1932 - The Invention of the Ford V8 Engine

The quality control of the time was amazing.

I'm not sure how I ended up here but I'm glad I did. Can't believe how much effort and engineering we all take for granted.

Most ingenious use of gears, bearings and springs. Gotta love it.

What a wonderful film! I used Ford E350 cargo vans for work in the early eighties and bought a 89 used one to start my own distribution business without realizing it came with a bumper to bumper warranty up to 60 K miles. It hauled extra load of magazines in San Francisco’s 46 hills and eventually the transmission broke, I took it to my neighborhood mechanic and he sent it to a transmission shop for it to be refurbished for $3 K not a small sum back then. Then he found out that it was still under warranty but it could only be honored if sent to a dealership. I was beside myself! Then I received a check for the full amount from Ford because there was an exception, if the vehicle broke down during a long weekend due to a holiday since you couldn’t get it fixed right away. I couldn’t believe my luck and Ford’s ethics. Then and there I vowed to be a Ford customer for life. Interesting enough previously I had a bad experience buying a used 79 Ford Fairmont, probably one of the worst era for Ford quality control. When my daughter was born I bought my first brand new car, a Ford Escort Station Wagon that not only was the most affordable Station Wagon at the time but it lasted 24 years (with only a new engine as a major repair). I eventually bought two brand new E350 and another used one. After 35 years in the publishing business I closed shop in 2018, and decided to drive as a Rideshare driver biding my time for retirement, so I bought a brand new Ford Fusion Hybrid (the second time Ford offered me a 0% interest loan), I recently did my 100 K maintenance and it passed with flying colors regardless of all the SF hills! Henry Ford changed the world, and I’m grateful for that in the twentieth first century!

My Dad worked for Ford in Dearborn as a design engineer. That was in the early sixties and late seventies, and into the eighties. We lived in West Dearborn on Newton Place Street, a suburb built by Ford for his employees. We lived in a colonial two level with a full basement, and the housing was all unique and not cookie cutter housing like you sees now a days. We were well off, had a nice education and lifestyle since Ford took great care of their employees.

One of the best automotive documentaries I’ve ever seen

The power, speed, and durability of the Ford with the flathead V-8 was so good that on April 13, 1934, Clyde Barrow, of Bonnie and Clyde fame, wrote a letter to Henry Ford himself thanking him for building a car that allowed him to outrun the police almost everywhere. Probably not the kind of publicity Ford wanted, but I'm sure it didn't hurt.

What an enjoyable 1hr 3mins of a piece off car history.well told and filmed.

Beautiful old footage processing the manufacturing of the internals/cam and crank 🙏🤠 old school slide rule genius folk 😅

Ford flathead was one of the best engines ever built I think. When I was growing up my dad gave me one he found in the junk yard and that’s what I learned about mechanics. I can still remember the firing order and other facts.thankyou ford.

This was the day after my mom was born! RIP Mom! 😇🙏♥️

And today Ford is knocking out the competition, without a bailout. When I was a kid we had 2 Model A's, a 29 coach, a 32 coupe, and one 1937 V8. That V8 was SO smooth. My dad and uncles used to cuss shiverlays up one side and down the other.

Educational value here for the next generation. What a great film in good condition. Show this to your grandkids.

What a sublime treat this was, every minute of it!

I wish I could go back in time and tell my great grandfather to stock up on these 32's and store them with no miles! Could you imagine what a barn find with 10 or 20 brand new 32s with no miles would be worth today?

All of those experimental V8's are sitting on display at The Museum of American Speed now.

I'm no petrol head, but I watched this beginning to end. Excellent video with really great vintage footage. Great work, mate.

I really enjoyed every minute of this window in to the past.

Wonderful video, I had it on vhs years ago when I owned a Ford V8 Pilot God I loved that car and it’s fabulous flathead V8. Thanks for sharing.

Dad started at Ford as a draftsman in 1957 and became a body engineer by the mid-sevens, he was teaching and drafting on CAD computers. He retired in 1993 as lower management. The wonderful thing he enjoyed going to work every day. After contract work, he spent 42 years there. Dad was blessed.