When the supercharged Ford 312's started kicking Chevy's butt in 1957, Chevy engineers came up with a 3-2BBL intake and a solid lifter cam and rushed the 348 medium duty truck engine into production in the 58 Impala to try to catch up. They had a nasty habit of swallowing valves above 5500 RPM. The 409 wasn't much better. The guys who were used to winding the 283's to 7000+ hated the 348!
Jerry
Baker won the 1957 NASCAR Championship driving a 283 Chevy. Maybe not as fast as the supercharged 312 but the Chevy was more consistent and better on the shorter tracks. In 58 GM pulled out of NASCAR and their support was limited.
GM says the 348 was developed for trucks and the 58 cars that were were heavier. And both the Ford FE and Mopar B big blocks ready for 58...
The W engine had few wins in Nascar but the 409 dominated stock drag racing in 62-63.
