[old5.0]

Those 80's 305's were tougher than most gave them credit for, at least the L69 and TPI versions. You could put an L69 Camaro in the 13's for nothing more than a few bucks and a couple hours under the hood. And if more speed was required... well, it was still a small block Chevy, and responded to more intensive mods just like every other SBC ever made.

What killed the 305's rep in my opinion was the legion of 150 horsepower throttle body injected Camaros and Firebirds GM pumped out back then. People saw a 305 Camaro get its *** kicked in and punched back out by a 5.0 Mustang or turbo Buick and automatically dismissed the 305 as a turd, while the truth was that those 150-horse engines and the true high-perf 305's were two completely different animals.