But ultimately, it was a displacement-restricting ruling that beat the Hemi. Wing cars would be limited to an engine size of 305 cubic inches, which took the Elephant out of the equation.

There's a reason that there's a massive cutout in the hood of every 1971 HEMI 'Cuda Convertible; there's an elephant in there ...

It's that long and proud heritage which Mopar celebrates this year with a range of Hemi merchandise bearing the logo above with the elephant that symbolizes the size and power of the engine.

By comparison, the runner-up Challenger only had 356 cars rolling off the assembly line with the elephant second-gen hemi motor. The spoils continued in 1971, the last year for the fabulous 426 ...