Curator’s Choice: Top 15 Engines Exposed Engines Exposed Exhibit Map There are more than 40 on display, but here, Matt Anderson, curator of Check out more autos with their hoods popped. transportation at The Henry Ford, describes some of his favorites. Need help locating? See a museum presenter for assistance. 1 2009 Ford Focus Electric 5 2002 Toyota Prius 9 1956 Chrysler 300-B Stock Car 13 1919 Ford Model T Electric Motor: AC, permanent magnet, Gasoline Engine: Inline 4-cylinder engine, V-8 cylinder engine, overhead valves, Inline 4-cylinder engine, L-head valves, TRUCKS 105 kilowatt, 141 horsepower double overhead cam, 91 cubic inches 354 cubic inches displacement, 355 horsepower 177 cubic inches displacement, 20 horsepower displacement, 76 horsepower Ford previewed its entry into the electric They didn’t call the Chrysler 300 letter Mechanical simplicity was one of the Electric Motor: AC, permanent magnet, 33 vehicle market with this car specially built series luxury cars “bankers’ hot rods” for kilowatt, 55 horsepower secrets behind the Model T’s success. for The Jay Leno Show. The sizable AC/ nothing. The 1956 300-B’s big V-8 achieved The engine has no fuel pump, relying on LUXURY GREAT STORIES DC inverter dominates the space under Two power plants sit side-by-side under that holy grail of one horsepower per cubic gravity to feed the carburetor. There is the hood, with the electric motor mostly the Prius’ hood. The transverse internal inch. The cars dominated NASCAR, where no water pump either, as a thermosiphon hidden underneath. Note the large fan at combustion engine is on the passenger’s rules still restricted teams to stock power. effect was used to circulate cooling water. side, while the electric motor is on the front, to keep the motor cool. Also note the Note the cutout in the right wheel well and The cylinder head removes in one piece 1936 driver’s. An electrical inverter, perched Lincoln prominent “Caution” decal on the inverter. the nearby spotlight. These modifications for easier servicing. Electric start was first Zephyr Modern automobile power plants are better atop the motor, converts the DC current allowed the driver to check tire wear available in 1919. The electrical system’s supplied by the batteries to the AC used 1931 Bugatti 7 than ever, but the days of the shade tree through a hole in the firewall. generator is just visible at the front of the Type 41 by the motor. When the car brakes, the Royale mechanic may be gone for good! engine. 6 1948 motor becomes a generator transforming 10 1965 Goldenrod Tucker 48 kinetic energy into electricity sent back 2 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air Four V-8 cylinder engines, overhead valves, 14 1907 White Model G SMALL CARS 8 to the batteries. V-8 cylinder engine, overhead valves, 426 cubic inches displacement each, Inline 2-cylinder compound steam engine 2002 600 horsepower each Toyota 265 cubic inches displacement, with condenser, 30 horsepower Prius STYLE 205 horsepower 6 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale It takes a lot of horsepower to break 400 The White’s steam engine was designed RACING It’s the most enduring 8-cylinder American Inline 8-cylinder engine, single overhead miles per hour. Goldenrod has four Chrysler camshaft, 779 cubic inches displacement, for efficiency. Steam first expanded in the automobile engine. Chevrolet introduced HEMI engines driving all four wheels. 5 300 horsepower smaller high-pressure cylinder at rear, 9 its “small block” V-8 in 1955 — and kept The two front engines power the front then expanded again in the larger low- RACING 1956 From its length, one might expect more Chrysler on building it until 2003. Nearly every axle, while the rear units turn the back pressure cylinder at front. The condenser 300-B than eight cylinders under the Bugatti’s Stock Car General Motors division used some variant, wheels. The drive shafts run to the left in front of the engine, resembling a hood. But each of those cylinders and total production is over 100 million, of the engines, with power moved via radiator from an internal combustion car, displaces more than the whole of a including later development generations. transfer cases. Remarkably, the engines captured exhausted steam and converted Volkswagen Beetle’s power plant. RACING Not bad for an engine designed in 15 are unmodified stock units, apart from low- it back into water, to be used again. These HENRY weeks. The compact unit is all but Four air cleaners stand over the engine, profile fuel injectors to fit under the 1965 devices gave the Model G a claimed range FORD 1978 10 Goldenrod fitted to the four carburetors installed swallowed up by the Chevy’s engine bay. 28-inch-high hood line. of 150 miles on a 17-gallon water tank. Dodge 4 Om Note