@VDCdriver mentioned the Buick but Chevy introduced their OHV Stovebolt 6 in 1929.
There were expensive American cars that had even more advanced engines like the Duesenberg… Straight 8, DOUBLE overhead cams, with 4 valves per cylinder making 265 hp.
After the war, Hispano Suiza made some fantastic, high-performance cars. This one is a 1933 J-12, with a V-12 under the hood:
Not to cast aspersions at the J12, but its V12 was a pushrod design rather than the H-6 OHC 6 cylinder it replaced. A bit of a technical step back. But 9.4 liters of V12 engine will out-torque a 6.5 liter 6 even with OHC!
Two stroke diesels went away due to excessive oil burning caused by the cylinder ports. I doubt this engine will pass emissions either.
I decided to revive this thread in order to post a pic. The New Brunswick, NJ Historical Society published this pic, which was taken at that city’s Wright-Martin aircraft factory in 1918, and the caption is, “Manufacturing Hispano-Suiza Airplane Engines…Government Testing”. The noise from those straight pipes must have been… amazing.
Cool photo. The Hispano-Suiza 8 only ran ~5:1 compression ratio with displacements between 700 to 1,100 in2, so I’m guessing it wouldn’t be as loud as you’d think due to the significantly reduced cylinder pressure when the exhaust valve opens. The engine is running in the photo and no one seems to be too concerned about the noise level.
They were already deaf.
Have you ever been to drag racing, even near a NASCAR engine?
