The 496 in my Coronet made 613 hp and 631 torque so one could argue that I only gave up a tiny bit of torque to pick up a bunch of power. But, I have a feeling that the cam used in my 496 would not be happy pulling a heavy Imperial down the freeway at 1800 rpm. It would probably pull the car down the racetrack a little faster, but cruising in OD is a really tough trick for a performance engine.

I'm not convinced that the induction system on that engine is great for that application but it would take a bunch of testing to find a better one that fit under the hood so I think it is what it is.