We Need to Bring Back These Engines

In a world where nearly every engine is gaining supercharging or turbocharging and in the case of Volvo, both, we see more four-cylinder and inline-six cylinder engine than ever before, but whatever happened to the straight sixes? There were some great engines that were simply put in the wrong cars. Of course the straight six is an engine that had its heyday for a time, but at a time we could use some excitement here are a couple engines that could be used by companies that are looking to find something special for their vehicles.

For FCA the Chrysler Hemi-6 is an engine that we should have in the Dart and in the Chrysler 200. There is no doubt this engine which made its way to Australia and never returned died a horrible death because it stayed in the country “down under” for too long. This engine would be perfect for the small cars of today and might change the mind of Sergio Marchionne who has already signed the death warrant for both of these cars. This engine was powerful enough to rival any of the V8 engines of the day and certainly gave more fuel mileage than those bigger beasts.

Imagine if you will, a Dodge Dart with this great and power motor under the hood, it would be a street racers dream. Dodge already has the Charger and Challenger with their Hellcat engines the Dart could have the straight six as and upgrade to more power and an insane number of horses coming from under the hood. As a bit of a feature upgrade from the Dart and a smaller version of the popular Chrysler 300, the Chrysler 200 would do well with this engine under the hood as well which would give the car more of a powerful feeling instead of one that leaves you wanting more.

Another great straight six that has been left in the landfills of the world is the Pontiac OHC six. This engine offered sizes of either 230 or 250 cubic inches and was used in the 1960s for the Tempest, LeMans and Firebird. The problem with this engine at the time was the fact that it wasn’t any less expensive than the V8 engines. This meant most customers opted for the V8 instead of the straight six and this made the engine obsolete, but it could be brought back.

Because this is a GM engine it could easily be the perfect engine to use in some of the smaller Chevrolet models of today. You could drive a Cruze or Sonic with this engine under the hood and seriously have a great deal of power. The Sonic could be a hot hatch that sets records at Nurburgring and take down the Ford Focus RS for speed and for overall performance. This engine may even be strong enough to make its way into the Malibu or Impala and offer everything we want; V8 power with straight six fuel mileage. It’s time to resurrect these two great engines and let them be the power used that will entice our imagination.