Was the Eldorado's Special V-8 a response to the Chrysler 300's Hemi?

Background – Out of World War Two Comes the OHV V-8.

In today’s world, if we want horsepower, we can buy it prepackaged or off the shelf. We can stuff it into any size and shape automobile – and it will run flawlessly. But if we flash back to the 1950s in the US auto market, such was not the case. We were coming out of WW II, where the Allies and the enemy made huge advances in technology in order to win. A lot of that was filtering into the auto industry, especially from the aircraft industry.

As a way to increase power in aircraft, two things came home to roost, cylinder head design and compression ratio. Without getting into detail, compression and air flow were essential to high altitude performance. At all of the manufacturers who were involved in the War effort, much of what was learned started to trickle down into automotive engine design.

Over at GM, engineers had been developing better cylinder head design for their Allison aircraft engine and what they learned they realized could be applied to automobiles. They know that lightweight, compact, and more efficient powerplants could increase performance and they set about designing engines to meet that criterion.
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