When a Hemi isn't a Hemi

So I'm reading the latest issue of Automobile Magazine in my office and get to the reader letters section. They have some pretty smart readers and one asks if the Hemi engine in the new Dodge Magnum and Chrysler 300C is really a Hemi after he saw a cut away picture in the magazine. The answer was quite surprising and something I hadn't realized. The Hemi is not hemispherical in shape. Automobile's technical editor explained the hemispherical design they began with and the only thing they kept were "splayed valves perpendicular to (instead of parallel with) the crankshaft." For the non-gearheads this means it isn't really a Hemi. Doh!

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