What is a Tunnel Ram!?

A tunnel ram is a high-performance intake manifold designed to straighten the path of the fuel/air mix - speeding the flow to the combustion chamber. Faster flow means more fuel/oxygen mix rammed into the combustion chamber for a boost in horsepower. That’s pretty much it - nothing high tech about it. For many hot-rodders and custom car makers, tunnel rams are more for show than go - an excuse to have big shiny four barrel carburetors jutting out from a hole cut in a hood…if you have a hood. For old school rodders - hoods are optional.

Chrysler manufactured tunnel rams in the early 1960s that could be contained under the bonnet - called ‘cross-ram intakes’. These were expensive and only offered on top of the range, high performance models on certain Dodge and Chrysler lines. They mounted twin 4 barrel carburetors either side of the V8 cylinder bank - as per the last picture in the gallery below.

Here then is a selection of tunnel ram images in various installments. Although they aren’t specific to V8s - we’re sticking to the V8 tunnel rams here cos they’re the most iconic and well, there’s a reason for that - they look so damned good…