THE 389 COMES TOGETHER
- Greg Raymond
- Sep 1, 2025
- 1 min read
Updated: May 18
"A Tribute to Jim Wangers' 1964 GTO 'Test Car' built for Car and Driver March 1964"
CHAPTER 8 Greg Raymond
The numbers are finally in, and getting here took far more work than anyone expected. Three complete engine builds, two rounds of cast‑iron head failures, intake runners that had been over‑ported, oversized exhaust valves, and a center carburetor that simply refused to cooperate. The list of hurdles was long and painful.
The good news? JBA Speed Shop’s machine shop solved every one of those problems. When the dust settled, the final build delivered exactly what the Blue Car needed.
The Final Pull
On the dyno, the freshly rebuilt 389ci Tri‑Power, now wearing Edelbrock aluminum heads and the full JBA Stage II High‑Performance treatment, came alive. The numbers climbed quickly and cleanly, and before the rev limiter stepped in at 5100 rpm, we saw what we had been chasing from the beginning:
451 lb‑ft of torque and 410 horsepower. Still pulling. Still climbing. Exactly the kind of power a proper "Blue Car" tribute demands.
A 450‑tq, 410‑hp Tri‑Power wasn’t just a goal, it was the requirement.
And now, it’s a done deal.
Comments