Bob Cahill, Chrysler Engineer
Robert John Cahill attended the Chrysler Institute of Engineering, studying and working as a student engineer, starting in 1936. In 1938, he began to work for Bill Drinkard, head of engine development; Cahill later credited Drinkard with being the driving force behind the original Hemi engine. According to a 2008 interview with Mopar magazine, the hemispherical-head design was a tough sell for chief engineer Fred Zeder.
In 1953, Cahill moved from component development under Drinkard to being a motor engineer assigned to the Lynch Road (Plymouth) assembly plant. He transplanted a 1952 Chrysler Hemi into his 1950 Plymouth daily driver; the engine made the lighter car quicker than the big Chrysler, though cornering suffered. Cahill began to join special projects, including racing and the Mobilgas Economy Run.
Bob Cahill was one of the members of the engineering team that prepared a 1956 Plymouth Fury for the Daytona Beach speed trials [also see Chrysler 300s at Daytona]; the flagship Chrysler 300B had just set a performance record, but driver Phil Walters easily broke the new Chrysler record by driving the Flying Mile at a two-way average of 124 mph.
Cahill raced a 383-powered Plymouth hardtop in 1958 and 1959; he had fooled the production system into installing the engine into his Plymouth, which was only supposed to get a 350. He experimented with tuning the car across the street from the Plymouth plant, at the Product Planning garage.
Bob Cahill was promoted to Manager of Vehicle Performance Planning, moving to Highland Park. He ran Chrysler's Pure Oil Performance Trials team and the Mobilgas Economy Run efforts, and led the racing group that developed the "Hyper Pak" powered Valiants for NASCAR's short-lived compact car racing series. Tom Hoover led the creation of the Hyper-Pak - his first racing development project; he would eventually join Product Planning under Cahill. (Mopar quoted Hoover as saying that they'd gotten "just under 200 horsepower with 11:1 compression, tuned exhaust and a ram manifold ... with a Carter 2948 AFB carburetor." Increased valve sizes and shorter intake runners were planned for the future. The car bodies were stiffened with extra welding, as well. The GM and Ford cars were subjected to similar modifications; presumably, so were the eight Volvos, the SIMCA, and the Nash which were also in the race.)
Cahill personally brought the Hyper Pak parts to the garage where the racing cars were being converted from standard Valiant sedans, with modified transmissions, axle ratios, suspensions, tires, and brake linings. Cahill and Ron Householder drove them on the city streets to check out the mechanical components, though being set up for racing, they were not especially "streetable." The nimble Valiant essentially destroyed the series by being too far ahead of the competition for the end of a race to be in any doubt, a lesson learned all too well by NASCAR's leaders. The racing series never continued past the first race at Daytona, and Cahill bought the blue Valiant HyperPak car which had been driven by Paul O'Shea. He pulled the racing engine, and put in a standard 225 slant six for use as a daily driver.
Bob Cahill personally preferred drag racing to NASCAR; according to Mopar magazine, he "dreamed up" the Max Wedge and HEMI® Package Cars Chrysler built from 1962 through 1968. Mopar wrote that Cahill "wrote the official Product Planning Letter to Engineering that kicked off the 426 HEMI project." Bill Weertman, the design engineering leader on the project, was quoted as saying, "Bob Cahill had knowledge of the original 1951 HEMI as a development engineer." By the mid-1960s, Cahill was Chrysler's racing manager. From 1968 to 1975, Bob Cahill worked for Bob Rodger, who was in charge of oval track and drag strip racing; Rodger reported to Burton Bouwkamp.
Butch Leal wrote,
Along with Special Car Manager Bob Rodger, Robert Cahill - then Chief Engineer - wrote a key letter in 1965, outlining a detuned Hemi for the B-body cars. They suggested using two four-barrel carburetors, cast iron exhaust manifolds, cross-bolted main bearing caps, and tuning that would maintain power but be driveable in four seasons. They assumed that sales would be around 5,000 to 7,000 units. The Street Hemi appeared in model-year 1966, as outlined by Rodger and Cahill; while sales were never close to the modest sales the pair projected, the Street Hemi certainly bolstered Chrysler's image and would help the company's "street cred" for decades to come.
Bob Cahill also approached Vic Edelbrock to make aluminum intakes for the first 440 Six Pack cars, in 1969. These were later replaced by iron manifolds made by Chrysler, for cost reasons. Later in 1969, Bob Cahill was listed in Mike Doherty's Drag Racing article as one of the top ten most important men in drag racing - the second person in the list, ahead of Jacque Passino (Ford), Andy Granatelli (STP), George Hurst, and a group of racers including Don Garlits.
John Wehrly, formerly Dodge Engineering Motorsports Manager, wrote,
His wife, Marika ("Molly") died on July 10, 2011, in Charlottesvsille, Virginia at the age of 91.
Bob Cahill died on November 14th in Little Rock, Arkansas, at the age of 96. He had a daughter, Judith, two brothers, and three grandchildren. Services were at Little Rock Funeral Home.
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Robert John Cahill attended the Chrysler Institute of Engineering, studying and working as a student engineer, starting in 1936. In 1938, he began to work for Bill Drinkard, head of engine development; Cahill later credited Drinkard with being the driving force behind the original Hemi engine. According to a 2008 interview with Mopar magazine, the hemispherical-head design was a tough sell for chief engineer Fred Zeder.
In 1953, Cahill moved from component development under Drinkard to being a motor engineer assigned to the Lynch Road (Plymouth) assembly plant. He transplanted a 1952 Chrysler Hemi into his 1950 Plymouth daily driver; the engine made the lighter car quicker than the big Chrysler, though cornering suffered. Cahill began to join special projects, including racing and the Mobilgas Economy Run.