the relatively small-sized radiator, by Charles Chayne after World War II. ni too. Efficient cooling was one of the small Two spark plugs protrude from each 11 1933 Willys Drag Racer 15 1963 Chrysler Turbine 1933 cylinder. The steering box sits just 12 11 block’s many advantages. V-8 cylinder engine, supercharged, Regenerative gas turbine engine, 130 horsepower Willys Drag Racer behind the right fender, in keeping single overhead camshaft, 427 cubic inches Chrysler experimented with turbine 1960 3 1960 Chevrolet Corvair with the car’s right-hand-drive layout. displacement, 1,200 horsepower Chevrolet 1960 engines for some 25 years. The Turbine Corvair Meskowski Horizontally opposed 6-cylinder engine, Race Car Originally equipped with a 414-cubic-inch could run on almost anything — gasoline, overhead valves, 140 cubic inches displacement, 7 1936 Lincoln Zephyr 3 Cadillac V-8, and then a 389 Chevy V-8, diesel, kerosene, even peanut oil (with HOT RODS & 80 horsepower V-12 cylinder engine, L-head valves, “Ohio George” Montgomery’s Willys got its CUSTOM CARS 267 cubic inches displacement, exhaust that smelled like baking cookies)! The compact Corvair reimagined the current 427 Ford in 1966. The Ford engines 110 horsepower While the fuel flexibility was terrific, American automobile. Not least among were in such short supply that Montgomery the fuel economy was less than stellar. Edsel Ford introduced the lower-priced its peculiarities was its rear-mounted, air- received his a few pieces at a time. The Chrysler ended the Turbine program in Zephyr to help Lincoln through the cooled aluminum engine. The air cleaner magnesium supercharger at top pumps 1979. Note the huge air filter housing in CAR Depression. Its V-12 engine, adapted COURT is prominent, with two hoses leading to a pressurized fuel-air mixture into the front of the engine. The Turbine gulped from Ford’s monobloc V-8, banked its 13 1919 Ford carburetors mounted on each cylinder cylinders, and the exhaust pipes venting about four times more air than Model T cylinders at 75 degrees, allowing the unit bank. Much of the engine is hidden by a directly from the cylinder heads eliminate a piston engine. metal shroud that directed the air flow to fit neatly into the streamlined body. back pressure. Both features increase the DRIVING AMERICA TIMELINE around the unit. With its light weight and Unfortunately, inadequate ventilation engine’s power. air cooling, the Corvair power plant proved and poor oil flow led to overheating and ROADS excessive wear. Still, with 200,000 sold, popular with home airplane builders. 12 it remains the most successful Ameri- 1960 Meskowski Race Car Inline 4-cylinder, double overhead cams, DESIGN 4 1978 Dodge Omni can-built V-12. DRIVE-IN 255 cubic inches displacement, 400 horsepower THEATER Inline 4-cylinder engine, overhead valves, MARKETING The 4-cylinder Offenhauser engine, 105 cubic inches displacement, 75 horsepower 8 1948 Tucker 48 Horizontally opposed 6-cylinder engine, designed by Harry Miller, refined by Fred Small cars pack a lot into tight spaces. overhead valves, 334 cubic inches Offenhauser and first seen on racetracks ROAD The Omni makes the most of its engine bay displacement, 166 horsepower in the early 1930s, is the most celebrated REPAIR 1907 TRIPS by mounting the unit transversely, with POWER OPTIONS White Many features of Preston Tucker’s engine in American motor sports. The “Offy” the crankshaft parallel to the front bumper. Model G futuristic sedan challenged convention, scored 27 Indianapolis 500 wins from 1935 TEXACO 14 It’s a layout not widely used in American LAMY’S DINER and its rear-mounted power plant was no to 1976. The cylinder head and crankcase STATION cars since the early 1900s, but particularly 15 exception. When his 589-cubic-inch en- are a single unit, permitting higher well-suited to compact front-wheel-drive 1963 Chrysler Turbine POWER gine proved unworkable, Tucker turned pressures. The large pipes on the engine’s vehicles. Power is sent to the Omni’s front OPTIONS to Aircooled Motors, whose O-335 unit, left side feed air into the fuel injectors. ROADSIDE FOOD wheels via the transaxle, a combination typically used in helicopters, was con- The rubber baseballs keep out dirt when GASOLINE gearbox-differential, on the driver’s side. the engine isn’t running. verted to water cooling, laid on its side ENTER 2 ALTERNATIVES and slid snugly into the sedan. Tucker 1956 Chevrolet claimed the 320-pound engine could be 2009 1 Bel Air removed and replaced in 18 minutes. Ford Focus FAMILY Electric BEFORE CARS EXIT CARS SAFETY ® Take it forward.® 1933 Willys Drag Racer 1965 Goldenrod 1949 Mercury Barris Custom Take it forward. Take Into Autos? Then get set to go even further with THF OnWheels. Subscribe at thehenryford.org/enews.