The Ford flathead has become an icon of early American motoring and now you can enjoy its beautiful simplicity with this time-lapse video.
Ford’s “flatty V-8” comes from a time when mass-produced cars (a concept which Ford helped invent) used straight 4 and straight 6 engines, with most of the multi-cylinder V-mills dedicated to limited, high-end luxury vehicles.
However, the American car manufacturer developed the engine for the masses, making it available for purchase in 1932. Over time, the V8 became so popular that the first car it came in, the Model 18, was simply called the Ford V-8.
Its availability was embraced by modders, which came up with various improvements such as overhead-valve conversions. The engine eventually became a staple of the hot rodding community, but by the early 1950s, as modern OHV V-8s became available and affordable, the flathead made way for new solutions.
Nowadays, it’s used in period-correct hot rod builds, like Hagerty’s Swap to Street 100-hour 1946 Ford Pick-up build. After six days and more than 40,000 photos taken, the company made an intense 6-minute video featuring a flathead V8 rebuilding. In the process, the engine also received a lot of goodies, including a reproduction Edelbrock Slingshot intake, a pair of Holley 94 carburetors, and Edelbrock aluminum heads.
H/T to Autoweek