Are you an old time mechanic?

[Gary - K7GLD]

They were pretty scarce in the '50s so I didn't do much with them except for the one we put in the hot rod. I don't remember any sheet metal, but that doesn't mean much. CRS.

WELL, ya made me go look - heres a bit from an old engine historical archive:

A new, smaller, V8 enters production. Called the V8-60, it gives 70 mph speeds and the best gas mileage of any Ford built before. It is designed for European laws that tax on displacement, as well as British laws that tax on bore size. Important to racing history because it will break the Offy's hold on midget racing. The V8-60 has a gear type oil pump driven off the crank timing gear. The V8-60's heads use 17 studs, not the 21 studs of the larger V8. For this year only, the little V8 has sheet metal sides on the block. The V8-85 gets a larger, relocated water pump, larger insert main bearings, and new cast alloy-steel domed pistons.

Turns out, those engines were very popular in circle track sprint cars of that era...

 

[Joe G.]

Yeah, the one we had was a race engine that had been hopped up a little. It had a Harmon-Collins cam and two Ford 48 carbs. The head was finned aluminum.



Do you have a date for that document?

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Yeah, the one we had was a race engine that had been hopped up a little. It had a Harmon-Collins cam and two Ford 48 carbs. The head was finned aluminum.



Do you have a date for that document?

Here ya go:



The Life Cycle of the Ford Flathead V8: 1932 - 1953

 

[Joe G.]

Thanks for that. I'll see how close my suspect memory fits that.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Thanks for that. I'll see how close my suspect memory fits that.

Among other things, it answers the question as to the earliest Ford V8 - I was thinking '33... :-laf

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

JEEZE, I *LOVE* internet search engines - I just looked up the history of the V8 engines, and found THIS:

In 1902 Léon Levavasseur took out a patent on a V8 engine which he called Antoinette after the young daughter of his financial backer, and from 1904 installed the engine in a number of speedboats and aircraft which were also called "Antoinette", as was the company that built them. In 1909 one of these aircraft tried but failed to cross the English Channel. [3]



The V8 aircraft engine became popular in France from 1904 onward, and was used in a number of aircraft engines introduced by Renault, and Buchet among others. Some of these engines found their way into automobiles in small quantities. Rolls Royce built a 3535 cc (216 cu in) V8 car from 1905 to 1906, but only 3 copies were made and Rolls Royce reverted to a straight-6 design. De Dion-Bouton introduced a 7773 cc (474 cu in) automobile V8 in 1910 and displayed it in New York in 1912. It was produced only in small quantities, but inspired a number of American manufacturers to follow suit. [4]



The first mass-production automobile V8 was introduced in the United States in 1914 by Cadillac, a division of General Motors which sold 13,000 of the 5429 cc (331 cu in) L-head engines in its first year of production. Cadillac has been primarily a V8 company ever since. Oldsmobile, another division of General Motors, introduced its own 4 L (244 cu in) V8 engine in 1916. Chevrolet introduced a 288 CID (4. 7 L) V8 engine in 1917, but after merging with General Motors in 1918, discontinued the V8 to concentrate on economy cars. [5]

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

OK, another for the old Dinosaur car nuts - when was the first mass produced self-starter (no hand crank) installed, and on what brand vehicle?

 

[KevinSmith]

OK, another for the old Dinosaur car nuts - when was the first mass produced self-starter (no hand crank) installed, and on what brand vehicle?

The starters were first installed by Cadillac on production models in 1912

 

[KevinSmith]

.

EDIT

On the windshield, Tucker was the first to make it pop-out to avoid the necklace of death. But, I am unsure whether he actually was the first to use safety glass.

Nope sorry. Keep looking a lot farther back.

 

[Joe G.]

I knew the first Ford V8 was a '32. I thought the 60 was made earlier than that. I do see that the sheet metal sides were only used one year. I knew that the strongest block to get for build a strong engine was the truck/buss block. I thought the 1/4" stroke for the Mercury engine was earlier than it shows in that history. WWII caused some confusion because if someone needed to replace the flathead they had they would get one from a wrecking yard. The result of that was that you never knew what you might find under the hood of an old Ford.

