(first posted 9/27/2016) When the Ford flathead V8 began production in 1932, the expression “game-changer” was yet to be coined – though that’s exactly what it was. Ford’s V8 changed motoring in the USA, eventually forcing all its competitors to also switch to V8s by the mid ‘50s. But one version of this engine, known in the US as the V8-60, lived longer and further than the others ever would.
I should note at this point that I will be focusing on the V8-60’s use in passenger cars made in Britain, France, the US and Germany. Before the Second World War, Fords were assembled in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Hungary, India, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Romania, Spain and Turkey. Ford had also helped build the giant Gorki works in the Soviet Union, which produced trucks and Model As. It is possible that V8-60s powered cars assembled in one or more of these assembly plants, but precise info is hard to come by (or decipher).
Start your engines
When Henry Ford and his engineers started work on the new V8 in the late ‘20s, many (if not most) of the popular cars being made in Europe and the US had four cylinders – including Fords. But when Chevrolet came out with the Stovebolt six in 1929, it outclassed the similarly-priced Ford Model A and undercut other competitors (the next “lowest-priced six”, the ’29 Essex, was twice as expensive as the Chevy)
While others were playing catch-up to GM, Henry Ford was hurriedly preparing what he hoped would be a decisive advantage: a low-priced flathead V8 displacing 3.6 litres (221 ci), to be rolled out in the spring of 1932. The story of this venerable engine was told by others with far more depth and competence than I could ever dream of doing (I particularly recommend this article).
However, the new flathead had a little twin brother. It was virtually identical in its virtues and vices, but it was quite a bit smaller at 2227cc (136 ci) or 2.6 x 3.2 in. (66 x 81 mm) in bore and stroke. Ford was thinking of his expanding empire overseas, especially in Europe, where smaller engines were preferred. The engine’s gross output, 60 hp, was in the ball-park of European mid-size cars at the time. One of the main differences with the 3.6 was the small V8’s alloy pistons and heads (though still flat).
Great Britain’s Small V8
Ford Motor Company Ltd. (Ford UK) had been assembling cars and trucks in Manchester for 20 years when the most massive car factory in Europe was opened in Dagenham, Essex, in 1931. The Model A was impossible to sell in Britain, though. The Model Y, designed in Dearborn specifically for the European market, began its life in Dagenham in 1932, and with it was born a long lineage of small blue oval cars mostly unknown in North America.
The news of the Ford V8 did make it to Britain in due course. Percival Perry, longtime Henry Ford acolyte, director of Ford UK and in charge of all of Ford’s overseas operations, was also informed of the existence of a smaller V8, tailor-made for a new line of mid-size cars and trucks to be built in Dagenham.
It was essential to first iron out the flathead’s many flaws, which took considerable time and effort. The 2.2 litre engine was not in production yet, allowing Ford to focus on the big V8’s issues throughout 1932 and 1933. Ford V8s sold in Europe at the time were made in Dearborn, or Canada for the British market.
Dagenham introduced the small V8 in a new car for 1935, which shared the larger V8 Ford’s body. The Ford-UK lineup would now consist of three cars: the 8 HP (Model Y, or Ford Popular), the 22 HP (Model 60) and the 30 HP (same as the American Fords).
These initial versions of the small V8 were imported from Michigan. Among other oddities, they had two exhaust ports running through each block, leading most blocks to crack. This was changed to the more usual three ports in 1936; virtually all the early production 22 HP Model 60s were eventually retrofitted with the improved V8s.
The 1936 22 HP car also transitioned to a completely new and smaller body more in tune with its capacities and was renamed Model 62. This new body came from the Chausson factory in Paris. The 22 HP Model 62 remained unchanged, with its 1936 grille and separate headlights, until production stopped in 1939.
A few woodies were made by independent coachbuilders, but otherwise (and unlike the 30 HP) all 22 HPs were standard saloons. It is unclear how many of these were made, but they do not seem to have had a very strong following.
Matford: arranged marriage or shotgun wedding?
One market that Ford had its eye on since the beginning was France. It was, like most car-making countries, a highly protected market. But it was also very fragmented (over 60 different car and truck makers in the early ‘30s, though “Big Three” (Citroën, Peugeot and Renault) held 75% of the car market) and it meant access to new markets in Africa and South-East Asia. Ford SAF (Société Anonyme Française), wholly owned by Dearborn and Ford UK, had been assembling cars and trucks in its Asnières factory since 1926, but needed to expand and include more locally-made components.
The Depression, which began hitting the French economy in earnest by 1932, quickly led to higher import taxes – Ford SAF cars and trucks were assembled from mostly American- and British-made components – and therefore low margins. Ford SAF was losing money; the Model Y (called Ford 6 CV) was not selling well, the big V8s too expensive and exotic. The economic downturn was also precipitating several French concerns toward bankruptcy. Among them was the fourth biggest automaker, Mathis.
Emile Mathis had just invested massively to renovate his Strasbourg factory when the bottom fell out of the market. He had no more credit line to renew his ageing cars and needed to keep his factory running. Ford had determined that, contrary to its standard practice, chauvinistic France would be more amenable to buying Ford V8s under the guise of a more Gallic moniker. Adding Mathis’ extensive dealership network to Ford SAF’s would also be a welcome boost. This was essentially doing what GM had done with the Opel and Vauxhall buy-outs – at least on the surface.
Ford SAF director Maurice Dollfus approached Mathis with a deal: Ford SAF would merge with Mathis, using the Strasbourg plant’s capacity to build Ford engines and chassis; the Mathis range would continue with its smaller 4-cyl. models. Ford SAF would initially own 52% of the merged company and Mathis (and his creditors) would own the rest. The deal was signed in September 1934