Theoreticly? Torque.
Back on the '60's, Chrysler used long ram manifolds on some of it's big block cars. The two carbs fed the cylinder head from a position over, & even outboard of, the exhaust manifold of the opposite head. They used long, but smallish runners to get gas velocity right up there. Those suckers developed so much torque they could just about drag the Queen Mary ashore.

In engines with big cams, some believe that the column, or mass, of fast moving gas will keep pushing it's way into the cylinder even though the piston is rising on the compression stroke, trying to push the gas back out. It does work, but provides it's best within a relatively narrow rev band. If you can tailor all of this to coincide with the engine speed that you need it at, then it's the next best thing to supercharging, but has it's drawbacks

In the Chryslers it worked a treat at street speeds, but was not continued.

The benefit? Well apparently it worked... 14.07 in the quarter's pretty respectable for an A series. Although.... I think I see a nitrous solenoid in there.

Ah, I worked on one of those old dinos ... a Chrysler 300 circa 1962. It had -- I kid you not -- a 4-barrel carb over each wheel well. Each one fed the opposite bank of the V8 wedge.

It took a lot of cranking to get the car started, we joked that it probably took 30 seconds for fuel to travel from the carb to the intake valve!

Anyways, I've always admired this photo of the A-series tunnel ram, it's also posted on Yahoo Club Datsun 210.

Quote:
another thing...
I see no radiator or fan or wiper motor. looks like this was built for life a 1/4 mile at a time. any thing it doesn't need... why have it?

dodgeman is right on the money.

in fact, i read somewhere David Vizard's calculations for optimal intake runner design was based on chrysler's developments.

or it was chrysler's developments were based on David Vizard's calculations...

either way, get a hold of David Vizards calculations. you can basically customise your inlet runner diameters and lengths to get the different performance you want from your NA engine. i'm applying the formulas to my new project (sssh..it's a secret! ) but the draw back is you're limited to the size of your inlet ports. if you have to 'step down' your intake runners (by a cone shape preferably) your calcs go out the window as you have to start bringing in pressure reversion calcs and reduced diameter vs velocity calcs.

either way, it's a damn good read.

I read somewhere that the Chrysler "ramcharger" engines (possibly a 413) had a torque peak at around 2500 rpm.

The Ramchargers were a team of Chrysler engineers who campaigned Dodge cars at the drags with a little factory support. Up untill 1964, all the development was on the "Max Wedge", originally the 413, then the 426. From 1964, the Hemi ruled supreme.
The Max Wedge engines used "Cross Ram" manifolds & the carbs were positioned approximately in a vertical line above the inlet ports of the oposite head, so the whole thing was contained within the rocker covers.

I don't know what the torque figures were, but the 1960 Dodge D500 "Ram Induction" engine developed 460 lbs/ft of torque at 2,800 rpm, & this was with the little 383 engine.
Ddgonzal was right, those carbs were out over the suspension, well past the exhaust manifolds. It's a good thing that they used hydraulic tappets as it would have been necessary to remove the whole induction system just to get the rocker covers off otherwise.