William Emmert Drinkard was the epitome of the car guy.

Not only did he build his first engine at age 12, he helped develop the "Hemi" engine for the Chrysler Corp.

A Chrysler engineer, he delighted in pulling up next to younger drivers in their souped up hot rods and challenging them to beat him away from the traffic light. He usually was driving a plain small-model Plymouth, but with a very powerful -- sometimes experimental -- engine.

"He would just leave them in the dust," said his daughter Carol Drinkard. "He beat them all."

Mr. Drinkard died on Monday, Jan. 17, 2000, in his Roseville, Minn., home, where he had moved to be closer to his daughter. The former Birmingham resident was 90.

He was executive engineer in charge of vehicle development at Chrysler when he retired in 1977 after 40 years with the automaker.

It was in that role that he helped create the Hemi, a high-powered V8 that powered many of Chrysler's muscle cars of the 1960s. A 300 Hemi C engine recently was unveiled at the North American International Auto Show. The new engine pays homage to its predecessor.

He earned a bachelor's of science degree in engineering from the University of Colorado in 1932, and a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Yale University in 1934. He also earned a master of automotive engineering degree from the Chrysler Institute in 1937 and began working for the automaker.

Mr. Drinkard worked for the government during World War II, testing tanks in the Arizona desert to make sure they would stand up mechanically to the combat environments in which they would have to fight.

But cars were always Mr. Drinkard's passion, and he even took company cars with his family on their vacations, often with experimental engines in the cars.

"Of course they always broke down in the desert," Carol Drinkard said. "He would have to get out and fix them."

Mr. Drinkard moved to Roseville in 1994.

Other survivors include two daughters, Nancy and Mary Ann.

Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in First United Methodist Church, 1589 W. Maple, in Birmingham. Burial will be in White Chapel Memorial Cemetery, in Troy.