How were early 70’s V8’s so large yet relatively lacking in power

Question

How is it possible with the Chevy’s and Caddy’s with their pure American 6 litre V8’s didn’t get past 300 horsepower.

It seems so implausible that such a massive engine was so inefficient.

In: Engineering

Answer 1

Before the seventies the american solution to more power usually was increasing the displacement without any improvements to the technology. In 1971 there was a massive oil crisis that forced the world, including the US to restrict the fuel consumption of cars. The sudden change was massive and there just wasn’t any way to make power with the new restrictions in place. Especially with the big V8:s.