Bob Cahill was one of the members of the engineering team that prepared a 1956 Plymouth Fury for the Daytona Beach speed trials [also see Chrysler 300s at Daytona]; the flagship Chrysler 300B had just set a performance record, but driver Phil Walters easily broke the new Chrysler record by driving the Flying Mile at a two-way average of 124 mph.
Cahill raced a 383-powered Plymouth hardtop in 1958 and 1959; he had fooled the production system into installing the engine into his Plymouth, which was only supposed to get a 350. He experimented with tuning the car across the street from the Plymouth plant, at the Product Planning garage.
Bob Cahill was promoted to Manager of Vehicle Performance Planning, moving to Highland Park. He ran Chrysler's Pure Oil Performance Trials team and the Mobilgas Economy Run efforts, and led the racing group that developed the "Hyper Pak" powered Valiants for NASCAR's short-lived compact car racing series. Tom Hoover led the creation of the Hyper-Pak - his first racing development project; he would eventually join Product Planning under Cahill. (Mopar quoted Hoover as saying that they'd gotten "just under 200 horsepower with 11:1 compression, tuned exhaust and a ram manifold ... with a Carter 2948 AFB carburetor." Increased valve sizes and shorter intake runners were planned for the future. The car bodies were stiffened with extra welding, as well. The GM and Ford cars were subjected to similar modifications; presumably, so were the eight Volvos, the SIMCA, and the Nash which were also in the race.)
Cahill personally brought the Hyper Pak parts to the garage where the racing cars were being converted from standard Valiant sedans, with modified transmissions, axle ratios, suspensions, tires, and brake linings. Cahill and Ron Householder drove them on the city streets to check out the mechanical components, though being set up for racing, they were not especially "streetable." The nimble Valiant essentially destroyed the series by being too far ahead of the competition for the end of a race to be in any doubt, a lesson learned all too well by NASCAR's leaders. The racing series never continued past the first race at Daytona, and Cahill bought the blue Valiant HyperPak car which had been driven by Paul O'Shea. He pulled the racing engine, and put in a standard 225 slant six for use as a daily driver.
Bob Cahill personally preferred drag racing to NASCAR; according to Mopar magazine, he "dreamed up" the Max Wedge and HEMI® Package Cars Chrysler built from 1962 through 1968. Mopar wrote that Cahill "wrote the official Product Planning Letter to Engineering that kicked off the 426 HEMI project." Bill Weertman, the design engineering leader on the project, was quoted as saying, "Bob Cahill had knowledge of the original 1951 HEMI as a development engineer." By the mid-1960s, Cahill was Chrysler's racing manager. From 1968 to 1975, Bob Cahill worked for Bob Rodger, who was in charge of oval track and drag strip racing; Rodger reported to Burton Bouwkamp.
Butch Leal wrote,
One reason for the 426 Hemi's success was the excellent engine breathing, which was partly the result of Cahill's intervention: while he didn't want to tell the engineers they might need help building a racing engine, he and Jack Charipar contacted one of the world's chief experts in airflow, Harry Weslake. Weslake had worked on the heads for Bentley's 1929 LeMans winner as well as those for Ford's 1969 LeMans champion. He consulted on the 426 heads, as well as various other racing engines.
Along with Special Car Manager Bob Rodger, Robert Cahill - then Chief Engineer - wrote a key letter in 1965, outlining a detuned Hemi for the B-body cars. They suggested using two four-barrel carburetors, cast iron exhaust manifolds, cross-bolted main bearing caps, and tuning that would maintain power but be driveable in four seasons. They assumed that sales would be around 5,000 to 7,000 units. The Street Hemi appeared in model-year 1966, as outlined by Rodger and Cahill; while sales were never close to the modest sales the pair projected, the Street Hemi certainly bolstered Chrysler's image and would help the company's "street cred" for decades to come.
Bob Cahill also approached Vic Edelbrock to make aluminum intakes for the first 440 Six Pack cars, in 1969. These were later replaced by iron manifolds made by Chrysler, for cost reasons. Later in 1969, Bob Cahill was listed in Mike Doherty's Drag Racing article as one of the top ten most important men in drag racing - the second person in the list, ahead of Jacque Passino (Ford), Andy Granatelli (STP), George Hurst, and a group of racers including Don Garlits.
John Wehrly, formerly Dodge Engineering Motorsports Manager, wrote,
Bob was inducted into the Society of Antique Modelers Hall of Fame in 1993 (his last modeling competition was in 1949). The Society wrote:
Warren Steele added,
Bob Cahill retired from Chrysler in 1975, when he was head of their competition and racing department. He wrote this letter to fellow product planner Burt Bouwkamp about his post-retirement life:
In fall 2010, Cahill broke his right arm. Then, on December 3, 2010, Bob Cahill and his wife were involved in a multiple-car accident (fourth in line). He later fell over backwards and broke his left arm, unable to use his walker, with both of his arms broken. The racing community rose to send him cards, visit him, and let him know he was remembered and supported. Bill Dedman wrote that he had an eight inch stack of get-well cards. At the time, he was 94 years old.
His wife, Marika ("Molly") died on July 10, 2011, in Charlottesvsille, Virginia at the age of 91.
Bob Cahill died on November 14th in Little Rock, Arkansas, at the age of 96. He had a daughter, Judith, two brothers, and three grandchildren. Services were at Little Rock Funeral Home.
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Copyright © VerticalScope Inc. All rights reserved. Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler, Ram, and Mopar are trademarks of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.