Eight-cylinder engines are almost as old as cars themselves, and while we talk about them a lot, we always forget about the ones that failed.
The V8 engine is a French invention. Popularized and mythologized in American form, it was patented by French engineer Leon Levavasseur, but the symmetry of eight cylinders pumping in concert appealed to many as a steady and reliable source of power.
The V8 hit the ground running and became popular under the hood of Ford and Cadillac vehicles, and it never really died. Even in these heady days of battery-powered motors and small-displacement turbocharged Ecoboost engines, high-end brands opt for twin-turbo V8 engines when it comes to delivering maximum power for as much of the time as possible.
Some of the best engines made by major automakers are V8s, and nearly every builder has developed a major V8 program. Most have multiple, with some going into history as the finest power plants devised in the industrial age, while others washed away in the slipstream. These are some of the V8 engines that once represented the hopes of a company, and let those hopes down.Triumph Stag 2.5L
By the mid-1960s, the bigger-is-better displacement wars were on the verge of exploding. The Clean Air Act of 1970 was years away. The 1964 Pontiac Tempest GTO and Ford Mustang ignited the pony powder keg. Carroll Shelby was shoehorning Ford V8s into British-built AC Cars. British road racing had a long history, and the open roads of America encourage throaty V8 power. The Triumph Stag, making its debut in 1970, was a sight to behold. It was designed to blend in with the Aston Martins and Jaguars of the era, and at first glance, it did just that. With its elegant British tourer design and sleek lines, it was a few years behind the XKE or DB-5, but it was a Triumph, not a Rolls-Royce. Breaking new ground wasn’t its job.
Triumph wasn’t the only manufacturer to take a stab at V8s in British bodies, but where the Stag went wrong was directly under the bonnet, as it were. Engineers figured that melding two of Triumph’s existing four-cylinder engines into a 2.5-liter V8 ought to do the trick. To meet the American market’s standards for clean burning, it needed to abandon its planned Bosch fuel injectors in favor of carburetors. More problems followed.
By the time the Stag hit the market in 1970, it looked good and ran terribly.
