The Failure Of T-Drive, Ford's 1990s Dream To Put A Straight-8 In Your Car Sideways
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 Published On Aug 3, 2020

On the very week before the first Gulf War, Ford showed an innovative engine design for the ‘90s, modular in its layout and calling back to the most luxurious automobiles ever made. This is the story of “T-Drive” and Ford’s modular straight eight that never made it to production.

Welcome back to Auto Archives, the show in which we dive into my personal collection of Car Styling magazine back issues. These issues are packed with never-uploaded-online pictures, sketches, and interviews. I wish I had time to go through every page.

Straight-eights are some of the rarest engines you’ll ever encounter, pretty much only under the long hoods of Cruella DeVille-grade land yachts of the 1920s and ‘30s. Why Ford took a stab at making a modern version is an interesting question, but maybe even more interesting is the time when Ford gave this idea its shot at revival. It was really the only time a design like this might get attempted, and it’s also probably the main reason why it never made it past that experimental stage.

-Raphael Orlove

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