first model T V8

39cent · Jul 13, 2013

who knows info about a V8 made for a model T back in the 20,s. I once stumbled over an engine in the back room of a san Bernardino wrecking yard. It was hooked up to a model T transmission, and it looked like it was made for the T. The block was not like fords later flathead, but more like 2 T blocks in a V! It didnt look like an adaptation. I asked the guy there and he said there were several made, and were used in Taxicabs in town. I had never heard of it and have asked many people but they hadnt heard or seen one. Then about ten years ago a buddy showed me a pic of it in the model T club magazine! ?

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=795658

Dirty Dug · Dec 21, 2007

I'd like to see a picture too.

Mac the Yankee · Dec 21, 2007

Ford did alot of experimentation with blocks- Edsel had a 6 cylinder based on the T 4 cyl in one of his speedstern and Henry tried a 5 cyl. The worst was an X 4 (apparently a miserable failure) that came right before the V8 in '32.

Would love to see some pics of that Model T V8

G V Gordon · Dec 21, 2007

There was an X8 as well. I have it in a model a reference book somewhere. Wild looking thing.

tjm73 · Dec 21, 2007

The way to make a V8 before the Flathead was to bolt two cylinder banks on a crankcase block. Henry's guys figured out how to do it as a single casting. So it coudl have been a conversion or a factory experimental or even an entusiasts custom build.

Sounds cool though. Would love to see a pic.

kinda on/kinda off the topic....While the technique of bolting cylinders onto a crank case had been abondoned in the auto world (motorcycles still use the technique) it is making a comeback with one manufacturer. VW/Audi is bolting lightweight aluminum blocks to iron crankcases in there Twin Turbo V10 TDi engines. The engines are 5.0 litres with 300 hp and 500 ft-lbs. Pretty cool.

Von Rigg Fink · Dec 21, 2007

Tease!
wheres the pictures?

39cent · Dec 22, 2007

HA HA yea it looks like a tease but its real, and i guess i havto put up or shut up. i will call my buddy [he moved to kentucky] find out more and hav him send me pix from the T club news. The engine was cast like a regular manufactured Ford engine, because the trans bolted on like it was made that way. I dont recall but I think the cylinder block was cast to the crankcase. If I cant find the info I,ll shut up. gggg

39cent · Feb 25, 2016

39cent said: ↑

who knows info about a V8 made for the model T back in the 20,s. I once stumbled over an engine in the back room of a san Bernardino wrecking yard. It was hooked up to a model T transmission, and it looked like it was made for the T. The block was not like fords later flathead, but more like 2 T blocks in a V! It didnt look like an adaptation. I asked the guy there and he said there were several made, and were used in Taxicabs in town. I had never heard of it and have asked many people but they hadnt heard or seen one. Then about ten years ago a buddy showed me a pic of it in the model T club magazine! ??
Click to expand...

I sent this post to the HAMB at the end of 2007, and finally found some info in google about the mysterious V8 Model T built in in San Bernardino.

 [FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]One of the more interesting tales of the Gentry Ford era was his development of an eight-cylinder engine for the Model T. Earl E. Buie wrote about it in his “They Tell Me” column in the September 5, 1960, issue of the San Bernardino Evening Telegram. Some of the particulars differ from later recounts of the same events, but since Buie’s story was written while Gentry was still alive and active, it is assumed to be more accurate.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Ford Motor Company brought out a V8 engine for their 1932 Model B, quite an improvement over the four-cylinder engines common at the time. This is considered Henry Ford’s last major innovation, and it put his company ahead of the competition for the next 20 years. However, according to Buie, Gentry had the company beat by 15 years, for it was in 1917 that he and Martin Lewis, who was active in the automobile industry in Los Angeles, joined to produce their own V8 engine. They modified the Model T four-cylinder engine using parts manufactured and assembled in San Bernardino. In other words, both Detroit and San Bernardino were manufacturing car engines during World War I. Judging from this description by Buie, the Gentry-Lewis engine was a great innovation:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The eight-cylinder block was fitted onto the Ford Model T engine crankcase, and used the same crankshaft, camshaft and carburetor. It could be installed in a matter of hours and converted the comparatively rough running four-cylinder motor into a powerful motor of smooth performance and high efficiency. And the cost? A mere $175.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Hanford Foundry cast the block, head and manifold, and Charles Linderoth’s Machine Works at Rialto and I Streets bored the cylinders. (The foundry is now gone. However, the machine shop building still exists, but most of its tools and other equipment have been removed and it is no longer an active business. Most recently it has been known as Toman’s Machine Works.) The engines were assembled by Gentry’s expert mechanics, four of whom Buie identified by name: W. E. (Slim) Vardy, John Wallace, Johnny Kennedy, and Walter Mapstead.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Twenty or 30 engines were built over a period of about one year. When Ford representatives heard about the Gentry-Lewis engine, they came to inspect it, and were not pleased. They told Gentry that their dealers must limit activities to selling their Fords, and that he must desist from further sales of his engine, which he did. Gentry kept his first engine in storage for about 40 years before loaning it to a Gentry Ford successor, Garner-Muth Ford. Garner put it on display for a while, but it eventually was sent to the Ford Museum in Michigan. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]

