Detroit has built some cool engines over the years, because horsepower has always been a battle between the Big Three.
This is a race that extends to this day because there’s still a more-power fistfight going on between domestic manufacturers in 2025.
I picked five factory motors with the coolest names and history over the last six decades (with the exception of the legendary Mopar Elephant 426 Hemi)—it doesn’t need the press.
Jerry Sutherland
The first one is a very recent entry. It’s the Shelby Super Snake—an engine with a cool name and insane numbers.
The Shelby Super Snake is based on the Mustang 5.0-liter Coyote. This is a decent motor in stock form at 480 horsepower, but Shelby added a 3.0-liter Whipple supercharger to push it north of 830 horsepower. That’s well past the skill set of most drivers—the Super Snake name is perfect.
The Mopar Max Wedge came from a different era when Super Stock racing was becoming the hottest thing at the track.
The Max Wedge RB (raised block) came in two forms—the 413 and the 426 cubic inch versions. The 413 came first and the 426 arrived later, but both used wedge-shaped combustion chambers, bigger ports and valves, dual four-barrel carbs and very high compression. The 413 had 420-rated horsepower and the 426 had 425 ponies and 500 lb-ft of torque.
These cars broke the 11-second barrier with ease and the Dodge Ramchargers made racing history in the early-mid 60s.
The third engine with a cool name and lots of horsepower is the Rat Motor from Chevrolet. These engines ranged in size from 396-454 cubic inches, but these big blocks all carried the ‘Rat’ nickname.
The 1965 Corvette had an L78 396 option that pumped out an amazing 425 horsepower, so it was beastly right out the door of the dealership. The 1970 Chevelle had a mammoth LS6 454 cubic inch, 450-horse option that took the Rat motor into Rat-motor-on-steroids territory.
The fourth example is the 421 cubic inch Super Duty option from Pontiac.
Pontiac was a force in the early 60s at NASCAR and NHRA because they weren’t afraid to push the envelope. These Super Duty Poncho motors used every trick in the book from aluminum exhaust manifolds to insane compression (13.0:1), to dual quad carbs– these engines were monsters. The SD Pontiacs were almost unbeatable at one point in racing history.
The last one is the mythical Ford 427 Cammer. These engines were mythical because they were outlawed before they even allowed to take on the 426 hemi at the track.
They called the Cammer the “90-day wonder” because the builders weren’t given much time to develop the Elephant killer. They were an overhead cam motor with hemi-heads, so they pumped out an awesome 616 horsepower—Ford built just over 500 of these SOHC big blocks from 1964-67. That’s why you don’t see them at your weekly car show, but I can’t help feeling the world was cheated when NASCAR shut down the Cammer vs Mopar Hemi Wars.
These engines are significant not only for their cool names—but for how far they pushed the envelope.
Jerry Sutherland
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
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