How many flatheads were produced??

BUBBAS IGNITION

BUBBAS IGNITION

Well-known member
I have done some search goole etc and want to know how many flathead engines were produced from 1932 (first one) until late 1953 ( last one).

Any facts out there ???:eek:
 
I once read a statement that if all flatheads produced were melted down, they could be cast into the size and shape of the Great Pyramid of Egypt. Whoever it was failed to provide the starting data for his calculations...
There are some readily available numbers for USA flatheads, with noticeable problems, somewhat less data for Canadian, British, German, etc., then there are wild cards like the post-Ford French and Brazilian 60's and bigger engines.
First, look at the serial #'s at van pelt....
18 (221) serials are given through 1942...good total there, BUT many more extended that series during WWII and others were built until 1954 in UK using blocks of American serials. I've never seen any post 1942 listings published, my flying guess would be at least a quarter million.
99 (239) series is given through 1948, with gap for wartime, but the totals suggest they do contain the many war motors and that they pushed the numbers by 200--250 thousand. That engine has a good solid number in 1948.
US 60 numbers are there, with a mystery gap at the beginning...numbers start at 6,000 instead of 1, and those missing engines were the two very different series produced in England 1935-36! After the war, 60's were still built under non-Ford flags for a long time, probably untraceable.
'49-53...those numbers do not neatly cumulate like the early series do. I don't have much interest in them, but probably the serials lists in things like Motors manuals on other references would give decent numbers. Ford also surely has them in some publication.
Germany...239 99's til the 1950's, do not know where those numbers are hidden. I guess French military production was fairly small.
 
If I'm not mistaken, most, if not all, production numbers for most years from '32 to '53, were lost in the two Rotunda fires so, it would be next to impossible to get an accurate or even a good "ballpark" number unfortunately.
 
Good one Bill,:D Lets see, I have two 221's, three 239's, one 255', one 337 and one V-12 (267 c.i.). So that makes a total of eight for me...:eek:;)
 
Early numbers weren't really lost because the serial numbers ARE the numbers. I'm sure basic sales numbers for V8's exist for '49-53, stuff I don't have, and serial number runs exist. The serials for '49-53 are not the engine numbers any more, but serials differ for 6, 8, and Merc and so could be totted up from all the different lots.
As I noted above, WWII and foreign productions add in some mysteries, but those do not involve large numbers of engines.

Spare parts also add in some engines...'32-48, Ford assigned serials to all engines completed to running order and tested, including industrials and complete replacement engines, but blocks and incomplete engine assembles for parts sales were not numbered. Probably a lot of flatheads carry replacement blocks that effectively add engines to the total...
So...some of the easier totals of the various groups:

Early 221: 6,925,898 PLUS 1942 civilian production, large WWII production, postwar English production...my SWAG would be 7,500,000 to cover all the loose ends...
Early 239: 2,374,315, probably pretty close to total as later production was small
V8 60, 1935--1940... 506,501 was the BEGINNING number for 1940, I don't have an ending# handy, but few were sold, then various overseas productions in small quantities. Probably absolute total well under 600,000?

'48-53 Fords and Mercs, I do not have much literature, but I think the numbers are fairly available out in the world somewhere. Serials of V8 series cars would do the job pretty closely.
 
Take the production number of cars and trucks by year from 32-53, estimate the percentage of cars equipped with V-8s per year (maybe 65%? 75%?) correct your figures for the war years, and blam-oh! You've got yourself one uneducated guess!
 
For vehicles, cars, trucks, etc. '32-48 all engines of same are in same serial series...
For engines not in Ford vehicles, if Ford sold the engine fully assembled and run it got a serial number. Bare blocks or less-than complete units were not serialed. This is for '32-48 stuff.
 
Hi Bubba; I recently read 12 million but I don't remember the source right now and I don't believe that included the 337. Good luck, Craig.
 
If you add the documented '32-48's you are getting pretty close to 12 million. I have no idea how many were made '49-53, but those were some big sales years and the cars were popular, so I think the final figure will be considerably above 12 million.
I have a book somewhere with historical figures for Ford Canada...that will add significant numbers. Canada was the supplier for the whole British empire, and produced a lot of wartime engines too.
 
Since most FoMoCo products were some form of flathead from the model T era through 1953, that 12-million figure may include more than just V8 engines in the V8 era.

FoMoCo made a fair number of industrial powerplants for generator sets, welders, irrigation systems, air compressors etc, and lord knows how many other applications. It would only be a WAG. I'm happy enough to figure it was quite a butt load for certain.
 
The figures I posted are mostly from V8 serial numbers, with no crossover that would include other engine families.
Looks to me that '32-48 V8's numbered a bit under ten million.
Don't have anything on late engines yet, but I'm pretty sure they will bump total somewhat beyond 12 million.
Ford produced close to 15 million Model T's, and a little under five million A's.
All those pump and generator motors, assuming they were sold as complete engines, were in the totals. After 1948, things were much more subdivided and so counting from serials gets way more complicated.
 
I had read somewhere that Ford made 15 million Flatheads, as I stated in my book. However, I think this was just a guesstamation. I have 2 good ones and 3 questionable.
 
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