The Ford Flathead V8 wasn't the first V8, but when it debuted in the 1932 Model 18, it brought this brilliant engine configuration to the American masses. With a simple design featuring a flat ...

It was considered a major breakthrough when Ford launched its Flathead V8 engine in 1932. Up until that point, V8 engines were expensive and limited to just luxury cars, but Henry Ford wanted one that ...

Starting life in 1932, the venerable Ford flathead V8 engine was refined and updated until its overhead valve successor filled its spot under the hoods of Ford passenger cars in 1954. The earliest ...

Like most things, the Flathead evolved and there were a variety of improvements made during its lifespan. In 1933, new aluminum cylinder heads and redesigned pistons resulted in the compression ratio ...

The Ford Flathead V8 was the first mass-market V8 and the starting point for uniquely American performance. What's interesting about it is exactly what made it possible—simple and cheap to build—is ...

By now V8s are popular enough for just about every auto manufacturer to have one of their own. Even Mazda developed a V8 for a luxury brand, Amanti that was eventually disbanded, but that V8 was never ...

For the first few decades of the 20th century, V8 engines were finicky, expensive things reserved for low-production luxury cars. Fancy pants Cadillacs and LaSalles were powered by V8s, while more ...

Like most things, the Flathead evolved and there were a variety of improvements made during its lifespan. In 1933, new aluminum cylinder heads and redesigned pistons resulted in the compression ratio ...