The two faces of Tornado. The engine is shown here is from the
J-Series Wagoneer or truck configuration with the standard paper
air filter and a generator fitted. Story by Jim Allen Jeep's
overhead-cam six, famously called the Tornado, was one of the
first mass-produced overhead-cam engines built in the United
States after World War II. As whiz-bang as that sounds, the
engine actually has very humble roots. Willys Motor engineer
A.C. Sampietro worked out a simple plan: In 1960 he took the
existing lower-end architecture from the Kaiser
Supersonic/Continental Red Seal 226-cubic-inch L-head (or
flathead) six and began designing a new overhead-cam engine
around it. The 226 engine had been incorporated into the Jeep
lineup as the Super Hurricane in 1954, and it had an enviable
reliability record. It made 105 horsepower, and when it was
introduced it was a welcome addition to the horsepower-starved
Jeep engine lineup. Like all flatheads, it had breathing and
cooling difficulties, but the Continental-sourced engine