Embattled Chrysler has little time for nostalgia but perhaps may take a moment to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its legendary 392 c.i. HEMI V-8 engine.

Having acknowledged that I will, however, draw your attention to Chrysler's first Hemi-powered cars from 1951; a significant year in the firm's battle with Cadillac for luxury car supremacy, when the introduction of a 180 hp V-8 with a hemispherical cylinder head design gave the company boasting rights. Historian Bill Vance in his "informative article about the Hemi" tells us that "Mechanix Illustrated magazine's car tester, Tom McCahill, took a brand new Chrysler New Yorker V-8 to the sands of Daytona Beach in February, 1951, and won the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) Speed Week trophy as the fastest stock American car... McCahill managed to average 161 km/h (100.13 mph) in his two-way run."

One might argue whether the company's styling supported this advanced engineering, for Chrysler boss W.T. Keller was still insisting his firm's cars must be tall enough for a man to wear a hat. He was referring to the then-popular fedora, of course, not today's baseball caps. (If guys are going to wear hats, wouldn't it be nice to see them don something with a little class? At least they no longer wear their baseball caps back to front.) As with most collector cars, we regard those 50's Chrysler products differently now and in my view they're rather handsome, with an undeniable presence.

Ironically, tall cars are "in" again: compare Chrysler's own 300 and Dodge spin-offs with those 1950's sedans.