AMC V8 engine

American Motors Corporation (AMC) produced a series of widely used V8 engines from the mid-1950s through 1987, when it was absorbed into Chrysler. Chrysler kept the AMC V8 in production until 1991 for the Jeep Grand Wagoneer.

This was AMC's first V8 engine designed and manufactured from '56 to '67. It never wore a 'Nash' or 'Hudson' label on its valve cover. The engine was traditionally called 'Rambler V8' because it powered those cars AMC made during the American Manufacturer Association ban on factory supported racing from 1957 to 1962, whereas the former racing goals of Nash and Hudson motorcars were ended and those two names were permanently retired.

The rather specious traditional tale of how AMC's first V8 engine came into being is as follows;

American Motors' president, George W. Mason, negotiated a verbal agreement with Packard that the two companies would supply parts for each other when practical. This was a prelude to a possible merger of the two companies at a later date, but that never occurred. With the industry-wide acceptance of V8 engine designs after World War II, AMC started buying Packard V8s in 1954 for the 1955 Nash Ambassador and Hudson Hornet. These were supplied with Packard "Ultramatic" automatic transmissions - exclusively. Packard sent AMC some parts bids, but these were rejected as too expensive. George W. Romney, AMC's new head, decided against further relationships with Packard shortly after entering the position of CEO in October 1954 after Mason's sudden death.

Romney ordered his engineering department to develop an in-house V8 as soon as possible. The engineering department hired David Potter, a former Kaiser Motors engineer, to help develop the engine. Potter had previously worked on a V8 design for Kaiser, and they were able to get the all new V8 into production in less than 18 months, an extraordinary engineering feat at the time considering using slide rules was the norm.

The 1956 SAE article named "The New American Motors V8" tells the otherwise true story of who, what, where and why.

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