(If you hate powerful, gas-guzzling cars, you might want to skip this post. I promise I am well aware of the environmental issues…)
I had the windows all rolled down, driving to the gym this evening, on account of perfectly wonderful weather. So I could hear various engines near the car. Despite being somewhat hard of hearing I’ve always been attuned to the sound of internal combustion engines.
A Ford Mustang was nearby for a number of traffic lights. It had a 302 V8 but it had to have been customized from crankshaft to tailpipe to sound like it did – a deep and friendly rumble, sonic harmony of components and combustion that spoke of kingly authority. Louder than other cars, yes, but musical. You can’t get that by bolting a cheap “performance exhaust” on a stock engine.
(The 302, while not huge, was the starting block for one of the fastest – and coolest-looking – cars ever made, the Shelby Cobra 302 GT, which inspired Bill Cosby’s routine; “Fast Car.” Ford used their American-made 351 for its mid-engine Ghia-styled aluminum-bodied Italian Pantera back in the ‘70’s. I could never understand why it didn’t simply push the Corvette off the market.)
A Harley roared by, its rider a nerdy fellow in jeans and a polo shirt with cell phone and pager on his belt. It sounded like a two-wheeled version of the Mustang. No wonder the Harley-Davidson company tries to sue companies that imitate that sound.
A high-performance Japanese “rice-rocket” motorcycle screamed past. Not quite as loud as the Harley but sounded like absolute crap. Imagine mechanical dissonance revved way up and amplified on a cheap stereo system. The rice-rockets are also severely overpowered for a motorcycle – really racing machines that are dangerous on the street. I’ve heard emergency-room people call them “donor-cycles.”
Several small cars of different makes with round stainless straight-through mufflers in place of the original (much quieter) mufflers were buzzing around. My son calls these aftermarket mufflers “loudeners” – an apt description. They are not well-engineered, they sound awful, and the owners wasted their money. Most small cars (especially Japanese) are better off with the quietest mufflers available.
I heard a Ferrari once – beautiful. There must be as much art as science to making an engine sound like that. It sounded … mighty.
An engine need not be large to sound beautiful. Other engines that sound “right” to me are the early Porsche 911 and its smaller counterpart, the VW 1600 (especially when fitted with a high-quality glasspack exhaust). The Fiat Spyder 124. My friend’s VW Passat. An old BMW motorcycle I once rode.
Sorry, I have never heard a 428 Hemi that I liked, stock or custom. But it does have fans, and is the only engine (to my knowledge) to inspire the Chilton’s manuals to use the word; “awesome.” I don’t much care for the way large-block Chevvy engines sound, either.
I wonder why automakers don’t pay more attention to the quality of the engine sound. It certainly is a major part of the driver’s experience, so it has tremendous economic importance.