Title horsepower

PopinJohn · Sep 20, 2016

Anyone remember "title horsepower"?
Taxes and fees for automobile license plates and registration were based on title horsepower.
Dad's 1953 Ford six cylinder was about 42 or 43 if I remember right.
Dad told me title Hp was based on bore & stroke, not advertised horsepower.

tim s · Sep 20, 2016

New one to me,, I know some states base the tag cost on the price of the vehicle...

HossinMe · Sep 20, 2016

Ive got a 630hp 1947 4 door Pontiac that cost me bout 85 bucks to register! Hoss

Duner Wi · Sep 20, 2016

I have heard of taxable horsepower.
Title HP is new to me.

Janicholson · Sep 20, 2016

From the 50s through the early 90s, manufacturers listed horsepower way below the actual HP to avoid insurance issues and were very successful doing it. All brands did it. Jim

Richard G. · Sep 20, 2016

When I was 16 and registered my first Model T, it was base on weight in SC. Had it weighed at the local cotton gin and it weighed 1500 pounds. That was 1968.
Richard

Dean · Sep 20, 2016

My first car was a 1947 Pontiac with 239 CI flat head 6. It was a 4 door and I had a 2 door sedan as a parts car.

The title had HP on it but is was based upon bore and stroke, cubic inches or some other such nonsense.

I learned mechanics on that car.

Dean

Dean · Sep 20, 2016

Sounds about right.

IIRC, my father's 1958 Oldsmobile with 312 HP J2 371 CI tri-power engine was rated at about 60 HP on the title.

With 4 speed Hydramatic and AC, it was quite the car in 1958.

Dean

gene bender · Sep 20, 2016

Must be a misprint that many HP in a 47 Pontiac

Bob · Sep 20, 2016

I think that was more of a state-by-state thing than anything national.

Also, how about when the engine serial number was the "VIN" of the vehicle, or at least listed on the title.

When an engine had to be replaced, there were procedures set up to officially stamp the old s.n. on the new block, or to record the change to a different engine number with the state. That may have been on a state-by-state basis, as well.

One CUTE example was the Ford Model T, which had the number stamped right above the often-leaky water fitting on the LH side of the block, where it often rusted to the point it was unreadable!

<img src = "http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u125/27Grainfield/Stuff/T_Ford_zpsgrultchu.jpg"> This one's in pretty good shape!

Leroy · Sep 21, 2016

I think that is just a different wording for the sdame thing. And the big shop manuals used to list both a taxable HP and a rated HP. The taxable HP would have been about what that engine would put out on a test like they used for tractor HP. For example the 8 cylinder conversion used a Ford V8 car engine and the taxable rating is just about equal to the NAA rating, Just about 2 more and that amount could be lost with the gears to pto. So that engine made the 8N or even the 9N,2N tractors able to pull same plow as the NAA. The only reason the 8 cylinder conversion seemed to have more power is because the rated speed for that engine was 1/3 faster than the orignal engine.

Title horsepower

PopinJohn

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tim s

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HossinMe

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Duner Wi

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Janicholson

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Richard G.

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Dean

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Dean

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gene bender

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Bob

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Leroy

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