V-Eight Affair: An Illustrated History of the Pre-War Ford V-8

The Ford Model V-8 was introduced in March of 1932. Seeming at first to be merely a new eight-cylinder vee-type engine packaged in a body so similar in appearance to the Model A, many overlooked the significance of the event. Regardless, America was then embarked on an exciting automotive image and the first “primitive” Ford V-8 engine became the first of a common line that except for the War would last until 1954! Twenty-two years followed in which the basic power plant of the Ford motor car would be relatively unchanged!

America in its desire for the new, or the different, or the “better” went on a buying spree. Purchasers eagerly sought the “next year’s model” and people everywhere became conditioned by advertising and by their environment to dispose of the old and acquire the new. True, changes were made, many of them appearances changes only, but fundamentally the differences in the succeeding Ford V-8 models were largely in appearance and these changes contributed little to the improvement of the basic item, a reliable, rugged. sturdy, and comfortable vehicle. Above all, “a car for the masses”.