The 'Cheap' Chrysler Engine That Outlived Every Muscle Motor Detroit Built

Detroit built engines to be worshipped. Chrysler built one to be ignored, and outlasted them all. When the Slant Six arrived in 1960, nobody looked twice. It leaned 30 degrees to one side like it was already tired, and it lived in the cheapest cars Chrysler made, the Plymouth Valiant, the Dodge Dart, the taxi you flagged in the rain. Enthusiasts half-mockingly nicknamed it the Leaning Tower of Power. It was an appliance, a refrigerator with spark plugs. They could not have been more wrong. In early 1960, Chrysler bolted its Hyper-Pak package onto that humble six and took it to the brand-new Daytona superspeedway. What happened next embarrassed Ford and General Motors, as a fleet of economy sedans swept the compact class and left the Corvair and Falcon choking on their fumes. But the racing glory is not why engineers still talk about this engine. While the muscle car era chased horsepower and burned itself out in a few years, the 426 Hemi gone after six, the Boss 429 after two, the Super Duty 455 after two, the cheap leaning six kept going. It was still rolling off the assembly line in 1991, having outlived every legendary muscle motor Detroit ever built by decades. This is the story of the engine that refused to die. Was there a Slant Six in your life, a Dart, a Valiant, a work truck that would not quit? And pound for pound, was it the toughest motor Detroit ever built? Tell us below.