50 Reasons Why We Love It

1. The Corvette could've been another Edsel
The original Corvette wasn't a great performance car; the Blue Flame Six engine was far too weak to handle the heavy chassis. Without the infusion of V-8 small-block power and torque that enabled General Motors to successfully take the Corvette racing in 1956, and reverse the sales slide, America's own sports car may not have survived the decade.

2. It turned hot-rodding into an industry
Easy performance unlocked by simple modifications meant the small-block almost overnight surpassed the Ford flat-head V-8 as the hot-rodder's engine of choice. Companies like Edelbrock, Isky, and Weiand have made hundreds of millions of dollars on the back of the small-block's tuner-friendly character.

3. Because it finally made the Blue Flame Six obsolete
Until the small-block, Chevy's mainstream motor was a straight-six that dated back to the 1930s, weighed 41 pounds more, and was rated at 45 horses less.

4. You don't hear songs about the V-6
The Beach Boys name-checked a fuelie Sting Ray in their 1963 song, "Shut Down." A year later Jan & Dean's "Dead Man's Curve" had a small-block-powered Corvette race an E-Type Jaguar along L.A.'s Sunset Boulevard to the corner in question. In a chilling postscript Jan Berry was seriously injured in 1966 when he crashed his Corvette near the fateful "curve."

5. It inspired Zora Arkus-Duntov
In a memo dated December 16, 1953, the legendary GM engineer pondered the idea of developing special RPO parts for the forthcoming small-block-powered Corvette on the basis "they undoubtedly will be recognized by the hot-rodders as the very parts they were looking for to hop up the Chevy."

6. It made engine building fun
Chances are that first engine built by your dad was a small-block Chevy, often stuck together under the watchful eyes of his own dad. Today, the small-block continues to bring fathers and sons together for engine-building projects for one simple reason: There are tons of them, and they're cheap to build.

7. Nearly every major U.S. racing body has sanctioned it
While the Chrysler Hemi was the model for Top Fuel and Funny Car engines, the small-block dominated every other form of racing, from NASCAR to Bonneville, sprint cars to Trans-Am. Any racing sanctioning body worth a damn had a class for small-blocks.