In my lifetime there have been a dozen or so engines that were praiseworthy in my opinion. Some were performers, some durable, and some almost immune to abuse. One of my selections for each would be the Chrysler Slant six for durable--used in every thing from fork lifts to farm equipment. Performance would be the SBC even though it's derided as a "belly button" it made it so even the guy on an hourly wage job could pep one up with over the counter parts. The abuse award goes to the 302 Ford where pimple faced kids don't even know what an oil dipstick is but do know how to keep the tires burning on their Mustang for months on end. Can think of a half dozen more in each category but these are the first to come to mind. I now think the LS (and related) will probably be one of the best of all time. 450 factory HP, at LEAST 20mpg, 200K miles, after market support growing by leaps and bounds, and super swap support available both in parts and information. They ARE expensive but the crate price is dropping every year and soon will be less than a 350 built to 400hp and getting 12mpg. GM still hasn't been able to come up with a cure for Butt Ugly but several after market folks have pieces to de-uglify them a bit.