 

[Joe G.]

Have any of you even seen a Crosley? My great uncle had one. He was a pretty big guy, 6' 4" and 300 lbs, so he looked kind of strange getting out of his car. What was interesting about the Crosley engine?

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Have any of you even seen a Crosley? My great uncle had one. He was a pretty big guy, 6' 4" and 300 lbs, so he looked kind of strange getting out of his car. What was interesting about the Crosley engine?

Dunno about the engine, other than it was SMALL - but the seat "support" was interesting - broad bands of inner tube stretched across the tubing framework, with a vinyl-type )("Leatherette"?) slip over cover - about as basic as you can get...



A friend had a Crosley pickup, loaded it with some dirt, and buckled the frame seriously...

 

[Joe G.]

There were a few different engines used in them. The most interesting was the latest one which had an overhead cam. I looked this one up to make sure I remembered things correctly. The one my great uncle owned had the overhead cam so I was right about that.



I just found out that one of the earlier engines was made of sheet metal and only weighed 133 lbs.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

There were a few different engines used in them. The most interesting was the latest one which had an overhead cam. I looked this one up to make sure I remembered things correctly. The one my great uncle owned had the overhead cam so I was right about that.



I just found out that one of the earlier engines was made of sheet metal and only weighed 133 lbs.

YUP - and the cylinders were a separate assembly, detachable from the block...

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

We had a little German Lloyd station wagon - about one notch up from a Crosley - got over 50 MPG carrying 4 people. Went from Manteca California to Las Vegas (about 500 miles?) on $3. 10 worth of gas - but of course, gas wasn't $4 a gallon at that time... :-laf



It had a 22 HP air-cooled motorcycle engine for power.

 

[Joe G.]

Was it blue? One of my friends in the '50s had one. We hauled a couple of motorcycles in it when went to play in the dirt. Since then I have only seen one. It was in '95 when we stopped at an automobile museum in South Dakoto. They had one with a sign in front of it asking if anyone knew what it was. It was the same blue color as my friend had.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Was it blue? One of my friends in the '50s had one. We hauled a couple of motorcycles in it when went to play in the dirt. Since then I have only seen one. It was in '95 when we stopped at an automobile museum in South Dakoto. They had one with a sign in front of it asking if anyone knew what it was. It was the same blue color as my friend had.

YUP - blue, with a cream colored top. Not too many color choices at the time, we bought it new, and as I recall, basic color choices were blue, an off-red and an off-green - might have been a creamy yellow too...



I tried looking them up on the Internet, but very little info, guess they never went over well - only seen one relatively recently, at a car show. They were around during the same time frame as the Italian Isetta (sp?), the small "car" where the single door opened from the front, with the steering wheel swinging out with it - the air-cooled engine was in the rear...



AH, the memories... :-laf

 

[Joe G.]

The one my friend had was so slow it was hilarious. Four guys and a couple of motorcycles was almost too much for it. Oh yeah, the bikes were Harley Hummers. Do you know anything about them?

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

The one my friend had was so slow it was hilarious. Four guys and a couple of motorcycles was almost too much for it. Oh yeah, the bikes were Harley Hummers. Do you know anything about them?

Not sure about the "Hummer" name, but a friend had one of the Harley 125 2-strokes back in the late 40's - bet few guys have ever seen or heard of one of those!

 

[Joe G.]

Yep. That's the Hummer. The tank filler cap had a cup on the bottom of it. Fill that with 30 wt oil and put it in the tank. Then fill with gas.



I was a real car nut when I was a kid. Had a couple of old junk cars when I was in high school. They required the use of tools every so often. Got married in '56 and move to L. A. That was a really fun place to live then. Hot rods, rock and roll, outlaw drag racing on Imperial Highway, Lyons on Saturday night, Santa Anna or Saugus on Sunday, maybe run up to the dry lakes.



I had a couple of very neat cars that I wish I still had. One was a '47 Ford convertable and the other was a '53 Cad convertable.



We lived there for five years before the army decided they would like me to go play with them for a while.



Lots of memories from those years.