The Ford Vedette was built by Ford in its French factory between 1948 and 1952. It was powered by a 136 CID (2.2 L) Ford “Flathead” V8, It was installed in Fords through the 1930s, but customers wanted more power than the little engine offered, so it was dropped from the US line. In 1954 Ford sold the French factory along with the Vedette to the French manufacturer Simca, who continued both the Vedette name as well as the 136 CID Ford “Flathead” V8. Then Simca, still selling an updated Vendette and Ford V8, was purchased by Chrysler. So starting in ’67 you had a car with a Chrysler badge on the back with a Ford V8 under the hood. OK, it gets stranger............ The Vendette was deemed to aged for Europe and was shipped off with its Ford V8 to Brazil, where it became the Simca Esplanada (despite the fact that Chrysler was active under its own brand in South America). But before it left, the old Ford engine, with roots back to the 1930s, received an interesting upgrade: The heads for the engine (which Simca dubbed the Emi Sul) were essentially copies of Zora Arkus-Duntov's famous Ardun overhead valve conversions for the “Flathead” which nearly doubled power to 140 horsepower. So we have a car designed in Dearborn, built in France, sold to the French who then sold it to Chrysler, who then copied the cylinder head design from the Godfather of the Corvette, and shipped the whole thing off to Brazil. Yup.
If that isn't weird enough it wasn't the only time Chrysler built cars with a Ford V8. Does anyone remember the other?
Sunbeam Tiger.... Chrysler gaining a controlling interest in Sunbeam in '67, but the '67 tiger was in production with a 289 under the hood so the car appeared with a Chysler pentastar emblem . They blew off the Ford connection, just noting in advertising that it was 'American V8 powered'. They looked briefly into using their own 273 but it simply couldn't be made to fit, so they allowed Sunbeam to exhaust their current stock of Ford motors, then discontinued the car.
Pretty cool history. Makes me wonder if the Emi Sul tooling or new crate engines (like the infamous NOS French Flathead stash) exist. Reminds me of the funky Argentinian Ford Falcons. They carried the 63 well through the 80's, updating it with square headlights, etc. Here's a pic of an Emi powered Brazilian Hot Rod and short clip of those heads at work.. That little motor sounds revvy and looks good. Be a great engine to stuff into a fenderless puddle jumper Hot Rod, such as a Track T, etc.
That is some cool and weird flathead info. It looks like we need to investigate where the tooling went and revive it.
How bout this tid-bit about the Yblock..... the 292 Y-block engine was used in Argentina in the F-100 pick-up well into the 1960s, and was known as Fase I. In 1971, the engine was modified to accept a new-style cylinder head with a different valve arrangement similar to the Windsors, new intake and exhaust manifolds and was renamed Fase II. In this form, the 292 Fase II continued into the 1980s in the F-100, and was also used in the Argentine Ford Fairlane (built from 1969–1982, and based heavily on the U.S. 1968 model).
The Jalopy Journal
