Thursday, April 08, 2021
Gangsters and Ford V8s
The linkage started in '32 with the Barkers and Dillingers. When French yoots in the '80s copied gang styles from West Side Story, they were still driving and hotrodding Ford V8s.
(The French version, that is.)
The unique rhythm of a V8 is well defined. It can't be smooth by mechanical definition. V8s must strike an innate resonance in the human ear and vestibule, perhaps ringing a specific brainwave pattern that fits with serious driving. Maybe it matches a galloping horse. Ford wasn't the fastest affordable car in '32, so the gangsters weren't simply seeking speed.
The Simcas in these pictures used a smaller V8 that was designed under Henry in the '30s, originally intended as an economical option. It was tried for a year or two but didn't sell. Henry finally yielded to numerological doom** and allowed his company to make a six. The smaller V8 was sent to Europe, where it thrived for 30 years.
** I'm going with the legend here for a better story, but later historians have found that Henry started developing a six at the same time as the smaller V8, and encouraged both projects. The smaller V8 reached production first.
Labels: NOT alternate universe
¶ 5:21 AM
