What is the oldest American automotive OHV V8?

1905 DARRACQ V8 RACER ATTEMPTING FIRST DRIVE
This is the original engine out of the 1905 Darracq although the car is a replica.
It is a V8 of over 25 Litres capacity (approx 1550 Cubic inches) used in the setting
of the land speed record of about 108MPH (174KPH) in 1905. It was last run in
the teens and then the car was sent to be scrapped. However the engine and some
of the frame was saved and is now back in running condition. This is another startup.
However, the drivetrain is so high-geared it is hard to take off. A running start is required.
To find out more about this remarkable vehicle http://www.darracq-v8.co.uk/

 

JOHN...I heard that chevrolet built a V8 in the 39s, but had no idea they built a OHV engine back then. man that's why i love H.A.M.B. we learn every day. thank you for posting my friend, you made us proud...POP.

 

An interesting note... ask any of your friends what was the first year Cheverolet put a 327 in a production car and the answer would be __________; not the 1917 Baby Grand motor that started this thread... R&C ran an article in the late 60's and if memory serves me it was a split block that produced 45HP

 

Great post.

 

1909 Hall Scott 400 cu.in. OHV V8 made in San Francisco California. Estimated 5 "Comet" cars were made with this engine which was primarily for aircraft. Bore and stroke were square at 4 inches. Cadillac engineer Kettering acquired one of these for study before designing his own v8 in 1915.

 

Scripps-Booth sold to GM in 1917 ( thus the caddy engine was the scripps engine)..
Scripps was the first overhead valve v8 engine by a long shot....

 

Scripps was 1912. Hall Scott ohv v8 was 1909-1910.

 

I knew the trick was "American " V-8 ....knew that there was a turn of the century one across the pond .

Wonder when that V-8 Chevy was put in a Ford ...whooops , my bad .

T

 

Yep, it looks like this. Hall Scott A2 V8. Anyone know what it may be worth?

 

You didn't say car....Glenn Curtiss 1907 on the world's fastest land vehicle,137 MPH. It's for sure a V-8 , probably some funky valve gear..

 

OK, kinda O/T here, but since others have tossed in some interesting V8 info, here's a little-known one. It made it's first appearance in 1955, a VERY COMPACT package with eight carbs, eight sets of points, and was bolted between two wheels. Displacing a mere half-liter (500 cc's, or just over 30 cubic inches) the Moto Guzzi V8 was a marvel of Italian engineering. Way back in the early 70's I had an opportunity to buy one, but I would have had to spend two years wages to do it. Hindsight being 20-20, I should have gone into debt and gotten it, but I was only 20 years old and having too much fun with old Chevy's, girls, booze, herbs and recreational pharmaceuticals.

http://www.bikeexif.com/moto-guzzi-v8

 

Honorable mention should go to Wills Sainte Claire, which had an OHC V8 in 1921.

 

painterjohn, Try this link http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=831343
And some people will try to tell you a Small Block Chevy ain't Traditional Enough
Jeff

 

I was amoung those who thought the 1917-18 Chevy V-8 was the first MASS PRODUCED V-8. It's very interesting to read about all of those others.
Still the Chevy may have qualified as the first mass produced. I'm not sure where I saw one of those engines. Possibly somewhere in northern Illinois.

 

Are you ready for this,,,, Rumor has it that the Chevrolet Bros. were working for Ford in the early teens as racing mechanics. They (CB's) designed the Fronteac head for the model T,, then built the V8's,, Ford on a handshake deal with the CB's said he wouldn't pursue the ohv engine design for 30 years if the CB's wouldn't build a V8 for the same period of time,, Ford had his V8 on the drawing board and already had a thousand blocks cast. The blocks had to season for two years before machining and Ford had alot of money tied up in developement. This handshake deal was in 1923,, do the math. CB's V8 was introduced in late 54 for the 55 model,, Ford's ohv was introduced in 1954. Couldn't do a deal like that today without a couple hundred lawyers. That makes me SMILE.

 

can't get video to play

on edit; OK, now it's playing....

 

This 1918 Chevrolet engine resides in the Smith Museum..

 

First V8 made in America was the 1905 Buffum, made in Massachusetts by a manufacturer of taffy pulling machines.

http://bangshift.com/blog/gearhead-history-name-the-first-v8-powered-car-in-america.html

Hemmings has this to say:

Uncompromising Engineering
Most Powerful Veteran Car, pre-1905
1904-1905 Buffum 4-4 Greyhound Eight, 80hp

For two years, the little-known H.H. Buffum produced an 80hp passenger version of its 100hp Central Greyhound racing car, which was named after Central Automobile of New York. It was the first eight-cylinder engine offered in a regular-production American automobile. Described as "octuple opposed," it came from Edward Buffum's racing boats and comprised two Buffum inline-fours laid flat facing away from each other, sharing a central crankshaft, with a 4 1/2-inch bore and 5 1/2-inch stroke, measuring 699.8 cubic inches. If that isn't enough, The Automobile described Buffum's hand-hammered alloy body as "one of the finest pieces of automobile construction ever shown....This car is the work of a mechanic of the class to which all makeshift is abhorrent." Buffum topped it all off by next tilting his pair of fours up and offering a 40hp V-8 for 1905 or 1906, either the first or second V-8 in an American automobile.