The iconic Ford flathead was the first production V8 engine from The Blue Oval, and remained in production for over 20 years. It was an engine that was designed to move Americans into a new, faster era of transportation. But history could have turned out very differently…

According to reports and automotive historians, early versions of Ford’s mighty V8 was prone to all kinds of maladies. One anonymous expert tells the tale of piston rings that were not made of a properly hardened steel, which in turn caused the engine to burn oil. Due to cooling system design flaws, the rear cylinders always ran hotter than the front six, and the intake manifold never seemed to properly mix fuel with air. While one bank would run too rich, the other would run too lean, a quart of oil was typically burned ever 100 miles, and both ignition and water pump woes were commonplace.