-the-shelf parts combinations, thrown together, and not engineered as a package. The U.S. auto market was never quite the same again after the 1960 352 Special Fords.

The 352 Special engine was based on the big-block FE design that was introduced in 1958 for the heavier Ford-Merc passenger cars and light trucks. It always had an unusually rugged bottom end, so little had to be done for the street performance version, other than adding beefier rods, a 60 psi oil pump and harder bearings. The cylinder heads were not changed much either, other than a switch to smaller combustion chambers to bring compression up to 10.6:1 with flat-top pistons. The big improvements were in breathing: a neat aluminum intake manifold with a 550 cfm Holley 4-barrel and an open element air cleaner. Plus it got a hot 306-degree solid-lifter camshaft with 0.480-inch valve lift. This was considered a pretty radical cam in those days. Also an important feature of the new engine was a set of split-flow cast-iron exhaust manifolds with large passages that were as efficient as steel tubing headers. They weighed almost 80 pounds total, but they sure helped exhaust breathing. Ford engineers didn't hesitate to rate their new toy at 360 gross hp at 6000 rpm.

The new Ford high performance street engine looked great on paper. Unfortunately, there was one fatal flaw in the design. For some reason, Ford used only standard valve springs with the high-lift cam. The result was predictable: The valves floated at revs as low as'5000 rpm. There was no way an aggressive driver could get full potential out of the engine. Ford engineers soon realized their mistake and started installing 270-pound valve springs in the engines in the spring of 1960, which allowed at least 5800 rpm before valve float. But those first few hundred cars with the soft springs didn't help Ford's street reputation in that day. Everybody was feasting on those early models.

Motown Records

There wasn't a whole lot of great music to feast on in 1960. But a few musical trends popped up during the year, including surf, with the revving up of the Ventures' "Walk Don't Run," a brilliant guitar-driven instrumental. Chubby Checker's "The Twist" was perhaps the most influential record of the year, as couples began to dance apart. In fact, people did not need a partner to dance anymore. Motown Records was founded in 1960 but would not be a force until the following year. Still, 1960 saw the release of three great R&B classics: the Drifters' ballad "Save the Last Dance For Me," a real gripping dance song; Sam Cooke's grinding "Chain Gang"; and Brook Benton and Dinah Washington's romantic "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)."

Elvis Presley, who was released from the Army in March, had two Top 10 hits for the year with the ballads "It's Now or Never" and "Stuck On You," while G.I. Blues was his best remembered film of 1960. Other big songs included Johnny Horton's droning "Running Bear," Jimmy Jones' jumpy "Candy Man,"Brenda Lee's wistful'Tm Sorry," MarkDenny's teen paean "Teen Angel," Jim Reeves' "He'll Have to Go" and the Everly Brothers' wonderful but frivolous "Cathy's Clown." In retrospect, 1960 was a pretty mild year musically at the top of the charts. But some of the novelty songs were more fun, like one of the all-time great car songs, "Hot Rod Lincoln," by both Johnny Bond and Charlie Ryan, and "Alley Oop" by the Hollywood Argyles and then by Dante and the Evergreens. And finally there was Brian Hyland's summer-in-the-sun ditty, "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini." Dion left the Belmonts in 1960, but not before collaborating on "Where or When." Other big split-ups: Ben E. King left the Drifters for a solo career, Johnny Maestro left the Crests and Tony Williams left the Platters.

Though rock 'n' roll was celebrating its sixth birthday in 1960, the best-selling record of the year was the dreamy instrumental "Theme From A Summer Place" by Percy Faith, which reflected the conservative nature of the country under the Republican administration of Dwight Eisenhower. But the nation was beginning to experience a shift toward liberalism, as John F. Kennedy edged out Richard Milhous Nixon in the presidential election. At about the same time, Robert Zimmerman, a.k.a. Bob Dylan, arrived in New York's Greenwich Village. Bobby Darin married Sandra Dee in the theatrical wedding of the year, and Lucille Ball divorced Desi Arnaz. Trampolines were the big fad for 1960, in the days when people took responsibility for their own actions, and attorneys stuck to real estate deals.

