Cadillac introduced the first American mass-produced V8 engine. Its 1914 Cadillac Type 51 used a 90-degree, 314-cubic-inch L-head V8 and became the first road-going V8 produced in significant quantities.
The Type 51 was designed under Cadillac chief engineer D. McCall White and was offered for the 1915 model year. Cadillac sold about 13,000 examples in its first year, giving the V8 a meaningful production foothold rather than leaving it as a prototype or low-volume experiment. Cadillac’s electric starter technology also made a large engine more practical for everyday drivers.
The achievement did not mean Cadillac invented every early V8. France’s Antoinette built an early V8 in 1904, and several manufacturers experimented with V8s before Cadillac’s breakthrough. Cadillac’s distinction is mass-producing a road-car V8 in substantial numbers.
Ford is often associated with making V8 power widely affordable because of its 1932 Flathead V8. Oldsmobile’s Rocket V8, introduced in 1949, was another landmark, but neither was the first American mass-produced V8.