The Ball-Stud Hemi is practically folklore to anyone familiar with Mopar’s fascinating history. The story begins in the late 1960s, when Chrysler was fresh off the runaway success of the 426 Street Hemi, an engine so dominant that NASCAR practically forced it onto showroom floors. But the ‘elephant engine’ was heavy and produced in limited numbers: about 9,000 between 1966 and 1972.
Chrysler knew it needed something sleeker and simpler, but still worthy of the Hemi name. Enter the A279 program, better known as the Ball-Stud Hemi. Engineers wanted to completely replace the big-block lineup, including the 383, 400, 440, and even the legendary 426. Their vision was a pair of engines with uniform displacement, rated for 400 and 444 cubic inches, that could deliver near-Hemi performance without the Hemi headaches. But crackdowns on emissions were coming, and an oil crisis was about to stifle the muscle car era before the Ball-Stud ever fired a shot.
Brilliant technology meets business reality
When it came to the Ball-Stud Hemi, designers opted for a change from the shaft-mounted designs that were a staple of Chrysler V8 engines. Instead, it was built on a B-series block with semicircular chambers and rockers on the signature ball studs. It also took cues from Chevy’s Mark IV “porcupine” big block, borrowing the canted valve configuration, and used the same 2.25-inch intake and 1.94-inch exhaust valves as the 426 Hemi while being 100 pounds lighter and a whopping 6.5 inches narrower. According to internal rumors, the 444 version outperformed Chrysler’s 440 4-barrel, but fell just short of the 426 with dual quads.
But technical compromises had to be made early on. Retaining the B-block head bolt pattern ensured that awkward S-shaped exhaust ports and combustion chambers weren’t true hemispheres. These problems were solvable; the bigger problem was money.
In 1969, Chrysler was staring at rising tool costs and emissions regulations that were about to neutralize anything with a big camshaft and high compression. Why switch to a brand new family of big blocks when the muscle car era was coming to an end in real time? Chrysler’s habit of killing projects continues to this day, with the company recently shelving its electric SUV project.
The one that escaped, and the only one that survived
Chrysler reportedly built a dozen Ball-Stud Hemis, although most insiders believe the actual number was closer to three. Only one is known to survive, and its story is as wild as the engine itself. Drag racing legend “Dandy” Dick Landy somehow ended up with the last remaining Ball-Stud, a piece of history so rare it should have been sealed in glass. Instead, in true hotrod fashion, Landy (or a later owner) tore it open, bored it out, swapped internal components and modified the intake.
Even worse, the modified engine was dropped into a ’69 Barracuda (rare enough in itself), which was then raced, sold, traded and passed around like a mythical artifact for years. Eventually, the car and its irreplaceable heart resurfaced and now rest in the National Auto & Truck Museum, where they belong.
The real tragedy is that the Ball-Stud Hemi arrived just as performance engines were being legislated and erased from existence. It was a glimpse of what could have been, a legend preserved only by chance and a bit of luck.
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