Flat Head Vee by Ford Motor Company

[warren5421]

Wish I had a flathead V12 with Offenhauser heads and an Edelbrock 3 duces manifold and the 1948 Lincoln-Zephyr to go with it. A 1950 Mercury Monterey (eight) with suicide doors would also be nice if it had the Offenhauser heads and Edelbrock 3 duces manifold. Either would get you to church in style and with speed.

[HWooldridge]

“Like”

[Thin Man]

In 1972 I was in college in one of the calmer schools in East TN. One afternoon I stopped at a local market/store and saw an old wooden garage beside the store building. When I took a look inside that garage I found a late 40's - early 50's sedan with the traditional flathead Ford v-8 engine wearing a tri-power manifold plus a few other added accessories on the engine. The store owner claimed their son had used this car for dirt track racing buy feel out of love with the sport. The son had drifted away from the family and could not be found, so buying the ride was not possible. All this inspired me as my first "owned" vehicle was a 1949 Club Coupe with a flathead V-8 that I out-grew. Lost of happy memories of my first car.

[GregLaROCHE]

I used to have a Pontiac 2+2 with three two barrels. They called it Tri Power. It looked really cool, but when I replaced it with a more modern four barrel, it ran just as good if not better and got better mileage.

[Hickok]

Wish I had a flathead V12 with Offenhauser heads and an Edelbrock 3 duces manifold and the 1948 Lincoln-Zephyr to go with it. A 1950 Mercury Monterey (eight) with suicide doors would also be nice if it had the Offenhauser heads and Edelbrock 3 duces manifold. Either would get you to church in style and with speed.'50 Merc, Always been my "dream machine" also. Chopped, channeled and shaved, fender skirts, big moon hub caps,...painted a deep, dark, purple! Oh baby!

[Hickok]

312484

[elk hunter]

I love the sound of the Ford flathead V-8. Nothing else sounds like one. The one in my 1945 pickup, yes it really is a 1945 model, is the 59-AB version, optimistically rated at 100 HP. I deviated from stock slightly by replacing the crank with the newer 8-BA crank, so I could use insert bearings, and boring it to .060 over to clean up the ridge. In other words just about stock. I'm too old for a hotrod. It's as reliable as the sunrise.
312486

[fecmech]

Started my life as a mechanic with an engine swap from a 49 Merc to a 46 Ford. I went through 9 cars in my 1st 2years of driving which included 3 more flathead V8's, a 49,50 Ford and a 51 Mercury. All were $25 to $50 cars except the 51 Merc, paid $150 for that one. Lucky I survived.

[Beerd]

Ah yes, the days of the $35 car :bigsmyl2:
..

[popper]

37 ford with the twin water pumps on the heads had inset main bearings. Still had the front distributor and fiber timing gear. Stock 49 (mom's) would do 98 by speedo in the quarter (as long as you locked out the overdrive). But 18 secs.

[Hickok]

Love the sound of the flat-head V8's and the "whine" of the old standard transmissions!

My dad said in his younger days he owned a '39 Ford with a 2-speed rear-end. He told me it really worked good in these WV mountains.

[GregLaROCHE]

312484

Really cool Looks like it’s ready for outer space.

[DougGuy]

Me and my drinkin' buddy bought a '56 Chevy 4dr for $150 and couldn't get a title for it so we took it to the woods, knocked the glass out of it and ran it knocking down saplings and brush until it ran out of gas. We would take a gas can and a battery and some beer and go hit the woods. That ol' thing was a TON of fun! Last time we went, somebody had turned it over and burned it.

I learned a GOOD damn lesson with that car, we had it up on concrete blocks, wheels off and I had just crawled out from under it and BAM the blocks gave way and it settled onto the broken blocks. Lesson to self: Self, NEVER get under a vehicle on concrete blocks! I was all of about 16.

