Chrysler Hemi Engine - FirePower OHV V8

FirePower OHV V8

Chrysler applied their military experience with the hemispherical combustion chamber to their first overhead-valve V8 engine, released under the name FirePower, not "Hemi", in 1950 for the 1951 model year. The first version of the FirePower engine had a displacement of 331 cu in (5.4 L) and produced 180 bhp (134.2 kW). Eventually, each Chrysler divisions had its own versions of the FirePower engine, with different displacements and designations, and having almost no parts in common. Chrysler and Imperial called their versions the FirePower. DeSoto called theirs the FireDome. Dodge had a smaller version, known as the Red Ram. Only Plymouth didn't have a version, instead retaining the poly-head engines: there was no Plymouth hemi engine until the 1964 426.

Collectively, the 1951-'58 Hemi engines are now commonly referred to as first-generation Hemi engines, and the group can be identified by the rear-mounted distributor and the spark plugs in a row down the center of wide valve covers.

Briggs Cunningham used the Chrysler version in some of his race cars for international motor sports. A Chrysler-powered Cunningham C5-R won its class in 1953. Cunningham switched away from these designs in 1959 when Chrysler abandoned the hemispherical concept in favor of the wedge-head B engine.