50 Reasons Why We Love It

17. Without it, Z28 would just be a meaningless alpha-numeric jumble
If you ticked an option box marked Z28 for your 1967-1969 Camaro, it meant you were getting a 302-cube small-block specifically developed to meet the capacity limit imposed for the SCCA's Trans-Am series. The Z28 engine was created by using a 327 block with a 283 crank, giving it the most oversquare bore-to-stroke ratio of any small-block ever built.

18. It powered Mark Donohue's "Unfair Advantage"
In terms of must-read automotive books (a short list indeed), this one should make most enthusiasts' top five.

19. It flew on water
The small-block won its first internationally sanctioned racing event--on water. On December 28, 1955, Henry E. Lauterbach won the Orange Bowl Regatta International Grand Prix in Miami, Florida, piloting a three-point hydroplane named Wa Wa Too, powered by a Vic Edelbrock-prepared 265.

20. It's what a performance engine should look like
Ask any neophyte performance fan to select from a line up what he envisions when you mention the term "performance engine," undoubtedly he'll pick the small-block Chevy. Complete with cast-aluminum intake adorned with a four-barrel carb braced by twin chrome-aluminum valve covers, the small-block burned an indelible image in the mind of the public.

21. Age hasn't wearied it
The new LS7 version, complete with 500 ready horsepower, is the latest evolution of the small-block. Would anyone have bet his ABBA record collection back in 1979 that we'd see a small-block annihilate all previous musclecar-era power ratings?

22. It taught three generations to count 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2
The firing order for the small-block further affected America's dysfunctional education system by teaching us how engine fanatics count to eight.

23. It made Robert E. Petersen rich
Starting with Hot Rod magazine back in 1948, Petersen built an empire of enthusiast magazines. But it wasn't until the small-block Chevy arrived--and hot-rodders had a performance platform that was plentiful and cheap enough--that things really took off.