Vintage Road Test of the First 327 Fuelie Corvette
From the Archives: Big Vette
MotorTrend-Archives Photographer-Drew Hardin-Writer Eric Rickman- Photographer-May 18, 2015
Ah, to be a big shot magazine editor in the early ’60s. In November 1961,Hot Rodmagazine’s Ray Brock was able to borrow the hottest Corvette off the lot at Harry Mann Chevrolet in Los Angeles to put it through its paces for a story. It had less than 500 miles on the clock when he drove away, headed for winding roads in the foothills above L.A. and a few tire-hazing runs at Lion’s dragstrip in Long Beach.
Brock called his story “Big Vette” because of the significant changes underhood for the ’62 model year. The venerable 283 had been bored and stroked to 327 inches, and Brock’s car had the range-topping fuelie, making 360 hp and 352 lb-ft of torque thanks to the fuel injection, high-compression heads, forged pistons, and a hot cam. The engine was joined to the optional four-speed manual transmission and Positraction rearend with 4.10 gears.
“The extra 44 cubic inches for the Corvette came about because of an economy move by the larger Chevrolet passenger cars,” he explained. In 1961, three V-8s were available for Chevy cars: the 283, 348, and 409. The 348 was intended to be a more powerful option than the base 283 “but one that would still be docile enough for an automatic transmission.” Yet the 348 “never was the ‘natural’ that the smaller 283 had been when it came to performance in relation to size, and it cost quite a bit more to make than the 283.” Chevy powertrain engineers experimented with the 283 block, enlarging the bore by 1/8 inch and lengthening the stroke by 1/4 inch. The resulting 327ci engine “had more power than the standard 348 engine, was cheaper to build, was lighter in weight, and with smaller displacement produced better mileage than the 348.”
“The first thing we noticed when driving the ’62 360 hp Corvette was the increased low speed torque that accompanied the increased displacement,” Brock said. The jump up in peak torque from the previous year’s fuel-injected 283 was substantial—20 percent, he noted—and “it reaches its maximum at 700 rpm lower engine speed.”
Yet any hopes for blazing e.t.’s at the strip were dashed by the lack of traction from the Vette’s bias-ply tires. In as-delivered tune and with tires set at 24 psi, Brock’s first pass was 14.22 seconds at 102.97 mph. “A half dozen runs later, we had only managed to raise the speed to 103.98 mph and lower the e.t. to 14.12.”
As it turned out, Mickey Thompson was at the strip that day testing a dragster, and Brock asked him to try the Vette. “After a trial run, he turned in a speed of 105.14 mph in 13.89 seconds. The difference between our times and Mickey’s was his shifting speed. Mickey used full throttle ‘power shifts’ while we released the throttle slightly between shifts. Power shifts give better results, but unless you are experienced, you’d better stay away from them. Mickey confessed that he had scattered a few transmissions before getting the knack. We were reluctant to try.”
