April 1958 I took delivery of a new 1958 Ford convertible with the 352 Intercepter Special  engine with a Fordmatic transmission. 
I special ordered this car in December of 1957. The engine had solid lifters that required constant adjusting, possibly because
the accelerator was seldom off the floor. I often thought this engine was built " loose " from the factory. I never lost a street race
to C car 348/3 duece standard or automatic. Y-blocks were no problem either. I blew up this motor at about 40,000 miles, and the 
replacement motor was a dud, no power. With the top down and no passenger in the front seat, when the passenger seat blew
forward, the speedometer was always on 120 mph. 
I was only 19 years old when I bought this car. Memories of my first new car are still fresh.
 Ernie

Those early 352 PI motors were monsters.  Their memory got lost in all the 390/427/428 FE noise. Back then, there was a lot of talk about FI Corvettes.  No 283 could run on the street with a 352 PI in a light Ford no matter how many carburetors, fuel injection units and German engineered cams you put on them.  The 348 was a truck engine.  409s were better, but mostly they were about the song. I love my 292, it's the great granddaddy of a multiple  Le mans winner.  You remember, the engine that sent Mr. Ferrari packing?   Every Y-Block was one step closer to that goal.   

Let me add, the 1958 FE model run referred to the FE engine(s) as INTERCEPTOR. This did not imply POLICE INTERCEPTOR. It was more related with the industry fascination with aircraft at the period and advertising.

The actual PI Engines came in 361, 352, 332 and 223 believe it or not. The agencies could order only what they needed or could afford.The 361 was the hot one. I am a$$-u-me(ing) PI continued using the early design whereas PASS CAR got the down-grade. It is difficult to ascertain as dedicated POLICE had separate cataloging and you usually had to know someone.

The HOT 352 was the 1960 352/360HP. But the 390 (STD - PI - HP) replaced it in the 1961 model year.

One other note is MARKETING did not think the buying public would be happy with the clickity-clack of solids in a PREMIUM BIRD.

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The 352 in my car was an Interceptor Special as designated by the script on the glove compartment door. 
This motor had solid lifters and a four barrel carburetor. The Cruise-O-Matic transmission was new for 1958, 
but I opted for the Fordmatic.
The replacement  motor was not an Interceptor Special. I am not familiar with a 1958 Police Interceptor motor.
Ernie

1958 332s had a rare cylinder head with machined combustion chambers and a mechanical lifters, long pushrods. worked on several of these, in Canada all 352s and 361s where hyd. lifters and shorter push rods. the 332s used a od lifter as it was hollow to the botem with push rods rested on the bottom of the lifte  .canadian 332s
had poor camshafts and needed constant adjusting if revd up. the rocker assembly's where great and if 1 got a 406 cam ,as well the 332 cylinder heads turned int a bit of a screamer and the better lifters ala 406

Around 20 years ago, I bought a nice 1963 galaxy 390 4V 4 speed 2 door from a guy in Jacksonville.  In the deal, I got a complete Ford triple deuce intake, carbs and linkage.  I decided to build that car into a 406 6V clone. I was looking for a set of heads for the car when I found some NOS 406 heads on EBay.  Those heads had the smallest combustion chambers I ever saw on an FE.  Not knowing any better or caring, I bolted those heads on the rebuilt 390 short block.  The pistons I used were flat tops with small valve notches.  I used a copy of the original 1963 427 stock cam I bought from Holman and Moody.  I did check the piston to valve clearance.   Those small chamber heads really perked up that 300 HP 390.  The chambers were so small I always worried about the compression ratio and detonation.  I ended up buying a pallet of lead additive which I used an alarming amount of. I was told I bought the last of the additive. Here's some photos.

Refering to Florida Phil's remark about Ford being so conservative in the late 50s to early 60's . That's because in late '57, Robert McNammara, then Gen. Mgr. at Ford, bought "hook line & sinker" G.M.'s proposal at a joint meeting of the major companies, that the industy should shut down everything related to racing.. He thought he was dealing with honerable people.. Little did he know, that G.M. promply shipped all their high performance stuff out the back door to a company,( I Can't remember the 1st name) .........Engineering Co., run by a man named Vince Piggot... Much damage was done to Ford's performance image, until they really started to smarten up around 1963. 


Paul

. Robert McNammara, I remember him from the Vietnam period.  My memories are not all good.

McNamara was the one who convinced Ford that there was an unfilled market niche between Mercury and Lincoln, hence the Edsel. We know how that went...

My memories from 1963 and up are that a good running 312 would out run or at least keep up with any 300 horse 352 or 390 in a full sized Ford. I read a  Motor Trend road test comparing the 57 312's with the 58 352's. The 57 was faster. Motor Trend blamed it on the 58 going to a higher rear end ratio for better gas mileage. By 1960 the full sized Ford was heavier than the 57's, especially the Custom's. My 58 Ford Custom with a stock 292 with a 4 barrel and duals and 3 speed would easily out run my cousin's 64 XL 300 horse automatic 390. To me weight was a big factor. I'm sure there were some 58's that were quick but I never ran into one. The machined combustion chamber 352 heads were good though. A buddy them on a dirt track 352 and it was quick. Cams on the early 352-390's was a problem with the stock hydraluic lifter cams and poor valve springs. Many 390's would only go 4500 rpm with stock valve springs. I had one in a 57 Custom back then. 427 valve springs brought it up to 5000-5500 rpm. Add a 406 cam and solids and things got more interesting. A friend had a new Fairlane GT with the 330 horse 390 and 4 speed. Local 65 GTO 4 barrel 4 speed blew him off. Buddy added 427 valve springs and 406  cam and then blew the doors off the GTO. I never did understand how the 428 Cobra Jet ran so well. The cam had the same spec's as the 335 horse Fairlaine GT. Maybe the CJ heads which were basicly 406 heads were the difference. Interesting fun times.