In considering everything relating to the V8 cars it is as well to bear in mind Tony Crooks eccentricities which were coupled with a great deal of common sense and remarkable marketing skills. It is my understanding that he decided that a gentleman’s express really shouldn’t leave dirty black marks on the owners trousers if left idling while the boot is filled or emptied and introduced the downward facing exhaust trims on the 410 (or it might have been earlier) to alleviate the problem. Altogether a much easier solution than trying to clean up Chrysler’s dirty engine.
Artistic licence came into play on the 411 when it was decided that four exhaust ports would better look the part (the actual exhaust pipes running back from the engine are actually no larger than those on the 410) and, a touch of genius this, they could also be blanked off at the ends to further prevent anything at all getting on to the trousers whilst preventing wicked small boys from stuffing potatoes down them. Tony Crooks escapades suggest that he was very familiar with small boys minds. The actual discharge slots ahead of the blanking plates are of larger cross section than the main pipes back from the engine, so they hardly affect the discharge which is in any case already seriously handicapped by the crudity of the Chrysler manifold at the front end. On which point I can commend SL-J’s swept tubular manifolds which do markedly improve the breathing, at a price.
I too was impressed by the neatness of the 410s rear end on an occasion when the bumper was off, I thought it reminiscent of an AC Ace.
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