That "silly" Hillman FI raised the hp quite a bit.
You should remember that those 327s were pretty much custom manufacture and don't represent the standard production engines very well. Longevity? How many are still around compared to M100s?
Pushrod engine simply means low end torque and limited rpm, the opposite of MB practice, where the torque is mostly above 2500 rpm and redline is never lower that 5000 rpm, even on the diesels. Six cylinders normally redline at 6600 rpm, small V8s at 6200, and the M100 at 5800 (due to long stroke, I'd bet).
The early 60's Vettes were lighter than the later ones, and had better performance, too.
Peter
