CHEVY'S FIRST V8 ENGINE

CHEVY'S FIRST V8 ENGINE
-BS Brash

Since it was Saturday evening and the yard work was all done, I decided to mosey over to Mother's, my favorite watering hole and quaff a few with the guys. The "guys" being my life long friends and all of them were classic car nuts. But every now and then I like to shake them up and tonight was one of those times.

I headed over to Mother's, I like to walk that way I don't have to automatically be the "Designated Driver" and it was only about 6 blocks and it was beautiful out so the walk was very pleasant and filled with summer smells and sounds.

When I got to Mother's, the gang was pretty much all there, with the possible exception of Pete who was serving some jail time for shooting squirrels inside the city limits. The judge being a gardening man himself had let Pete off with a fine the first two times he had been caught, but the third time was a charm, so Pete was in the Pokey for 30 days.

We raised our glasses to Pete and then after the usual banter, I sort of slid in the comment that cast doubt on their virility and said, "I bet a beer that none of you guys know when Chevy built it's first V8 engine?

"Well that is easy beer, Tom Said, "It was the 265 “Turbo-Fire”, it was rated at 162 horsepower with a two-barrel carburetor and had a 8.0:1 compression ratio".

"Wrong, not even close" I said. and the uproar began. We have probably come closer to being thrown out of Mother's for noise, but I can't remember when.

After the guys quieted down I told them about the 1917 Chevrolet Series D Engine . Chevy started the production of the first Chevrolet V8, a 288 cid overhead valve motor rated at 36-55 (There is some confusion about this) net horsepower. A total of approximately 3000 Chevrolet V8 motors were made between 1917 and 1919. It was pretty pricey and finally was pulled from production in late 1919. After that Chevy decided you could have any engine that you wanted as long as it was a 6 cylinder, and continued that production practice untill 1955 when they built their "Second" V8 engine!

Man, the free beer was cold!

BS Brash Copyright 2008