Well they were good for their day. Seems to me Ford fell victim to the bigger is better syndrome back then when it came to designing intake ports. They are still a bit behind the times today. Especially when you take into account engines like the LS1 which only uses 2 valves, but the sohc mod motor looks more promising everyday. To bad they decided to dump their pushrod motors.
A buddy of mine is cracking 10.20-10.30's in a 3500 lbs SS Z-28 using a 250 shot of giggle gas, a cam, a bit more compression, and a little head work.
, but I digress
, I think the Boss 302 would be a pig with a auto and those huge heads which are designed for a high, high reving engine. Fortunately the cleveland style head proved to be an evolutionary dead end. Although ford still does use a canted valve head on the V-6 motors with a more sensible intake port volume.