[35isit]

In 1972 I was in college in one of the calmer schools in East TN. One afternoon I stopped at a local market/store and saw an old wooden garage beside the store building. When I took a look inside that garage I found a late 40's - early 50's sedan with the traditional flathead Ford v-8 engine wearing a tri-power manifold plus a few other added accessories on the engine. The store owner claimed their son had used this car for dirt track racing buy feel out of love with the sport. The son had drifted away from the family and could not be found, so buying the ride was not possible. All this inspired me as my first "owned" vehicle was a 1949 Club Coupe with a flathead V-8 that I out-grew. Lost of happy memories of my first car.

Sounds like son was in the pen for running moonshine.

[MaryB]

Me and my drinkin' buddy bought a '56 Chevy 4dr for $150 and couldn't get a title for it so we took it to the woods, knocked the glass out of it and ran it knocking down saplings and brush until it ran out of gas. We would take a gas can and a battery and some beer and go hit the woods. That ol' thing was a TON of fun! Last time we went, somebody had turned it over and burned it.

I learned a GOOD damn lesson with that car, we had it up on concrete blocks, wheels off and I had just crawled out from under it and BAM the blocks gave way and it settled onto the broken blocks. Lesson to self: Self, NEVER get under a vehicle on concrete blocks! I was all of about 16.

Don't trust Harbor Freight jack stands either! Friend was under his Ford Explorer that was up on those when 2 failed, the metal just sheared off the serrated post. I had shoved old tires under each back brake rotor as a safety catch. Thumped his chest pretty hard and broke a couple rubs but didn't crush him. They are supposedly rated for 5 tons each... yeah right!

[varmintpopper]

Love the sound of the flat-head V8's and the "whine" of the old standard transmissions!

My dad said in his younger days he owned a '39 Ford with a 2-speed rear-end. He told me it really worked good in these WV mountains.

We called the 2 speed rear end a " columbia" Butt.

Good Shooting

Lindy

[schutzen-jager]

my remnants of 6 decades at ford + Lincoln Mercury dealers - never owned one, but sold tons of parts for them + worked on a few -

[warren5421]

Who would think there were so many people out there with flatheads in their life. I would bet many also know what a flat top was, not a Navy ship.

[schutzen-jager]

never a flat top, but i did have a DA for awhile -

[Froogal]

never a flat top, but i did have a DA for awhile -

Had a flat top many, many years ago but gave it up for the modern and sleeker chrome dome look.

[MaryB]

Who would think there were so many people out there with flatheads in their life. I would bet many also know what a flat top was, not a Navy ship.

Couple guys in the car club I belonged to growing up(70's and early 80's) had hot rod flatheads... several had the flat tops too LOL

I had a 1974 Gremlin X, 401 V8, 750 rear wheel HP(plus the nitrous shot but I kept that mild). Daily driver was a 1970 Charger SE with a 318.

[pworley1]

When I was in 7th grade my history teacher drove a the 1948 Lincoln-v12

[Mk42gunner]

Dad's first street legal car was a 51 Ford, he and my uncle always seemed impressed by the flathead V-8's.

When my cousin and I were getting into cars in the late seventies, I didn't understand why our dad's made such a big deal about the 300 Ford having seven main bearings. Many years later I saw a show on TV where they rebuilt a flathead, and realized they only had three main bearings.

Robert

[rbuck351]

Yeah, the three mains is bad enough, but try adjusting valves on one.

[schutzen-jager]

Yeah, the three mains is bad enough, but try adjusting valves on one.[smilie=s:

or try doing a valve job w/o the special spring compressor tool !!! -

[Freightman]

My first car was a 1950 Ford coupe with a v8 shaved heads 3 2 bro carbs and cam. Got lots of tickets dad took the keys laid them on my dresser and went on vacation.I didn’t have guts enough to pick them up walked to work/ school friend said I was a coward I said no I didn’t want to disappoint my parents.

[popper]

try doing a valve job w/o the special spring compressor tool !!!
Valve job on the flatheads was to pull the intake, pull the heads, pull the valve assy out of the block and grind the valves. No special spring compressor needed. The little 97 carb wasn't enough if you had a hot cam. Mult-carb set-up really was just a better intake. We did put 6 and a log manifold on 283 chebby for D gas. No re-jetting needed.