1960 Pontiac Parisienne

Sweet. The old man had a '60 Strato Chief with the 261, 3-on-the-tree, in that colour. Brought my youngest brother home from Toronto Western in that thing. Wish they'd gotten lost...

Dad claimed that the enhanced stovebolt would outrun a 283-2v, of which I'm somewhat skeptical, but it would be a long, slow race, regardless!

We too had a Strato Chief, a 61, with the 261 and that car was very strong and I can still see Dad passing 5 and 6 cars at one shot on Hwy. 27 heading up to Wasaga and Woodland beaches back in the day. The 261 besting the early small blocks is a generally held truth. I am told by old timers that the reason the 261 could walk from 265's and 283's was a combination of the big sixes' torque and the rear axle ratios in the 6 cylinder cars being more favourable to the low end acceleration. 

Yeah, Ray, same recollection, here.  He got a new, stripper Strato Chief company car each year, and the '58-'62s were all 261s with the 3-speed, non-synchro low gear, manual.  The '63 was a "Harvest Gold" 230 or 250 Powerglide, and he HATED that car.  Could barely pass a road sign.  He would do 30-35K miles a year, as chief estimator for what's now Coco Paving, and was then Warren Bithulithic, in Downsview.  I suspect he had a lot more windshield time in the '63 than he had in the earlier ones.

The company stepped up for the 283 from '64-'66, then the base V8 in his '68, '70, and '72.  By then, he wasn't driving as much, and the cars "miled out" at 24 months, rather than 12.  

That inline 6, in 300 c.i.d. GMC pickup and medium duty truck form, was a hot ticket on short dirt and asphalt ovals, back then.  Torquey as hell, and pretty much bulletproof.  Even the Blue Oval truck six worked in that application, a miracle for sure.