FORD'S FABULOUS FLATHEAD; The engine that just won't die.(Ford Motor Co.)

Byline: KEN GROSS

Seventy-five years ago, Henry Ford made automotive history by introducing an affordable V8 engine in the low-priced field. Legend has it, Mr. Ford hated Chevrolet, so he refused to have anything to do with six-cylinder engines. With all of its 16 valves located in the V8's block, the cylinder heads are flat as a pancake, hence the nickname "flathead.'' At its launch in 1932, with 65 hp (Chevy's six had 60 hp), Ford's 221-cid V8 made national headlines, but it was initially plagued by overheating, lubrication and reliability issues.

Other V8s of the day, usually constructed with separately cast cylinders, were not cost-efficient to build. Ford insisted on simplicity, with a one-piece block and integral cylinders. To achieve that goal, foundrymen at the giant Rouge plant had to work with some 54 cores for each new block. They had to be precisely fitted into molds before the molten iron could be poured, and 3,000 blocks per day could roll off the lines.

Unlike Cadillac's flathead V8s, in which the exhaust passages exited atop the block, adjacent to the intake manifold, Ford's design ran exhaust passages through the block, ensuring a constant supply of intense heat just where it wasn't wanted-in the engine's coolant. Henry Ford liked his engines to warm up quickly in the Michigan winters, but it was not a plus in hot weather.

Steadily improved through 1953, with millions produced, the flathead achieved acceptable reliability. Ford solved most of the flathead's ills over time, upgrading ignition, redesigning water pumps, refining carburetion and boosting displacement-to 239 cid and on to 255 cid in the '49-53 Mercury. But cooling problems persisted, especially vapor lock in summer.

From the beginning, hot rodders loved this relatively simple engine. Hundreds of manufacturers offered speed equipment for flatheads. Bored and stroked, with wilder camshafts and multiple carburetors, hot flatheads ruled street and strip until the mid-'50s, even holding their own against bigger, heavier Cadillac and Chrysler overhead-valve designs. Ford Motor Company introduced its own Y-block OHV V8 in 1954; a year later, the all-new, lightweight, high-winding Chevy small-block V8 was the handwriting on the wall.

By the early 1960s, the flathead was a nostalgic curio, but the story doesn't end there. Mark Kirby, a talented machinist, started his career at General Motors' HydraMatic, then worked for transmission whiz Doug Nash. When he rebuilt the engine in his '47 Ford, Kirby became certain he could drastically improve Henry Ford's venerable power plant to rival modern overhead-valve engines.