"That thing gotta 273?"

You guys crack me up.
a 235hp 273 is rated .861 hp per cube
if you want to compare it to another engine, then to be fair, you will have to build them all to the same output; so
a 318 comes to 274 hp.
a 340 comes to 293hp,
a 360 comes to 310 hp
The hp jumps are 39,19,and 17, so
The biggest jump of all is from 273 to 318.
Then to be fair, again, stuff them all, one atta time, into the same 3400 car and take it for a spin.
Guess what, the 360 makes the same power as the 273-4bbl but it does it on just 6 cylinders.....

But to be really fair, you gotta look at the sub-3600rpm torque curves cuz that is where a streeter spends most of it's life. And when you do that, the 4bbl 273 is in a world of pain, comparatively speaking.

I get so tired of hearing this argument, especially in a street car with street gears. Or gears to cruise at, in the range of 2000 to 2400 rpm. That will take 2.94s to 2.73s, which will relegate the 4bbl-273 right into the realm of also-rans.