Saturday, May 21, 2005

Ford V-4


Ford V-4, developed in the early 60's for use in the UK Consul and Corsair and the German Taunus. This engine was later used by Saab in the 95 & 96 models, replacing their own 2 stroke 2 cylinder engine. http://www.motorbase.com/engine/by-id/1132505961/

In the hubris of my youth I thought that I knew it all and when an older guy who was a Saab fanatic told me that he had a Sonnet powered by a Ford V-4. I immediately looked at him as if he had two heads and said "Ford never made a V-4!" This was about 20 years ago. Steve, where ever you are, I'm sorry. Ford did indeed make a V-4 and some of them found their way to the US over the years, not just in Saabs. I found this out a few years ago, and was just googling around and found these links.

So even though Saab is now owned by General Motors, they owe a great deal of their success to Ford and that mysterious V-4. I know it may seem uninteresting to some that consider themselves hardcore Ford Fanatics, but to really understand Ford you have to know about all of the company.

Do you realize that the first Mustang Prototype, was a mid engined two seater powered by this same V-4? So for all of the Hardcore Ford and Mustang Fans, keep an open mind, because it all ties together.

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