Happy Birthday Flathead

"Carl Schmaltz, Ray Lard, and Mil Zoerlein, working in secret, take one of Henry Ford's ideas and turn it into a production item - the Ford flathead V8. The first production car comes off the line on March 9th, 1932. The new flathead features a single belt, two water pumps, a generator/fan combo, a Detroit Lubricator carburetor, and an aluminum intake manifold. The cylinder heads are held on with 21 studs. The main bearings are poured rabbit. Water enters the heads at the top center. On only the '32 models, the belt is adjusted by a single nut on the generator post mount, and the crankshaft is forged. Cast as a single unit block, many said the 90 degree V8 was an engineering impossibility. It looks like they might be right, for early engines suffer from casting pinholes, cracks or overheating. The motor acquires a reputation as an oil burner after 1000 miles. Oil sometimes surge away form the crankshaft bearings on hard turns, resulting in engine seizure. Only a few go into commercial vehicles. To combat these stories, a V8 car travels 33301 miles in 33 days on a 32 mile course across the Mojave desert. It averages 20 mpg for the trip."