On March 31, 1932, Henry Ford shook the automotive world with a practical, low-cost V8. Here’s the original Ford newsreel heralding the event.

The 1932 Ford V8 has been called Henry Ford’s final triumph, capping a career that included the Model T, the Model A, and the creation of a vast manufacturing empire. Of course, Ford did not create the first low-priced V8 by himself, but it was his brainchild. He assembled a team of his favorite engineers and technicians in the old Edison Laboratory at Greenfield Village, a safe distance from the naysayers at the Ford Engineering Laboratory. There they worked to Ford’s unique and often cantankerous vision, using lessons learned from a previous Ford project, the X8 engine (see our feature, Henry Ford’s Incredible X-8 Engine).

While the Ford V8 revolutionized auto manufacturing and helped to launch a new American pastime called hot rodding, the rollout was far from smooth. Engine, chassis, and body were all plagued with new product bugs, from oil consumption to stress-cracked bodywork, and to be completely honest about it, the new Ford was a bit of a lemon. But the teething issues were all worked out, and the ’32 is now one of America’s most beloved collector cars. Initially, the L-head V8 displaced 221 cubic inches and 65 horsepower, uprated to 85 hp in 1934. Ultimately, the original architecture would grow to 255 CID and 125 hp before the venerated flathead V8 was discontinued in America in 1953.

Note the angle in this three-minute Ford newsreel item introducing the V8: “Henry Ford Launches Huge Prosperity Drive.”  By the spring of 1932, the nation was suffering the full ravages of the Great Depression. Auto sales had plummeted from their 1929 peak of more than five million cars to barely one million in 1932, and unemployment in Detroit reached 50 percent. The advanced new V8, it was hoped, would help to turn things around. While they have no speaking parts here, there’s some great footage of Henry himself and son Edsel. Video below.

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