HEMI is a brand that carries a long legacy with it, but the story goes back further than you might imagine. Here's the ...

Check out Chad Caldwell's Well-Traveled Brute, a restored 1958 Chrysler 300D, in the March 2012 edition of Mopar Muscle Magazine.

While the HEMI V8 design was the first of its kind for Chrysler, it was also the company's first V8 to use overhead valves, a departure from the customary flat head with valves in the engine block.

Based on the bones of Chrysler’s first-generation Hemi engine from 1951 to 1958, HOT ROD had a pretty good sense that the new version from 1964 was going to kick ass.

The FirePower Engines When the Chrysler Hemi engine was first introduced back in 1951, there was just one size. The original FirePower featured 331 cu. in. of displacement and could deliver 180 hp.

After the FirePower engine faded away in 1958, Chrysler revived the design concept in 1964 and gave it the far more accurate name of "Hemi," where it debuted with this particular 426 V8 model.

Mike says they also own the first 1958 300D, but the car is currently undergoing restoration. Next up, you'll see a rare and low-mileage 1958 Chrysler New Yorker Convertible.

Though European manufacturers made hemi engines starting in the early 1900s, Chrysler Corp. made them famous. Chrysler built V-8 engines with hemispherical combustion chambers from 1951 to 1958 ...

For the 1957 300C and 1958 300D models, the engine was a FirePower Hemi V8 displacing 392cid and generating 375 or 390 horsepower, depending on the setup, for the ’57 car, and 380 horsepower for ...

On this segment of Rides with Jay Thomas, Jay checks out Berg’s 1958 Chrysler 300D. On Rides, if it’s cool, it has a story and you can drive it, it can be on the show.