What's a 409?

[OS]

The one that the Beach Boy song refers to?

I looked pretty extensively and I can't find anything. Pics, specs and times would be great.

I'm curious if the car is good enough to write a song about.

 

[minendo]

I just thought it meant engine size.

 

[nihil]

<< I just thought it meant engine size. >>



me too. although i thought it also might be referring to a specific car as well.

 

[OS]

see here

It seems like a 409 is a specific car? I can't find any specs and times on it tho.

 

[pyonir]

it does refer to a specifc car....

 

[loup garou]

bah..I'm an idiot. I was thinking of another song!

 

[FlashG]

A Chevy Impala 409ci was a d@mm fast car for it's time. The 348 before it was no slouch either.

My cousin had a 348 tri power 59 Chevy. You could watch the gas gauge move down when it was going 135.

 

[compuwiz1]

Probably is a Chevy Impala with the 409 C.I. option. Dual quads would be best. They also made another variation of that design, known as a 348, appearing in earlier years.
61 may have been the first year the 409 was available. I believe the 58 Impala may have offered a 348 as an upgrade to the 283. There was an inherent weakness in both the 348 and the 409, but I don't recall what.

 

[FlashG]

I think that the 409 came in 1960. They didn't offer duals until later in the race version. For the street the tri power was best if you could keep them in tune

 

[Kilgor]

<< There was an inherent weakness in both the 348 and the 409, but I don't recall what. >>



I think it was the heads.

 

[compuwiz1]

Very good power however.

1964 409 425hp/6000 425torque/4200 2x4 bbl

We saw the 327 and the 396 the following year, so much of the change was natural progress.

 

[FlashG]

Yes they would blow gaskets because of the scalloped design.

Remember they originally were truck engines. Great bottom end torque.

The later427 more than made up for that defiency.

 

[compuwiz1]

<< In 1963, Chevrolet alone accounted for more than a quarter of the U.S. car market. What a year it was. The full-size Chevy was the most popular car in America, the all-new Corvette Sting Ray was reinventing the sports car segment and even the quirky Corvair was heading for a grand future with a 150-hp turbocharged Monza model. On the radio, five clean-cut California crooners called the Beach Boys were singing about every high-school boy's dream car, a "four-speed, dual quad, Positraction 409." >>



Taken from here.

 

[Pacfanweb]

"She's so fine, my 409"

No, the car wasn't called a 409, but people referred to them as 409's anyway, like people used to refer to Mustangs at 5.0's.

They were the grandfather of the modern day big block Chevy engines, which, as Compuwiz mentioned, started with the 396.

You really could say they were also somewhat responsible for the Ford 429 and 460 big blocks, and the 351 Clevelands, too, since Ford admittedly copied the canted valve design from Chevrolet.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Can't say much that hasn't been said, everyone's got it down pat. The 409 is basically the granddaddy of the Chevy big blocks. The 409 served as the base for the Chevy 427 and by the 1970's the 409 had grown by 43 cid to become the 454. Mmmmm, 409 Impalla...

ZV

 

[Carbo]

That song actually refers to the weight of my mother in law after she ate Jenny Craig.

 

[ElFenix]

<< That song actually refers to the weight of my mother in law after she ate Jenny Craig. >>

:Q

 

[Derango]

Isn't 409 some type of glass cleaner?

 

[JC]

<< Can't say much that hasn't been said, everyone's got it down pat. The 409 is basically the granddaddy of the Chevy big blocks. The 409 served as the base for the Chevy 427 and by the 1970's the 409 had grown by 43 cid to become the 454. Mmmmm, 409 Impalla...

ZV >>



While the 'W' motors (348/409/Z-11 427) may have been the forefathers of the modern 'Mark IV' big-blocks (396/427/454), there are really no similarities between the two families (except the distributor).

One of the unique things about the 'W' motor was that the combustion chamber was in the cylinder, not in the head...the top of the block wasn't cut square to the top of the piston, resulting in a wedge-shaped combustion chamber within the cylinder...the head was flat-faced.

JC

 

[nihil]

<< Isn't 409 some type of glass cleaner?

That song actually refers to the weight of my mother in law after she ate Jenny Craig. >>




both of these statements are undeniably true.

 

[Fritzo]

You guys are all wrong. The song refers to "Formula 409". It's well known that the Beach Boys were all clean freaks and loved for their counters and windows to be streak free

 

[Heisenberg]

Mmmm..big-block V8's...*drool*

 

[b0mbrman]

Cool...another song mystery solved