Lincoln Liberty engine

Infobox Automobile engine
name=Lincoln Liberty V8
aka=


manufacturer=Lincoln Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
production=1920–1931
predecessor=
successor=Lincoln L-head V12
class=60° Flathead V8
similar=
Henry Leland's Lincoln Motor Company was formed with the sole purpose of building the Liberty engine.

As the United States entered World War I, the Cadillac company was asked to produce the new Liberty aircraft engine, but William C. Durant was a pacifist who did not want General Motors or Cadillac facilities to be used for producing war material. This led to Henry Leland leaving Cadillac to form the Lincoln company to make Liberty engines, quickly gaining a $10,000,000 government contract to build 8,000 engines. [cite book | last = Weiss | first = H. Eugene | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Chrysler, Ford, Durant, and Sloan | publisher = McFarland | date = 2003 | location = | pages = p. 45 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0786416114]

Lincoln's V8 engine was completed too late to be of any assistance to the war, so the company turned back to Leland's experience as an automobile maker. Raising $6.5 million more in stock, Leland began work on a high-end car to accommodate his V8 engine. The Lincoln L-series was launched in September 1920 with the new engine inside. The car was slow to launch and take hold in the market place, and the board of directors put the company up for sale on February 4, 1922. It was purchased by the Ford Motor Company, which invested in the L-series, giving the engine and car a firm footing. The car was redesigned for 1931 as the Model K, with the V8 engine lasting two more years before being replaced by Lincoln's new L-head V12.

The engine was characterized by its narrow 60° cylinder bank angle and fork-and-blade connecting rods. It produced 81 hp (60 kW) at first, 90 hp (67 kW) by 1929, and 120 hp (89 kW) in a heavily-revised version for the 1931 Model K and 1932 Model KA.

Notes

References

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ee also

* List of Ford engines