this is so cooool. I'm wondering if there were any built and sold or was it just a one off, that never really happened.
couldn't be any worse for cooling than the water 'cooled' little boiler makers! a least they didn't route the exhaust through the block. Ray
One idea that almost made it in 1932… Henry Ford had considered an air-cooled, light alloy V8 before settling on the new legendary Flathead V8 of 1932. (Petersen Automobile Museum collection)
Those engines were designed for the new "Forvair" Ford Motor Company was coming out with. Ralph Nader's grandfather took exception with them however, and they never made it into production. All the weight in the rear of the car, and a "torque-tube transaxle" also created some engineering obstacles that were just too difficult to overcome. They instead put the engine into production as water cooled, and the rest is HISTORY. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
I believe that was during the time a bunch of Communist were hired by Chevrolet to infiltrate Ol' Henry's Skunk Works (where all of Ford's "Secret Squirrel" stuff was being worked on). The commies stole the plans for this air cooled engines and Chevrolet ended up employing them in a new car that was similar to the Forvair. Little did the commies know that Henry was on to them, and let them "take" this new, albeit flawed, design. A young pup working for Ford at the time by the name of Ralph Emerson Nader was tasked with the job of finishing Chevrolet off using the plans they stole. Damn near got the job done, too. I'm surprised nobody knows this - the story was Declassified by the government on April 1st 1974....
The Jalopy Journal
