Hi Lori,
 > There was a hemi available in the early 1950's, but it
 > wasn't the 426
 > hemi.......It was the original 392 hemi.
Perhaps you have not been reading the mail written to you. The original MoPar 
hemi did come out in '51. It first appered in a Chrysler and had 331 c.i.d. 
The next to get one was DeSoto, who got a 276 c.i.d. hemi in '52. Dodge got 
their "Red Ram" hemi in '53 with all of 241 c.i.d, In '55 Plymouth got their 
first V-8's of 241 c.i.d. and 260 c.i.d. both with polysperical (hemi) heads.
Here are the sizes and years made for early MoPar hemi's:
Chrysler -
'51 - '56   331 c.i.d.
'55 only    301 c.i.d.
'56 - '58   354 c.i.d.
'57 - '58   392 c.i.d.
end of Chrysler hemis
DeSoto
'52 - '54   276 c.i.d.
'55 only    291 c.i.d.
'56 - '56   330 c.i.d.
'56 - '57   341 c.i.d.
'57 only    325 c.i.d.
'57 only    345 c.i.d.
end of DeSoto hemis
Dodge
'53 - '54   241 c.i.d.
'55 - '56   270 c.i.d.
'56 only    315 c.i.d.
'57 - '58   325 c.i.d.
'57 only    354 c.i.d.
end of early Dodge hemis
Plymouth
'55 only    241 c.i.d.
'55 only    260 c.i.d.
'56 only    270 c.i.d.
'56 - '57   277 c.i.d.
'56 only    303 c.i.d.
'57 only    301 c.i.d.
last of early Plymouth hemis
Imperial (split from Chrysler in '55)
'55 only    331 c.i.d.
'56 only    354 c.i.d.
'57 - '59   392 c.i.d. (note 392 only in Crown Imperial in
                        '59 (limousine) and only seven
                        produced)
last of Imperial hemis
The total number of 392's into cars built was only 108932. While the 392 was 
a heavy duty thick walled engine, it was also heavy and cost a lot to make 
which is why MoPar dropped all hemis in favor of wedge-head engines. The 
whole Chrysler corparate lineup used the hemi, but very few of them were 
392's. Most were the smaller series of engines. The engines listed above were 
not all of the same series, and there is not a lot of interchangablity 
between them. Chrysler shared engines with Imperial, and one or two of the 
Dodges might have shared basic design with Plymouth but DeSoto was on its own 
(out in right field).
While the early (before the 426) Chrysler hemis were great engines in their 
time, and could be modified to produce huge amounts of power they also 
carried a big penalty in weight. The Dodges and Plymouths were known to be 
able to make good power, yet have a low compression ratio and be able to run 
on any gas.
No other engine (IMHO) has the great looks of the Chrysler/Imperial or DeSoto 
hemis, especially with a set of chrome vavle covers. Good luck finding a 
decent 392 as they are getting even hard to find and speed parts (at least 
new) are difficult to locate. About all I have been able to find has been a 
Mallory dual point distributor (the factory one in my 392 had badly worn 
bushings and a broken vaccum advance). I may go out to El Mirage dry lake one 
weekend when they hold one of the meets there and see if I can find someone 
with some parts they would like to get rid of. The dry lake crowd still uses 
a fair number of 392's.
Gerry
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