Meanwhile, the Cold War heated up around the world. Francis Gary Powers was shot down in his U2 spy plane over the Soviet Union, while Premier Nikita Khrushchev took off his shoe and pounded it on a table at the United Nations. Fidel Castro threatened the United States, and the Bay of Pigs invasion was planned by the Eisenhower administration to be carried out in 1961. While campaigning for president, John F. Kennedy called for the establishment of the Peace Corps, so Americans could help out in poverty-stricken areas around the globe. The Kennedy/ Nixon TV debates were talked about for weeks, and the media pundits felt that Nixon's pale complexion lost the election for him. Maybe Dick should have taken up street racing - he would have had a decent assortment of hardware to choose from. Besides the Ford 352, there were three or four other 1960 model engine options that set the pace in street racing that year - when used in the lighter full-size coupe bodies and with the right transmission and axle gearing combinations. Here's a brief rundown:

Chevrolet Small-Block

Chevrolet Small-Block. Not in 1960, we're afraid. In the late 1950s, light Chevy coupes with high performance 283 Corvette engines practically ruled the streets, especially the 270-hp version with dual 4-barrels and the Duntov cam. But in 1960, the Chev people decided to use just the big-block W engine for all performance chores in the full-size cars. The strongest small-block you could get was the regular 230-hp 4-barrel version And this just couldn't cut any mustard in a street scene that was going more and more to big-block V8s and cubes numbering up to 400.

Chevrolet 348 Tri-Power "Police" Engine

Chevrolet 348 Tri-Power "Police" Engine. Yes, they often called the stronger engine combinations "police" engines in the early musclecar days to confuse the safety freaks and insurance people. There were actually several hot versions of the 348 Chev big-block, depending on the combination of car-buretion, cam timing and compression. The most popular in 1960 was the model rated at 335 hp at 5800 rpm. This used pretty much standard heads and short-block, but with a neat 6-barrel carbure-tion system—three Rochester 2-barrels on a big-passage manifold—11.2 5:1 pistons, dual exhaust and a camshaft that used the same 287-degree duration as the small-block Duntov cam, though with different lobe phasing to help the extra cubes. It was a pretty strong engine and could turn over 5500 rpm with solid lifters and standard valve springs. The classic horsepower rivalry between Ford and Chevy was drawing a lot of attention, but the troops over at the Mopar and Pontiac camps were busy preparing their weapons to enter the fray. Pontiac would become a major force in drag racing and the street scene immediately, while the Mopars would have to wait just a few short years before their turn in the spotlight.

Dodge-Plymouth 383 Long Ram

These "Long Ram" Mopar performance engines had to be the wildest-looking things that ever lived under a Detroit hood. Long cast-iron runner pairs for each bank of cylinders looped over the opposite head, criss-crossing in the center, with a big 4-barrel carb perched on a tiny plenum box at the end of each pair of runners. The total distance from the plenum to any intake valve was about 30 inches. The theory was to phase the bouncing suction waves on each intake stroke to give a slight supercharging effect at medium speeds— between 2500 and 3000 rpm—to help mid-range acceleration in street and highway driving. And the crazy things did work. Peak torque on those 383-cube engines was a whopping 460 lbs.-ft. t 2800 And you still 340 horses at 5000. Tremendous street engines. The only trouble was that the system cost almost $450, which was a lot of hay in 1960, especially to a young street fan just out of high school. Only a few diehard Moparites popped for the Long Rams. The ones who did were the center of attention when hoods were popped at the drive-ins. 1960 was also the first year that Dodge offered economy models based on the Chrysler B-body shell, with a 118-inch wheelbase, the same as the Plymouth. These new Dart models weighed 150 pounds less than the more luxurious C-body cars and soon caught on with the street racers.

