[Alvin]

Received this via email from Wild About Cars website. Check it out.

The 1961 Pontiac Trophy "A" Engine Detailed

1961-03_HR_Pontiac_V81-11.PDF

The hot setup for 1961 was the 389 Pontiac Trophy "A" series engines which were quite different from the standard issue 389s (all of which were called "Trophy V8s" by Pontiac, whether they were 215 HP or 348. But Pontiac was serious about their race engines, and had developed a host of go fast parts, most of which were sold across the counter.
This article details what was found in the standard engines, the "A" series engines (333 and 348 HP) and the over the counter offerings. Most significant in the article is the discussion of the differences in the engines, and the listings of the original parts numbers - straight from the horse's mouth at Pontiac. Remember that the special "dealer option" A series engine, with the best of these goodies developed 368 under-rated HP. There were actually two versions; drag and NASCAR type but both ran McKeller mechanical camshafts, and according to Pontiac policy of the day, had to be purchased across the counter, as Pontiac would not put a mechanical cam in production engines.
What really strikes home is that Pontiac was very serious about their performance products and may have offered a larger selection of go fast goodies than any other US manufacturer for that year. Of course, well after this issue was published, Pontiac upped the ante with an over the counter 421 "A" engine, in response to Chevy's 409.
Take a step back in time and peruse this article for Pontiac's vision and of course, a neat listing of the special parts numbers that any Tin Indian hot shoe could stuff in their V8.

[Stuart]

I have a copy of that issue of Hot Rod, I keep it in the glove box of my car.

[Ron of Chicago]

Does it say how to identify these engines? Or do you need to go by part numbers? Is there an identification on the car that it had such engine?

Thanks for the input.
Ron

[Stuart]

The article lists part numbers for the individual parts but that won't help ID the engine if you're just standing there looking at it in the car. The main visual things are exhaust manifolds - the 425A Trophy engines had cast iron headers instead of the regular log manifolds used on the regular engines. The generator pulley is also larger. Mainly you have to look at the engine code on the front of the block. Here are the 1961 codes:

333hp four barrel engine codes were
F4, F6, F8, FD, FE, FO with manual transmission
FO with automatic transmission (Ventura and Catalina)
U9 with automatic transmission (Star Chief and Bonneville)

348hp tripower engine codes were
M4, M6, M8, RM4, RM6, RM8, MD, ME, RMD, RME with manual transmission
MO, RMO, V9, RV9 with automatic transmission
I think the codes starting with an 'M' indicated if the engine was for a Catalina or Ventura, and the 'R' indicated if the engine was for a Star Chief or Bonneville, but I can't confirm that.

[Ron of Chicago]

Thanks for the great information

Ron

[Engine-Ear]

That is a great article - my copy is a copy of a copy. You can just feel the enthusiasm in the writing style...and it only barely alluded to the tornado that would come in the '62 and '63 seasons.

[Stuart]

I've always been a fan of Ray Brock's writing in those old Hot Rods. He started out as an electrical engineer, you know.

[60man]

Yep...exhaust manifolds are a dead giveaway...hard to find now..
come to think of it....did the 61's use the long branch style..??
In 60 Hp was rated 345 & 363 repectivly I believe...yeah..right..
Smokey used to say if he couldn't pull 425HP out of them he'd eat his hat !! ..and he wore a big hat...

[Stuart]

Yes, 1961 Trophy engines had the long branch headers, there are photos of them in the linked article. There were also the SD headers, which were a different deal. The 345/363hp ratings in 1960 may have been for the SD389, I believe the Trophy ratings were 333/348hp just like 1961.