Is The Ford Flathead The Worst V8 Ever Made?

[@weswhitlinger1706]

As a collector, and builder of vintage Fords for more than 55 years, I can say with vast experience with the Ford flathead V8 that it is one of the most reliable and longest lasting vintage engines of it's time. I currently have a mild custom 49 Ford that I built more than 35 years ago. The car only had 9,000 original miles on it when I started the custom build. It had been part of museum collection for many years, and always in a heated climate-controlled environment. The only thing I did not touch was the original Flathead V8 other than adding a dual carb manifold and 2 Stromberg 97 carbs headers and dual exhaust. That engine now has 120,000 trouble free miles and has the same 55 lb. oil pressure it had when i bought the car 36 years go with 19,000 miles on it. No over heating issues even in the Desert temps where we live. It runs smooth as silk and still uses the same normal 1 quart of oil every 1,200 to 1,500 miles as it did when it only had 9,000 miles on it. I have had and have built more Flathead V8"s than most people have ever seen. They are simple and very strong long-lasting engines, even when hot rodded.

[@johnhuntington3800]

As a flathead fan, I must say that over 50 years of building, driving, and racing - the V-8 flat tie has always been a great and simple design, and was absolutely revolutionary in the early 1930’s all the way up to the hot rod craze of the 60’s - even into the OHV designs. Love me a good ol’indestructible flat V-8!

[@LanceisLawson]

The Flathead wasn't designed to be a performance engine. It was designed to be a smooth torquey passenger car engine. Nevertheless hotrodders managed to get respectable power out of the Flathead.

[@don66hotrod94]

The Ford flathead was just like the Fordson tractor, it was a cheaply designed product meant to appeal to the masses. And they were both successful for a time, but soon became outclassed by other brands. The reason hotrodders in the 50's chose the Ford flathead was that there were so many in junkyards that could be bought for $25.00-50.00.

[@westcoastadventures7724]

I can't stand to hear an AI voice with a British accent talking about an American product. Bummer, I really wanted to hear about this subject.

[@MidwestCarLifeShorts]

It’s not for everyone.

[@NealAmmerman]

As we look back of automotive engineering, it’s easy now to criticize faults. The Flathead had weaknesses but also virtues and was a huge leap in development of previous engineering and later developed of OHV technology. As with anything, it worked well for its time but improvements were made later.

[@pb68slab18]

It was what it was, the first mass-produced, commercially available and successful V-8. A point for improvement.

[@matthewsmith6486]

I've got 3 cars with Ford flathead V8s. I love them.

[@geezer4962]

The Chevy 348 and the 409 were the worst V8's of all time.

[@stacysanders-w3e]

Jr. Johnson thought his 409 was pretty good in the 1960 Daytona 500.

[@RobertWill-uq3iv]

Flat heads don't make power? Thanks for the tip.

[@Baribrotzer]

".....Is The Ford Flathead The Worst V8 Ever Made?...." No, it's just old-fashioned. Some of the compromises that enabled Ford to produce a low-cost V8 also compromised performance, or worked fine at stock horsepower levels but gave problems at higher outputs. For starters, a flathead must trade off compression and breathing, and that's inherent in the design. The Ford also had built-in cooling problems.

[@rowengarvin4833]

Better than anything made by GM

[@Baribrotzer]

At the time? Or ever? Not a Chevy fan at all - but I'd still put the old Chevy small-block, big-block, LS, and the new Corvette LT6 and LT7 up against any flathead. Even the Vortec 4.2 six kicks its butt.

[@rowengarvin4833]

@Baribrotzer till meets turbocharged Barra engine that smashes ls motors

[@martyharless5097]

I would take a Chevy stove bolt 6 or a Buick straight 8 365 days a year over that piece of shit Ford flathead.

[@rowengarvin4833]

@@martyharless5097 your loss

[@martyharless5097]

@@rowengarvin4833 If by loss you mean win then yes it's my loss.

[@paradiselost9946]

i really dont care a dam what some bot narrator thinks of anything, to be honest... would rather listen for hours to that cantering idle of a flathead V8 than another second of this pointless BS...

[@NealAmmerman]

By no means was this a bad engine.There aes modern day engines even today that are much worse. The Flathead is only less esteemed as compared to improved development later.

[@williamhopkins4162]

I don't know why just to get you to watch I guess..

[@BillStoliker]

Can't listen to AI narration

[@brianhalberg131]

Stopped watching due to the clearly AI voice over. I mean, you wrote the script in order to get it to come out of the bot, why not just read it yourself?