Its derivation may be plain, and of little interest to non-engineers, but in just two syllables it conjures up thoughts of muscle cars with huge power, thunderous noise and huge acceleration.

You might think that all Hemi V8s were part of the same family, but in fact Chrysler has built them in three widely-spaced generations, and the name wasn’t even used for the first, though it reasonably could have been. Still, they all share the same spirit, which is as good a reason as any to look at them all in one go.

Please note: power figures for pre-1972 cars are quoted, as they were in period, in gross horsepower, when the power was measured without accessories fitted. The figures are therefore substantially higher than they would be using modern measurements.