Re: Since Packard had a V-12 in the 30's....

Posted by Rusty O\'Toole On 2009/7/22 16:32:43

JW I stand corrected. I could weasel out and say I meant casting all eight cylinders in one, rather than 2 blocks of 4. But in fact I did not know this or forgot.

Other makers soon started casting straight eight block and crankcase all in one. But the first V8 with a single casting did not appear until the 1930 Viking followed closely by Ford in 1932. No, Ford was not the first.

Making a V8 was harder than making a straight eight. The only reason they made V8s in the first place, was because a straight eight crankshaft was too long to be practical except in small displacement engines such as the 3 liter Miller and Duesenberg racing engine.

It was Packard that started the trend. I know the Duesenberg beat Packard to the market but it was Packard that put the new engine over with the public and with the big mass producers.