# What's a "hemi" and why should I care? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 5, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hemi-and-why-should-i-care/217210 "2003-12-05T18:59:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hemi-and-why-should-i-care/217210/21 "2003-12-08T03:05:23Z")
> [@](#): > > And I’ll never forget the Pinto with a “426 hemi” in it. :rolleyes: Heh. Well, when I was in High School I worked for some nuts in body repair, one of whom crammed a small-block Chevy and a TurboHydramatic 400 into the heavily cannibalized chassis of a Volkswagen…(uh, not the Beetle but the nondescript not-particularly-sporty-looking mildly rounded off VW they made for awhile, what the hell _was_ that called?) The floorboards were replaced with aluminum plates and Bondo, had a drive shaft housing intruding into the passenger compartment, don’t recall how the hell he did the rear end and wheel assemblies. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hemi-and-why-should-i-care/217210/22 "2003-12-08T03:35:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AHunter3 \* > **(uh, not the Beetle but the nondescript not-particularly-sporty-looking mildly rounded off VW they made for awhile, what the hell _was_ that called?)** Are you thinking of the [Type 3](http://www.hallvw.clara.net/type3.htm)? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hemi-and-why-should-i-care/217210/23 "2003-12-08T05:02:44Z")
Yep, that’s the one! (Hmm, no wonder I didn’t remember what they were called, I don’t think I ever _knew_ what they were called!) ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hemi-and-why-should-i-care/217210/24 "2003-12-08T05:14:20Z")
They were (and still are) commonly called the fastback, notchback and squareback. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hemi-and-why-should-i-care/217210/25 "2003-12-08T07:13:19Z")
I thought you might be talking a about the infamous Karmann Ghia: [http://images.cardomain.com/member\_images/10/web/250000-250999/250960\_1\_full.jpg](http://images.cardomain.com/member_images/10/web/250000-250999/250960_1_full.jpg) [http://images.cardomain.com/member\_images/4/web/376000-376999/376326\_1\_full.jpg](http://images.cardomain.com/member_images/4/web/376000-376999/376326_1_full.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hemi-and-why-should-i-care/217210/26 "2003-12-09T05:01:23Z")
Nope, I know of the Karmann Ghia, and the car of which I spoke was actually less sporty-looking than those. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hemi-and-why-should-i-care/217210/27 "2003-12-09T05:47:57Z")
I remember the Chrysler K cars (Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant) with the HEMI badge…actually, just a 2.6 liter OHC four supplied by Mitsubishi, but the combustion chamber was hemispherical. BTW I remember some ad lingo about engines that were Polyspherical and/or Orthospherical…what made them different than HEMIs? ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hemi-and-why-should-i-care/217210/28 "2003-12-09T08:35:45Z")
Not sure what orthospherical meant, but polyspherical meant that the combustion chamber was comprised of two (or more) intersecting spherical surfaces. If the intersection line passed between the valves, you had what’s also called a pent-roof chamber. If the intersection line passed between the valves and the spark-plug, you had what’s also called a wedge chamber. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hemi-and-why-should-i-care/217210.md?page=1)