Just conversation, I know they did away
“rocket” around 74-75.
Would my 1975 350 4 bbl with ported #5 heads, mild cam , small dish pistons, Thornton manifolds be considered a rocket now??
😁 Just wondering 😁

 

That was merely a marketing term during a certain time period.

 

I'm hoping you're just funnin' us. That's kind of like asking if your Chevy is a real Turbo-Jet or if your Buick is a legit Fireball. Those are just, as Kenneth points out, marketing terms and as such, pretty much meaningless.

 

Yes just a funny, so pre 74 were considered rockets.
I guess my motor is a half a rocket with 69 heads and small dished pistons. 😆😆🤣🤣

 

It's not a Rocket until it has the air cleaner decal. Mine is a Rocket.

 

I see, it’s all about the decal. 🤣

 

I bet she runs real nice, and that's what really matters.

In addition to what fellow members have said. I view it as an affectionate nickname. Over the years when somebody has asked me does she have a Rocket I say yes. Never looking at it as anything more than it signifying an Olds V8. I will add once the factory stopped calling them Rockets on the air cleaners, that it makes even less sense to use the term. Although it's fundamentally meaningless either way.

The confusion as to why many an Olds guy have such disdain for the term. Is because some car guys think it does mean something, that one Olds V8 is somehow more special than another because one was factory advertised as Rocket. In that sense one could argue that the Super Rocket (425) means bigger/stronger engine. Which it does. But even then Oldsmobile's most significant and powerful car to date the 1966 Toronado. Has an air cleaner that doesn't say it... So back to meaningless. Just marketing.

 

Oldsmobile had manufactured "Rocket" engines since 1949 when they came out with the first OHV V-8. They have been adorned with "Rocket" on valve covers or air cleaners. There was even a "Sky Rocket: engine.

 

Interesting Ralph, I didn’t know they had a sky Rocket

 

... and a "Turbo Rockette".

No word of a lie.

 

Going by the air cleaner decal, "Highway Patrol" engines weren't "Rockets".

​​​​Hmm...what could they have been?

 

Aftermarket air cleaner with Sky Rocket Ultra High Compression decals.