Editing Ford flathead V8 engine (section)

==Development and production==
Ford had helped pioneer the concept of an affordable mass-produced car. Historically, these used [[inline-four engine|inline-four]] and [[straight-six engine|inline-six]] cylinder engines. Following French engineer [[Léon Levavasseur]]'s [[V8 engine#Origins|invention of the V8]] in 1902, V8s, V12s, and even V16s, were produced for use in luxury models.<ref name="Sorensen1956p225">{{Harvnb|Sorensen|1956|p=225}}.</ref> The [[Cadillac V8 engine]] is credited as the first mass-produced V8, and when Ford Motor Company acquired rival luxury marque [[Lincoln L series|Lincoln]] in 1922, it was already producing a flathead V8 with [[List of Ford engines#8 cylinder|fork and blade connecting rods]] which remained in production after Ford took over until 1932.

Even though Ford had an engineering team assigned to develop its own V8, many of the ideas and innovations were [[Henry Ford]]'s. The [[Ford Model A (1927–1931)|Model A]], its variants (B and 18), and this V8 engine were developed between 1926 and 1932, and this period was the elder Ford's last central contribution to the company's engineering.<ref name="Sorensen1956p225"/>

Mercury's {{cvt|239|cuin|L|1}} version of the engine was introduced in 1939.<ref>Shelton, p.20.</ref>

An economizing design feature of this engine was the use of three [[main bearing]]s to support the crankshaft, rather than the customary five used with most V-8s. The flathead mounted the [[camshaft]] above the [[crankshaft]], like later pushrod-operated [[overhead-valve engine]]s. Valves for each bank were mounted inside the triangular area formed by the "vee" of cylinders. The intake manifold fed both banks from inside the vee, but the exhaust ports had to pass between the cylinders to reach the outboard exhaust manifolds, since it did not use a [[T-head engine|t-head configuration]]. Such an arrangement transferred exhaust heat to the block, imposing a large cooling load; it required far more coolant and radiator capacity than equivalent overhead-valve V8 engines. Ford flathead V8s were notorious for cracking blocks if their barely adequate cooling systems were overtaxed (such as in trucking or racing). The simple design left much room for improvement, and the power available after even low cost modifications was usually substantially more than could be obtained from an overhead-valve inline six-cylinder engine of similar [[engine displacement|displacement]]{{Citation needed|date=January 2019}}.

The Ford flathead V8 was licensed to other producers. It was used by [[Simca]] in [[France]] until 1961 and in [[Brazil]] until 1964<!--or is it 1969? --> for cars and until 1990 in the Simca [[Unic]] Marmon Bocquet military truck.<ref>{{cite book|title=How to Build Ford Flathead V-8 Horsepower|author=George McNicholl|pages=77–78|isbn=0-7603-2290-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ItB4Tg8IYLYC&pg=PA77|date=1 October 2005}}</ref> In the United States, the flathead V8 was replaced by the more modern overhead-valve [[Ford Y-block engine]] in 1954. During [[World War II]], the engine was used on the first prototype of the Romanian [[Mareșal tank destroyer]], but was considered too weak and thus replaced by more powerful engines for later versions of the vehicle.{{sfn|Axworthy|1995|pp=229, 231}}