While the Small Block Chevy may be the most tunable and the Chrysler HEMI the most powerful, Ford’s Flathead V8 engine has been around for nearly a century and is the grandfather of every V8 ...

Ford's first Flathead—a 3.6-liter 221 cubic-inch unit—was known ... The Flathead's competition was inline-four engines, seen in the Austin 7 and the MG Midget in the UK market.

models in the Ford lineup: the 3.6-liter version of the flathead V8 engine. Another one of Ford’s successful sub-brands was the medium-priced Mercury, which arrived on the market in the late 1930s.