Pontiac Trophy 425-A

Pontiac were deep into NASCAR and drag racing in the late 1950s, and it had an arm-long list of special speed parts you could buy over the counter to make your Poncho go. But the strongest Light Dodge and Plymouth performance models in 1960 offered this 383-cubic-inch Long Ram engine, with unique criss-crossing manifolds that gave 30-inch ram passages with 4-barrel carbs on each side, and these helped the engine provide tremendous mid-range torque. You could also order off the assembly line the Trophy 425-A engine - new for 1960. It was based on the 389-cube block and included the popular Tri-Power 6-barrel carburetion system, 10.75:1 compression, a hot 288-degree hydraulic cam, 4-bolt main caps and special streamlined exhaust manifolds feeding dual mufflers. The rating was 348 gross hp at 4800 rpm, with 425 lbs.-ft. of torque. (That's where the "425" in the name came from.) The mid-range torque was impressive. The new Trophy engine proved to be an excellent street hauler. It was smooth, quite flexible, with the vacuum secondary carb opening, and yet it would pull up to 5600 rpm with the hydraulic cam. When mounted in a light Catalina coupe, you had a very competitive package for those Woodward Avenue bashes (the ultimate in Detroit street racing], and at a reasonable price.

These four engines were the ones to beat on the street in 1960. Admittedly, there were some other fairly strong combinations in the 1960 model crop. All the companies except AMC had 400-plus-cubic-inch V8s with 4-barrel carburetion in their catalogs, with gross power ratings well over 300 hp. But they didn't have especially strong camshafts, very high compression, streamlined exhaust manifolds and other goodies that have always been needed to produce winning performance either on the street or the drag strip. And, of course, there were some '59 and earlier models on the street that could give the new '60s a tussle. Models like the Corvette-engined Chevs, '58 J-2 Oldsmobiles, '57 312 supercharged Fords, Chrysler 300 letter cars and a few others. But we're stressing current models in this series, so we'll let the chips fall where they will.

Back on the musical side of 1960, stereo joined mono to confuse buyers of 45 rpm records. The three biggest selling albums were The Genius of Ray Charles, Joan Baez, and Georgia on My Mind, also by Ray Charles. Marty Robins' ballad "El Paso " and Roy Orbison's "Only the Lonely" brought country and western and rockabilly to the forefront of contemporary music. Del Shannon's "Runaway" had an everlasting organ lick, a sound that influenced a lot of later rock music. And Johnny Horton's "Sink the Bismarck" brought history into music. Yet Bobby Rydell's pop "Wild One" and Paul Anka's bubble gum "Puppy Love" were favorite tunes of the year, which reflected the nature of the times.

Music wasn't the only thing that was soft in 1960, though. The manual transmissions Detroit was bolting behind its new muscular power-plants were definitely lacking in go-for-the-gusto strength. This was the first year that the famous Warner T-10 manual 4-speed was offered as a factory-installed option in full-size Chevrolet and Pontiac cars. This transmission, which first appeared in 1957 in the Corvette, was a clever modification of the Warner T-85 heavy duty 3-speed, originally designed for heavy cars and pickup trucks. In effect, the designers squeezed the four synchromesh forward gears into the main gearcase and moved reverse into a special tailshaft housing. The conversion saved GM a ton of tooling money, as well as time, and delivered a neat manual 4-speed that was relatively small, light and inexpensive to produce. But there were problems when they started using the T-10 in full-size passenger cars. To squeeze four forward gears and synchros into a space originally intended for three meant those gears had to be pretty narrow and light. The result: a lot of expensive blown 4-speeds among Chev and Pontiac street racers in 1960. The T-10 cost $188 extra when ordered on a new car, and most serious racers spent at least that much each year maintaining it.

