Editing Straight-eight engine (section)

==Post-war==
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| footer = Two 1949 photographs displaying the straight 8-cylinder engine of a [[Rolls-Royce Phantom IV]].
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After [[World War II]], changes in the automobile market resulted in the decline and final extinction of the straight-eight as an automobile engine. The primary users of the straight-eight were American luxury and premium cars that were carried over from before the war. A [[Flxible]] inter-city bus used the Buick straight-eight.

During World War II, improvements in the refinery technology used to produce [[aviation gasoline]] resulted in the availability of large amounts of inexpensive [[octane rating|high octane]] gasoline. Engines could be designed with higher compression ratios to take advantage of high-octane gasoline. This led to more highly stressed engines which amplified the limitations of the long crankshaft and camshaft in the straight-eight engines.

[[File:Straight8.jpg|thumb|upright=1.14|1940s [[overhead valve|OHV]] [[Oldsmobile Straight-8 engine|Oldsmobile straight-8 engine]]]]
Oldsmobile replaced their straight-eight flathead engine with an overhead valve V8 engine in 1949, at which time Cadillac's V8 was changed to one with overhead valves. Chrysler replaced its straight-eight with its famous [[Chrysler Hemi engine|Hemi]] V-8 for 1951. Hudson retired its straight-eight at the end of the 1952 model year. Buick introduced a (4.0" bore × 3 <small>{{frac|13|64}}</small>" stroke = 322 in³ (5.277&nbsp;L)) V8 in 1953, with similar displacement as their (3 <small>{{frac|7|16}}</small>" bore × 4 <small>{{frac|5|16}}</small>" stroke = 320.2 in³ (5.247&nbsp;L)) straight-8, the latter being produced until the end of the 1953 model year. Pontiac maintained production on their straight-eight, as well as a [[side-valve|L-head]] inline six, through the end of the 1954 model year, after which a V8 became standard. [[Packard]] ended production of their signature straight-eight at the end of 1954, replacing it with an overhead valve V8.<ref>Hemmings Classic Car Volume 6 issue 5, February 2010 page 39</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Murilee Martin |url=http://jalopnik.com/380781/engine-of-the-day-packard-inline-eight |title=Jalopnik Engine of the Day, Apr 17, 2008: Packard Inline Eight |publisher=Jalopnik.com |date=2008-04-17 |access-date=2011-09-07}}</ref>

By the end of the 1970s overhead valve V8s powered 80% of automobiles built in the US, and most of the rest had six-cylinder engines.<ref name="Daniels"/>{{refpage|pp99-103,116-117}}

In Europe, many automobile factories had been destroyed during World War II, and it took many years before war-devastated economies recovered enough to make large cars popular again. The change in the design of cars from a long engine compartment between separate fenders to the modern configuration with its shorter engine compartment quickly led to the demise of the straight-8 engine. As a result of this, and of gasoline prices several times as expensive as in the U.S., four- and six-cylinder engines powered the majority of cars in Europe, and the few eight-cylinder cars produced were in the V8 configuration.<ref name="Daniels"/>{{refpage|pp99-113,119-135}}

===Military use===
The British Army selected [[Rolls-Royce Limited|Rolls-Royce]] [[Rolls-Royce B Engine|B80]] series of straight-eight engines in the Alvis FV 600 armoured vehicle family.  The [[Alvis Saladin]] armoured car was a 6x6 design with the engine compartment in the rear, a 76.2mm low pressure gun turret in the centre and the driver in front.  The [[Alvis Saracen|Saracen]] armoured personnel carrier had the engine in front with the driver in the centre and space for up to nine troops in the rear.  The [[Alvis Stalwart|Stalwart]] amphibious logistics carrier has the driver's compartment over the front wheels, the larger B81 engine in the rear and a large load compartment over the middle and rear.  The Salamander firefighting vehicle was unarmoured, and resembled the Stalwart with a conventional fire engine superstructure.

The Rolls-Royce B80 series of engines were also used in other military and civilian applications, such as the [[Leyland Martian]] military truck, the winch engine in the [[Centurion Tank|Centurion]] ARV, and various [[Dennis Specialist Vehicles|Dennis]] fire engines.