The American V8 — Undisputed master of inexpensive power

By William G. Sawyer
Editor at Large
The Virtual Driver


(February  19, 2017) DETROIT — Ever since Henry Ford popularized the V8 engine in 1932 it’s been the power plant of choice for everyone from bank robbers to teens drag racing on Woodward Avenue, and professional racers. Once Chevrolet introduced their 265 cubic inch small block engine in 1955 the floodgates opened and the American V8 took its place as the undisputed master of inexpensive but explosive power in a variety of applications.


Sadly, 100 million+ small block Chevys later, some say the V8’s heyday is over. Despite valiant efforts by Chevy, Ford, and Chrysler to keep V8s at the head of the class they’re being eclipsed by smaller, direct and port injected, multi-cam turbo motors that produce less pollution and higher mileage on the EPA test cycle, if not always in actual driving conditions.


© Motorcar Classics

We offer two examples of V8s in automotive history, one an example of a Chevy V8 powered racer from the halcyon days of the original Can-Am Series, the other Ford’s attempt to convince legions of V8 enthusiasts that a move to smaller displacement doesn’t preclude the performance they love. For comic relief we conclude with a look at a V8 powered monstrosity that never should have seen the light of day, and will never grace the halls of our simulated museum.


©John Starkey Cars

968 McLaren M6B Chassis 50-17


Enterprising race car builders started mating American V8 power and British chassis after WWII, but the practice became commonplace with the advent of the Can-Am Series, the no-holds-barred tribute to excess and free-thinking that took the racing world by storm in the Sixties.

No one was better at it than Bruce McLaren, the New Zealander whose left leg was shorter than his right due to Perthes disease. McLaren didn’t let his handicap stop him from winning his first Grand Prix at the tender age of 22, ten years before his untimely death in a testing accident.

McLaren epitomized the stereotype of New Zealanders as practical people who create ingenious solutions using minimal resources and maximum effort. His cars weren’t always the most innovative, but their speed and reliability flummoxed experienced racers and the degree-laden Detroit engineers coaching them. A few years after Bruce McLaren’s death a glimpse of the future knocked McLaren Racing off its pedestal. It took a full-bore factory effort by Porsche, utilizing purpose-built turbo engines, state-of-the-art chassis, and engineering resources McLaren couldn’t match to dethrone the team he started with a little money and a lot of enthusiasm just a few years earlier.

McLaren’s Can-Am cars were so successful he created a market selling his competitors copies of the cars Team McLaren campaigned the previous season. One such car was the McLaren M6B, a production version of the M6A he and teammate Denny Hulme used to dominate the 1967 Can-Am series. It was purchased new by Oscar Koveleski, a promotion-minded Pennsylvanian who raced Chassis 50-17 in the Can-Am to promote Auto World, the company he created in 1958 to market auto accessories, slot cars, and racing gear.

The original chassis was destroyed in a garage explosion in 1969, re-tubbed with improvements, and sold to Cliff Apel, who raced it in 1970 and the following year before reselling it to Koveleski. Next it went to Europe where it competed in historic races before returning to the United States. In recent years it appeared at the Amelia Island Concourse, and was vintage raced in the capable hands of Jim Pace, whose professional racing resume includes victory in the 1996 24 Hours of Daytona piloting a Riley & Scott Mk III — in many ways a modern day version of McLaren’s Can-Am cars — -co-driven by Wayne Taylor and Scott Sharp.

It's now available through John Starkey Cars (www.johnstarkeycars.com) for $295,000 with a 720 hp. 383 cubic inch small block Chevy.


© RK Motors LLC

’34 Ford Coupe

Ford faced a dilemma in 2009. After eight decades of V8 dominance, CAFE standards and escalating oil prices signaled a changing of the guard was in order, but how could Ford convince diehard enthusiasts that their new direct injected, turbocharged V6 was a viable alternative?

Ford turned their EcoBoost 3.5 liter V6 into an EcoBeast, installed it in a custom-built ’34 Coupe, and unleashed it at Ground Zero for power junkies, the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association speed fest in Las Vegas. Detroit Street Rods did the build, starting with an all-steel body designed, stamped, and manufactured by Experi-Metal, a prototype shop located in Sterling Heights, MI.

Since this was the first rear-drive, inline EcoBoost application to appear in public, it wasn’t a simple case of dropping in a crate motor. In addition to changing the orientation all the fuel lines, piping, wiring and exhaust tubes were modified and the standard issue Honeywell twin turbos were moved to the front of the cylinder heads. An engine plate adapter mates the EcoBoost with an aluminum flywheel, performance clutch, and Tremec TKO five-speed manual.

The 400 HP EcoBoost engine with 400 ft./lbs. of torque isn’t the only attribute that convinced SEMA to award it a Best in Show award. The stunning blue paint features an intriguing combination of gloss clear coat on the fenders and matte clear coat on the primary body structure, imparting depth and character while a simple pearl stripe outlined in red plays off the white sidewall tires. Shelby Trim in Sterling Heights, Mich., contributed the white vinyl buckets trimmed with red piping, and a four-link rear end and coil overs all around keep the rubber in contact with the tarmac.

We found this deserving entry into our simulated museum at RK Motors (www.rkmotorscharlotte.com), where it’s priced at $129,900, a healthy discount from its rumored $225,000 build cost.


© Motorcar Classics

Nightmare on Smith Street

Occasionally we encounter a car so bad we have to tell you about it. Such is the case with this 1959 MGA Hot Rod for sale at Motorcars Classics, located on Smith Street in Farmdale, NY. (www.motorcarclassics.com).

What do you do with an MGA with front end damage? Build a new subframe and insert a 600 hp. Ford 428, of course. Don’t bother adding discs all around, it’s more fun sliding through stoplights while trying to control this undoubtedly quick car with anemic four-wheel drums.  It’s only been driven 60 miles since it was built, a sure sign that, with 3.666 lbs./hp., it’s a demonic beast that’ll give some hapless owner a quick ride to the morgue.

Realizing this, the folks at  sagely suggest you buy it for the engine (top photo) and dispose of the rest.

The Virtual Driver