Don't get us wrong. These 4-speeds helped a lot in street racing. Not only could you shift quicker with the accompanying floor shifters, but the closer ratios kept engine revs up on the power curve. These factors were worth 20 or 30 horses over a standard column-shift 3-speed. Especially when the engineers used slightly wider ratios in the heavier cars, like a 2.54 low gear instead of a 2.20. So 1960 was a year of transition in the area of street transmissions. At that time, Chevrolet had a heavy duty Powerglide 2-speed automatic that you could get with some hotter engine combinations, but not with any solid-lifter job capable of 6000 rpm. Chev and Pontiac performance bugs were faced with the choice between the T-85 column shift and the T-10 floor shift, which was quicker in most cases. The buyer of a 352 Special Ford had to take a 3-speed column shift and like it. When you threw a shift, you never could be quite sure which gear you would end up in. When you come down to it, every high performance transmission option in 1960 was a choice between evils.

Fortunately, the market in bolt-in floor shifters was coming on strong in those days. The Hurst people offered a wide variety of quality floor shifters for all popular transmissions, and a big portion of serious street racers used them. They were infinitely better than the sloppy factory column shifters. But a wide-ratio 3-speed was just no way to go with any hot engine, regardless of how neat the shifter. They just couldn't be speed-shifted in the way we know it today. This factor alone was enough to keep Ford and Mopar Super Stocks out of the winner's circles at national drag meets in 1960. Top Stock Eliminator at the NHRA Nationals that year went to a heavy Pontiac Catalina. The winning quarter mile time was 14.14 seconds at 102 mph. The Warner T-10 4-speed was a very big factor in that win.

Wrapping up the sounds playing on AM car radios, overall, 1960 was a bland year musically, with a few high points and numerous mediocre compositions that bring back a smile but have little substance. Rock 'n' roll was still in its infancy, as youngsters were starting to learn to play instruments and form bands. Over in Liverpool, England, Pete Best replaced Stu Sutcliffe in the Silver Beatles, soon to be the biggest thing on the international music scene. And in 1961, the Beach Boys would start singing about surf, sun, girls and cars, making 1960 the last of the bland musical years. Cars would become active ingredients in songs and song titles, and convertibles would have more of an impact with radios blasting away. And speaking of blasting away, if we had to list the top street cars for 1960 in the order of performance potential - with all factory-installed optional equipment - it might go like this:

Chevrolet 348 Tri-Power (335 hp) with 4-speed in a low-line Bel Air coupe.
Pontiac Trophy 425-A (348 hp) with 4-speed in a Catalina coupe.
Ford 352 Special (360 hp) with column shift 3-speed in a Starliner.
Dodge-Plymouth 383 Long Ram (340 hp) with column shift 3-speed in either a Dart or Fury— preferably a cheapo coupe.

Formula One Championship:

Jack Brabham (Australia) / Cooper-Climax

Wimbledon Women:

Maria Bueno d. S. Reynolds (8-6 6-0)

Wimbledon Men:

Neale Fraser d. R. Laver (6-4 3-6 9-7 7-5)

The Movies:

Psycho
The Apartment
The Sundowners
Sons and Lovers
The Alamo
Elmer Gantry
North by Northwest
Pillow Talk
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
El Paso
Anatomy of a Murder
Carry on Teacher

Academy Awards:

Best Picture - The Apartment
Best Actor - Burt Lancaster (Elmer Gantry)
Best Actress - Elizabeth Taylor (Butterfield 8)

The Charts:

"Theme from A Summer Place," Percy Faith
"It's Now or Never," Elvis Presley
"He'll Have to Go," Jim Reeves
"Catlxy's Clown," Everly Brothers
"The Twist," Chubby Checker
"I'm Sorry," Brenda Lee
"Running Bear," Johnny Preston
"Stuck on You," Elvis Presley
"Handy Man," Jimmy Jones
"Teen Angel," Mark Denning
"Everybody's Somebody's Fool," Connie Francis
"Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini," Brain Hyland
"Save the Last Dance for Me," The Drifters
"My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own," Connie Francis
"El Paso," Marty Robbins JJ

Farewells:

Boris Pasternak (winner of the Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature and author of Doctor Zhivago)
Emily Post (author of "Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home")
Lawrence Tibbett (Baritone)
Albert Camus (French writer)