Re: Why didn't Continental make an OHV V-8?

Posted by Ross On 2012/7/23 6:19:47

You always pose the most interesting questions.

K-F and Checker were the only automotive Continental engine buyers by the time the V-8 era rolled around, and most of K-F's engines were made under license from Continental in their own engine plant with additional supply from Continental as need arose.

That engine had wide industrial usage and I have sat upon forklifts with essentially the same engine as in my 51 Kaiser Special. A smooth running, torquey, economical piece it is too.

K-F was hard at work on their own V-8 (some excellent photos of the prototype recently emerged on ebay) so Continental would not have had a volume customer for a V-8 engine.

As Kaiser sales dropped to the basement they had to give up their own V-8 plans and tried to source from Oldsmobile but negotiations failed when Olds could not promise supply due to their own demand.

So the short answer to your question is that no one in the automotive field needed a Continental V-8.

Of course, they might have worked on one, but we need a Continental historian to answer that.