# What Inspired Henry Ford To Develop The V-8 Engine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inspired-henry-ford-to-develop-the-v-8-engine/550798 "2010-08-19T22:04:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inspired-henry-ford-to-develop-the-v-8-engine/550798/1 "2010-08-19T22:04:13Z")
In an earlier thread, I learned that Henry Ford bitterly opposed his son’s (Edsel Ford) plans to develop an inline 6-cylinder engine. Supposedly, Henry was satisfied with his inline 4 cylinder engine-so why the V-\*? In amny ways, Ford’s V-8 was a technological breakthrough-it was the first mass-produced V-8 in the world (Lancia had built a V-8 in 1911, but it wasa low volume, hand-built engine. Ford was the first to make a reasonably priced V-8 engine, available in a low-priced car. Ford liked simple designs, and like a good engineer, he liked 4-cylinder engines (they were simple and cheap to assemble). So why the V-8? Was it done so he could leapfrog GM? ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inspired-henry-ford-to-develop-the-v-8-engine/550798/2 "2010-08-19T23:24:08Z")
I’ve heard that many automobile engineers claimed a V-8 would be inherently impossible to balance; Ford said they didn’t know what they were talking about and built the V-8 largely just to prove the naysayers wrong. Possible or even probably an urban legend but I’ve heard it from a ton of people. How many people know that Chevy built a V-8 back in the 1920s? ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inspired-henry-ford-to-develop-the-v-8-engine/550798/3 "2010-08-20T01:06:10Z")
Ford’s great leap with the V-8 was that its cylinders and crankcase were all one piece. Earlier V-8’s such as Cadillac’s had cylinders and crankcases and water jackets as separate pieces bolted together. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inspired-henry-ford-to-develop-the-v-8-engine/550798/4 "2010-08-20T02:57:49Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve heard that many automobile engineers claimed a V-8 would be inherently impossible to balance; Ford said they didn’t know what they were talking about and built the V-8 largely just to prove the naysayers wrong. Possible or even probably an urban legend but I’ve heard it from a ton of people. the first “mass produced” V8 on these shores was the 1914 Cadillac engine, which had a flat-plane crankshaft (basically an inline-4 crank with the crankpins able to accomodate a pair of connecting rods.) Like an I4, a flat-plane V8 is in primary balance but not in secondary balance. It wasn’t until the cross-plane crankshaft was developed where V8s were both in primary and secondary balance. as far as I know, all road-going V8s today are cross-plane, with the exception of Ferrari V8s which remain flat-plane. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inspired-henry-ford-to-develop-the-v-8-engine/550798/5 "2010-08-20T06:29:00Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > I’ve heard that many automobile engineers claimed a V-8 would be inherently impossible to balance; Ford said they didn’t know what they were talking about and built the V-8 largely just to prove the naysayers wrong. Possible or even probably an urban legend but I’ve heard it from a ton of people. Those people are cretins. Glenn Hammond Curtiss [built a V8 motorcycle and set a land speed record of 136.3 mph](http://big-diesel.blogspot.com/2010/06/fastest-man-on-erth-with-curtiss-v8.html) - in 1907. The record was not beat by any vehicle for 11 years, and it was 23 years before it was beat by another motorcycle. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inspired-henry-ford-to-develop-the-v-8-engine/550798/6 "2010-08-26T02:33:52Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > > [@LouisB](#): > > > > I’ve heard that many automobile engineers claimed a V-8 would be inherently impossible to balance; Ford said they didn’t know what they were talking about and built the V-8 largely just to prove the naysayers wrong. Possible or even probably an urban legend but I’ve heard it from a ton of people. > > Those people are cretins. > > Glenn Hammond Curtiss [built a V8 motorcycle and set a land speed record of 136.3 mph](http://big-diesel.blogspot.com/2010/06/fastest-man-on-erth-with-curtiss-v8.html) - in 1907. The record was not beat by any vehicle for 11 years, and it was 23 years before it was beat by another motorcycle. I did say the story was probably an urban legend. Cretin seems a little judgmental. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-inspired-henry-ford-to-develop-the-v-8-engine/550798/7 "2010-08-26T04:48:27Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > > [@gaffa](#): > > > > Those people are cretins. > > > > Glenn Hammond Curtiss [built a V8 motorcycle and set a land speed record of 136.3 mph](http://big-diesel.blogspot.com/2010/06/fastest-man-on-erth-with-curtiss-v8.html) - in 1907. The record was not beat by any vehicle for 11 years, and it was 23 years before it was beat by another motorcycle. > > I did say the story was probably an urban legend. Cretin seems a little judgmental. Really? Something being talked of as “impossible” when that thing had been accomplished by one of the greatest engineers who ever lived seven years earlier? Who set a record that was not beaten for 23 years? What would you call it? I am annoyed at Curtiss’ accomplishments being ignored, so that probably influenced my choice of words. “Ignoramuses” would probably be more polite.