Yes, Ford was somewhat late getting into OHV engines, but not entirely. After the War, under Henry the "Duece," they new they had to change. However, their engine production facilities were ancient, so they had to be overhauled & it was a big & expensive project. Don't forget that G.M.s new engines, for 1949, were made for the high & medium price fields, not the low price field. Chryslers first, 1951 was also for the high priced field.  Fords 1st OHV engine was the Lincoln 317 of 1952, (& in a brand new model, it preceeded to win the Carrara Pan-America Road Race, stock car division, 4 years in a row!) However, I've read  somewhere that Ford hoped to get the Y-Block into production for their 50th year Anniverary in 1953, but production difficulties nixed that. So they introduced the engine in 1954, and it was the 1st OHV available across an entire line in the low price field..The Ford/ Merc Y-Block should have held prominance longer than it did, but a series of bad decisions by Ford management &  smart moves by G.M., orchestrated from the mind of Z.A Duntov, and at least one or more "fast ones", pulled by their main competition, (the 1957 AMA racing ban agreement for one)  resulted in it fading from prominence, while the SBC became the "darling" of the small block crowd...               

Paul

Re Ford engine at the Museum of Speed.- Can't offer any definate info, but have two questions; Is this one of the experimental engines reportedly developed in the mid 50s, in conjunction with Holman-Moody?  Or is it the "Weslake" engine, which I believe was contracted for someone in S.America. (?) It's rumoured that Ford was experimenting with OHC setups & aluminum castings in the mid 50s, (photos do exist & somewhere I read an interview with a Ford employee who worked on some of these projects) but all of this was dropped, possibly in part because of the 1957 mid year racing ban. (the one that G.M. largely ignored!) Reportedly, the Weslake design was not very promising..   

Paul

The Weslake in Lincoln is the one Paul Arcand is refering to I think.I beleive that was done in conjunction with Dearborn, not Australia. But I've been wrong before.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

In the late 20's,when someone berated Henry Ford for staying with 4 cylinder engines when most of the low priced field had 6 cylinders,Mr.Ford is reputed to have replied;Car engines should never have more cylinders than a cow has teats.For you city folks,that's 4.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO

Further on the Ford OHV sixes. As far as I can tell from some reference stuff I have, some of the parts such as the gears for the Cam & Crank interchange with the Y-Block. And I think the pistons for the 223 are the same as a 272 (I might be corrected on that one..?) The book lists the connecting rod bushings as the same and the Lifters & exhaust valves.. etc... Yes, it is well recorded that Henry didn't like "sixes." I suspect the main reason being that while all "Ts" were four cylinders, the later Che_ro__ts were sixes & they started to seriously cut into Ford's sales. That is one of the reasons he was determined to produce the first V-8 in the low price field.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Paul