I remember when I worked at a gas station in the summer of 1955, I would always make sure I raised the hood to check the oil on those beauties just to take a good look at the engine, the hemi is still an amazing engine and way ahead of it's time in 1954, unless of course you had a good look at an ARDUN Ford! It's not my story but I recall a HOT ROD article about a guy who broke his hemi at Bonneville but found a guy at a nearby motel and paid him some amount to pull the engine, swap all the speed parts to the stock hemi block, set a record and then return the engine to the Chrysler. If anybody remembers or knows that racer the details of the quick swap would be interesting! I agree a face lift restoration of this cruiser would produce something of historical interest, a time machine!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder