Honestly...how good was the 318...mpg / durability / hp

pittsburghracer said

Potential yes for sure, gas mileage yawn ya I guess, longevity for sure but all engines ran forever back then. Good fuel, oil, and work pride did that. But man were they dogs. I would hate to put up the number of times I beat 318 A bodies with my six cylinder ford maverick. (I was almost a Furd guy) I only owned one in a 318 (1976) Dodge van and I gave it to my neighbor when I built a 360 to replace it.

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I don't know about all the engines back then. Classmate in high school had a low mileage beauty of a '67 LeMans convertible. V8(His dad's actually). Jumped timing. Another a '72 Buick Skylark, V8. One day, cranked and ran 5 seconds, quit. Sheared all the nylon gear teeth.
Many of the big block GM cars, I was around, had trouble in hot weather. Including the family wagon.
Seems the small block chevy's were always getting overhauled but, that might have just been what young car aficionados did back then. Just because they could or wanted to "hop them up".
I think you are right that most would last if properly taken care of.




Sir,keep it mind, I do not want this to degrade into a typical forum thread. You have your experience from your perspective, I have mine. Neither one of us is wrong.