Your buddy has Chevy confused with Ford. The first Ford OHV 6-cylinder came out in 1952. Their V-8 went from flathead to overhead valve in 54. Until then, they used a flathead 6, from about 42 to 51, and the 4-cylinders and the V-8s were around from the T-model days on forward. The flathead V-8's had a production run from 32 through 53, in about 4 or 5 different displacements.
Jerry

"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
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