The Chevy 409 was an elegant piece of engineering which led to the very successful "Rat" motors of the late '60's muscle cars. The sound of a solid lifter Rat is one of those unlike any other.

Chevy found themselves with two good small blocks (the 283-327 series) and the 348. The 348 had room to grow however and the guys at Chevy worked it over into the 409. The damn thing weighed just a few pounds more than Chevy's in-line 6 and in its most common build, produced about 400 HP. Running two big Carter Quads it cranked out 425 HP and would pass damn near anything but a gas station.

BTW......I bet that whoever it was that thought Buick used it was thinking of the 403, an Olds engine Buick shared for a few years.

Spaw