The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk flat head 8

ok this is one i need to ask you guys but have you ever heard of a flat head 44 8 cly. there was a guy here were i work that said that they had one for the 44 ford coupe personally i think he is full of crap but well that is why i am asking you all

hello justin, ol' henry ford came out with the v-8 flathead sometime around 1930-1932 and used that engine with mods up until they came out with their overhead v-8 292? in the model year 1954. ford was not the first to come out with a v-8 in the U.S.A but was the first to make the v-8 affordable to the masses.

tony'n weatherford

1932 - first year for the Fjord flat-head 8.

Why would you think the guy is full of crap? Tony's exactly right. Flathead V8s debuted in passenger cars and trucks in 1932. They were used in domestic vehicles until 1953. They were also built all over the world under license (Simca of France is one example) until the 60s.

Here's a web page that is devoted to them. It's just one of many.

As for having a 44 coupe, that's highly unlikely. Autombile production was suspended early in the 1942 model year and resumed in 1946. I'd guess that he meant a 40 F**d coupe like this one. This car has been running on the salt flats for as long as I've been going out there. He runs a blown flathead motor and hits speeds around 140 mph, iirc.

Not to be outdone, the stovebolt contingent is always well represented by the MRJ Racing AD pickup that runs over 144 mph on a normally aspirated stovebolt motor. I don't know the details of the motor...but it's a sweet one

I may have the opportunity to pick up a couple of complete flatheads here soon. My wife will prolly kill me, but what the heck?

Btw, if you want to see a whole lotta flatties go to the Bonneville 2004 section of my website and check out the first couple of days of Speed Week. There are a whole lotta "traditional hot rods" (some folks get testy if ya call 'em rat rods), many with flatty power.

I'd be more interested in seeing that "44" Coupe. Would be quite rare as I believe there wasn't any civilian car production during the war years.

I get a Flathead digest weekly that is interesting reading; if you'd like I could forward the link. '32-'53 were the years and flatty people are just as weird for their stuff as everyone else is for theirs.

Bruce Palmer
[email protected]

Ray,
Do you have any follow up information on that warehouse full of flat motors in France. Where they went. Who bought them. Why they were there. It was the equivalent of the "barn car" story on a mega scale only for flathead motor geeks. I don't remember enough detail to help, sorry....

Ray,
That AD pickup is sweeeeeeet. I love the way that they took the logo "MRJ Ranch" and crossed out ranch and replaced it with "racing". I would love to see that engine. Wooo Hoooooo!!
Ralph

Bruce - you right about a "mega barn find" - they's in Texas, and available!! - a bit different than the original OEM version, but useable and desireable, if NOT cheap!

Bill

My SCOT blown Ardun is getting a alluminum block
The blower looked out a place on the flathead but just right with the ardun heads

40 Ford has a 12 port 302 GMC

I thought I had a pic or two of the motor, but I can't seem to find any. It doesn't look all that extraordinary...except for those 2 Holley carbs sittin on the manifold. I'll be out there again this year (and I bet that AD is there, too) and get a buncha shots of it.

Bill's gotcha covered on this one, Bruce. I knew of a find of flatties that had been used in French Army trucks...but not a lot more than that. The Webbed-Toe website is pretty informative. I spose if a fella was lookin for a quick and dirty mill for a rat rod, this might be a way to go.

I don't know for sure, but I think there was extrememly limited production of a few cars during the war...they went to the government, for such things as staff cars. I guess it's possible a few made it back into civilian hands as surplus.

There were V-12 flathead Lincolns in the 40s, and a very few straight 8 Chrysler flatheads.

I had an elderly neighbor when I was growing up in the 70s. He had an Edsel that they drove to town, and a 50 Buick with a straight 8 that he used as a pickup (he removed the back seat).

I always thought the Buick was a flathead, but the Internet tells me it was OHV.

Pontiac had flatheads in the 40's-50's (don't know about 30's but probably then too), both 6 and 8 cylinder. The 239 in my '54 is a flathead. It's a weird lookin' motor!
-David
Kustoms-and-Sleds

I don't think $2300 for a complete running, dyno'd flathead is expensive.

Cadillac made a flathead V-8 too. I've seen a couple in OLD hot rods.

Flat-head engines were common in the early days - the Fjord flat-head 8's 4-banger prececessors in the Model T and Model A were flatheads.

My 239 in my 53 still runs good. And I do have spare that was given to me.

well the reason i thought the guy was full of crap is well he is one of those guys who is full of a lot of [censored] so i just needed to ask the experts plus gas engines ain't my real cup of tea im more of a diesel man my self and i thank you all for the responses

hmn... I know ver' little 'bout ford flatheads - but I think Ford back then used 2 digit numbers to differentiate between the motors - or some of them...

I think I read some thing to that effect in passing...

-W