Image courtesy of Ryan Brutt/YouTube
If you’re into Pontiacs or remember a recent Pick of the Day on the Super Duty Trans Am, then you may recall the issues Pontiac had in getting the 455 Super Duty certified by the EPA. Lesser known is another EPA-challenged V-8 during the dawn of low-compression engines: Chrysler Corporation’s 440 Six-Barrel/440 Six Pack.
The engine was offered in the 1972 Plymouth Road Runner (you may recall 440-equipped cars also received GTX badges) and Dodge Charger Rallye. If you look at the dealership data books on the Hamtramck Historical website, the “E87” 440 with three two-barrel carburetors was available, but the consensus is that it was never built. History has shown several times that listing an engine and producing it are two different things (Ford’s 427 for the Mustang being a famous example), but over the years, several 1972 Plymouths and Dodges have been found with this engine. While we don’t know the story about the EPA’s involvement in certifying and/or rejecting the engine, this 440 nonetheless continues to be an enigma.
Looking further on the Hamtramck Historical website, there are two pieces of information that stand out: compression was 10.3:1 and TorqueFlite was the only transmission available. Though not mentioned in the document, the E87 engine was rated at 330 net horsepower and not available in California. How do we know it was rated at 330 horsepower when horsepower was not mentioned in the data books? Glance at the 1971 version of the same data book and you’ll note the 10.3:1 compression and 330-horse rating. In fact, this 1972 Plymouth Advance Information document sent to dealers says, “All engines, except the 440 6-barrel V-8, are designed to use low-lead, regular gasoline. The 440 6-barrel uses premium fuel.” Certainly, this high-compression V-8 couldn’t have been congruent with federal rules of the time, right?
Several years ago, a 1972 Plymouth Road Runner GTX appeared at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals, then returned years later for a premiere unveiling. Not only was the car equipped with the 440 Six-Barrel (as evidenced by the VIN with a “V” in the fifth character), but it also was originally built with a sunroof. It was the first time one of the three surviving examples (out of the rumored seven Plymouths and Dodges built) had been restored.
A second car is now headed for restoration. Ryan Brutt, the “Automotive Archeologist” who’s the Barn Find King and long-time organizer of the Barn Finds & Hidden Gems at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals, recently visited one of the surviving cars, a 1972 Charger Rallye, just before it was headed to Magnum Auto Restoration in Illinois. Going over the fender tag, we can see this Charger was a “Y16” sales bank car, which means it was ordered by the factory for sales stock, aka “build the cars, ship them out, and give customers something to buy off the lot.”
In this Charger’s case, it was bought off the lease lot at Chrysler in Detroit by Mike Shenk Sr., who immediately turned it into a Max Wedge-powered race car. It even made an appearance at the 1985 Mopar Nationals, which helped carry the legend of the 1972 440 Six Pack beyond word-of-mouth. Recently, son Mike Shenk Jr. let the Charger go after over 50 years in the family, so you can expect to see this unusual car make the show rounds once the restoration is completed.
