RE: 325ci Cobra small block

[98SVT - was 06GT]

I would have thought that they would have called it a 327ci under those circumstances, in order to compete head to head with the 327ci displacement bowties...  thoughts? [/font][/size]

NEVER - it implies you are late to the party and merely following the competition. Beating them with a smaller engine however is advertising gold. Engine sizes were always rounded off to something the engineers were happy with and the ad guys thought would sound good. You couldn't even trust hp ratings. The insurance went up greatly once you got over 300 horse.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

They were initially obtained by Ak Miller in his capacity as FoMoCo's Performance Advisor
This entire topic is classic Ak Miller, a major player, whose seminal involvement w early SAI is largely lost to history and not a part of the SAAC narrative.

AK was a legend. Lakes racer in the 30s. Past Pres SCTA. Many Pikes Peak wins. Drag racer - 1st VP of NHRA. We only saw in Hot Rod a small portion of his back room Ford work that got buried in their corporate world. I think his last involvement with Ford was his 70 Pikes Peak class win in a "stock" 351C Mustang. He did work on Pantera and had a great turbo system for them.
In reality he was to Ford in this time what Smokey Yunick was to Chevrolet.
His shop is still open but I don't know who's running it today.

From camp upshur - the Shelby American engine shop of this period was comprised largely of CS hires from Culver City, Gardena, and Whittier. These were the guys who built the then-terrifying engines for the 289s: roadsters, FIA, USRRC, Dragonsnakes and Daytonas
RE: Culver City - that was the real center of racing in SoCal from the 1920s thru the 60s.  https://www.culvercityhistoricalsociety.org/the-historic-culver-city-racing-scene/

[slither]

Wow, camp, this is the holy grail of SAI 325ci engine info!! Thanks for taking time to post. I enjoyed reading it!

Much appreciated.

[TA Coupe]

camp upshur, how have you come by all of your information? Sounds like maybe you were an insider somewhere back in the day?

       Roy