In defense of 6 cylinders

[38 coupe]

Originally Posted by mercman from oz

It is hard to tell, but this 1953 Ford Prime Mover with a load of new 1955 Ford Station Wagons appears to be a 6 cylinder model. That emblem on the grille looks to be a three pointed star, the emblem that the 6 cylinder trucks got. It does not look like a V8 emblem? What do you think?

Looks like a six cylinder truck to me.

Interestingly, Ford did not stop production of flathead 6 cylinder engines at the end of 1951. Ford apparently decided that the F-6 (1952) and F-600 (1953) still needed a bigger engine than the 215 six or 239 V-8, and continued production of the 254 "Big Six" flathead engine. Kinda makes you wonder why a truck version of the 255 flathead V-8 was never offered in the USA. Maybe Ford wanted more than three main bearings in an up-rated engine for the two ton trucks?


I'll also sidetrack my own thread and show my ignorance of old trucking: why so many license plates on the front of the truck?

[RalphG]

Originally Posted by 38 coupe

Looks like a six cylinder truck to me.

Kinda makes you wonder why a truck version of the 255 flathead V-8 was never offered in the USA. Maybe Ford wanted more than three main bearings in an up-rated engine for the two ton trucks?

We never saw six cylinder engines in Ford trucks here til the mid fifties. I've read that the 8 EL 337 Lincoln flathead was offered in the big Ford trucks and later on they also got the Y block before Ford cars did.