39cent · May 2, 2011

39cent said: ↑

who knows info about a V8 made for the model T back in the 20,s. I once stumbled over an engine in the back room of a san Bernardino wrecking yard. It was hooked up to a model T transmission, and it looked like it was made for the T. The block was not like fords later flathead, but more like 2 T blocks in a V! It didnt look like an adaptation. I asked the guy there and he said there were several made, and were used in Taxicabs in town. I had never heard of it and have asked many people but they hadnt heard or seen one. Then about ten years ago a buddy showed me a pic of it in the model T club magazine! ??
Click to expand...

I still havnt got the pix yet but thats next

Greezeball · May 2, 2011

This is real the first ones were produced in 1917. J. Dale Gentry owner of Gentry ford in San Bernardino and Martin Lewis of Los Angeles produced them in partenership they were cast at the Hanford foundry and machined in Rialto. An estimated 20 to 30 were produced. Production stopped when a desist order was given to Gentry by visiting Ford brass. The Ford museum is in possesion of Gentry's first one after it was given to the dealer that succeeded Gentry's put on display there and then being passed on to the museum.

The37Kid · May 2, 2011

I have the issue of The Vintage Ford that featured that engine, this is the Model T Ford Club of America magazine. It was back in the 1960's early '70's that it came out. I saw the engine in the Ford collection back in 1968.

Greezeball · May 2, 2011

Here's a pic. It apparently used the 4 banger stock crank and cam and carb.

bct · May 2, 2011

thanks for the learnin! really cool looking engine.

Strange Agent · May 2, 2011

Wild...

39cent · Jul 14, 2013

Ahh, thanx for the pic. It has passed in and out of my mind for years. I began to disbelieve my own recollections, of when i found one of those engines in a San Bernardino wrecking yard. I hope it wasnt junked. Several years back a buddy at work who was a Model T guy, said he had a model T club magazine that had an article about that. I copied the pix but have to dig to find them. I had told people of that discovery and would get those unbelieving looks, but I always thought that I could find somebody here in the
HAMB that knew about them, finally! Thanx.

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/257047/260210.html

stainlesssteelrat · May 2, 2011

astounding.

oldebob · May 2, 2011

Greezeball said: ↑

Here's a pic. It apparently used the 4 banger stock crank and cam and carb.
Click to expand...

Someone should do a Photoshop version of this one.

stainlesssteelrat · May 2, 2011

wonder what it'd look like blown.

SlamCouver · May 2, 2011

simply awesome.

RichG · May 2, 2011

Very cool! Thank you for posting this, I never know what's going to turn up on the Hamb when I start it every day, but I know I won't be disappointed!

SlamCouver · May 2, 2011

Ryan, maybe some investigative journalism and write up on this piece is in order.

39cent · May 2, 2011

SlamCouver said: ↑

Ryan, maybe some investigative journalism and write up on this piece is in order.
Click to expand...

well, it was sure enuff a mystery to me. I was raised in the San Bernardino area [Riverside '53], was into the hot rods and old car scene waybak and never heard any more info. I recognized the T transmission first and did a double take on it being a V8. At first I thought it was somekind of adaption but it bolted exactly to the engine. If you look closely on the driver side head there is a 'groove' made on the head which was probably for the steering shaft clearance.

stude_trucks · May 2, 2011

You found one of these in a yard and didn't save it? What happened to it?

LowKat · May 2, 2011

Learned my new thing for today.....

Looks like I have the rest of the day off.

mctim64 · May 2, 2011

For real?

Carl La Fong · May 2, 2011

I can't even begin to list the humiliating and degrading things that I would do for one of those

Von Rigg Fink · May 2, 2011

Greezeball said: ↑

Here's a pic. It apparently used the 4 banger stock crank and cam and carb.
Click to expand...

Worth the wait..How cool

MrModelT · May 2, 2011

Now THIS is AWESOME! Impressive! looks like they used a fairly standard 3-dip oil pan, pre-1915 Aluminum hogshead and stock planetary transmission....everything else is new.

T Trivia: What is the weird groove on the left cylinder head for?

coupeman36 · May 2, 2011

I'll guess for steering column clearance.

39cent · Mar 28, 2014

stude_trucks said: ↑

You found one of these in a yard and didn't save it? What happened to it?
Click to expand...

HAHA I was about 20 yrs old had a couple of projects and no job and my buddy and I were looking for parts for his 1 owner 41 Buick roadmaster convert he bought [$75].
It was in a grungy wrecking yard and T parts werent top of the list. that was around 1961 or so. I didnt know if it was really rare or not. "Age brings remorse from all the stupid things done in the past '.

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