The History Of The All Aluminum GM/Rover V8

By Miguel Caparros

In 1961 General Motors Introduced a 215 cubic inch all aluminum V8 for the new compacts from Buick,Oldsmobile and Pontiac. The Skylark, F85 and Tempest models were available with an economic low compression 2 barrel version of the new engine that had a rated output of 155 horse power (hp). The 4 barrel high compression optional engine was listed at 200 hp. Oldsmobile offered a third version of the alloy V8 labeled the JetFire that added an optional turbo and boosted power to 215.

This engine had a very long development with GM, going back to 1951. GM decided they were going to have compete with the sophistication that the Europeans were beginning to show as they rebuilt from the devastation of World War II. From the beginning this engine was special. First making an appearance powering the GM 1951 show stopper the LaSabre XP-300.
During the development period the engine was supercharged to an output 375 hp from its 215 cubic inches, a power output unheard of at the time for such a small engine. Through the 50's GM developed the engine and eventually was it introduced in the Buick Pontiac and Oldsmobile import fighters.

Just at that point philosophy at GM changed and cars got bigger and heavier, the “horse power war” was under way. Buick took and adapted the architecture of the 215 V8 engine for its big block series of engines that were cast iron and ranged in displacement from 330 cubic inches to 455.

In 1967 England's, Rover Cars had a wonderful luxury 4 door sedan with incredible handling a legendary reputation for safety and terribly under powered. The Rover 2000 TC (Twin Carbs) was the predecessor for today’s sport sedans from the likes of BMW and Mercedes. To maintain its edge tiny Rover needed an engine and found that GM was willing to sell the rights and all the equipment to build the small all aluminum V8 for very little money. Rover instantly had a performance engine that took 200 pounds off the front and doubled the horse power potential of the Rover 2000. The engine survived the various mergers and take overs that the British auto industry went through. The engine was fitted into Land Rovers, Leyland Trucks, MG V8, Triumph TR8, TVR's and various other smaller manufacturer that bought the engines for their limited production sports cars.

Back to the story of the Buick/Rover V8, in 1966, a new 3-litre formula was created for Formula One to replace the unpopular 1.5 litre formula that preceded it. The new engines under development by other suppliers all had at least 12
cylinders and proved difficult to develop, being heavy and initially unreliable. F1 driver turned car builder Jack Brabham took a different approach to the problem of obtaining a suitable engine. He persuaded Australian engineering company Repco to develop a new 3-litre eight cylinder engine for him. Repco had no experience in designing complete engines. Brabham had identified a supply of suitable engine blocksobtained from Oldsmobile's aluminium alloy 215 engine and persuaded the company that an engine could be designed around the block, largely using existing components. Brabham and Repco were aware that the engine would not compete in terms of outright power, but felt that a lightweight, reliable engine could achieve good championship results while other teams were still making their new designs reliable.

The combination of the Repco engine and the Brabham BT19 chassis worked. At the French Grand PrixJack Brabham became the first man to win a Formula One world championship race in a car of his own construction.

So this was a case of the little engine that could! During the gas crisis of the mid 70's, GM was caught with inefficient and heavy series of 4,6 and 8 cylinder engines and tried to buy the engine back from British Leyland Motors that had absorbed Rover along with MG, Austin, Jaguar, Triumph, and a few others. By this point BLM was installing the engine in almost every single one of its lines of cars and trucks. Development on the engine continued until the acquisition of Rover by BMW in 1994.

In 1968 Morgan was the first to raise their hand and say “we'll take some”. The Rover V8 more than likely saved Morgan as the new  found power and the fantastic sound of the V8 is well worth the admission for driving a wooden car designed in the 30's. The fate of the engine is up in the air after BMW sold Rover to Ford sold it and Jaguar in 2008 to Indian car giant Tata. I am sure we will be seeing the “small block Chevy” of the rest of the world coming to us from something made in India.

Confessions of a Motor Head. Racing on the streets of Boston.

by Miguel Caparros

1969 was the beginning of my senior year of high school in Plymouth New Hampshire. By November it seemed it would be the mildest and least snowfall in a long time. I knew this as in December I was still driving my Alfa Romeo Gulietta, a car who's incredible sexy looks and great handling were completely unbearable if the temperature dropped much below 30 degrees.

1970 was going to be a banner year for Chevrolet and Pontiac, the long awaited replacement for the three year old Camaro and Firebird had the industry buzzing about a radical redesign of the GM twins. In an unusual move, GM chose not to release these 1970 sporty cars at the traditional September new car introduction, but give a dramatic introduction in January for the long awaited duo.

In mid December we received our debut 1970 Camaro Z28, it came in wrapped and it was spirited away and hidden not to be seen until the new year.

At this point I was dating Darcy Hosmer from Lawrence Massachusetts, She was a student at the Frontenac Ski camp where I worked during the winters. A total coincidence was that her father John Hosmer owned the largest Pontiac Dealership in the Boston area. On one Friday night I drove down for a date with Darcy, it was the week before Christmas I arrived a little early. While waiting for Darcy to get ready, Mr Hosmer and I talked about cars. He asked what I drove down in this time, we went outside so he could get a look at the bright read Alfa. I mentioned to him we had received a Z28, I asked what he got. We walked a few paces to one of the Carriage House doors, went inside a moment passed before he flipped on the lights. There sat a blue formula 400, but unlike the crouching stance of the Z28, this car squatted towards the rear. The scoops sticking out of the hood ready to devour any one that came close. A very subtle emblem at the rear hinted at what this was, it read Royal Oaks Pontiac!

Royal Oaks Pontiac was the back door factory drag race team for Pontiac Since the the late 50's the Royal Oaks Michigan machines were the cars to beat in Super Stock right into the 70's. In those days you could order from select dealers, a race car for the street and it would get the final assembly at Royal Oaks. The Hosmer car got the whole treatment, The car left the factory as a Formula 400 with a few deleted items; deleted heater, deleted power steering, deleted rear seat, deleted insulation, deleted sound deadening, deleted spare tire and jack, deleted power brakes, deleted radio.

Once it got to Royal Oaks Pontiac the 400 engine would be pulled out and replaced by a 455 12.5 compression motor with special heads, cam, intake, carburetor, headers. A set of special chambered (no mufflers) exhaust pipes are hooked up to the headers equipped with cut outs. The Battery would be removed from the
front of the car and a larger heavy duty truck battery would be installed in the right rear of the trunk. The rear springs would be replaced with heavy duty leaves, 9 on the left 7 on the right. The shocks were replaced by specially valved 90 10 units, these refer to shocks that would allow the front to rise and stay there transferring weight to the rear tires and slowly allowing the front end to come down. A 4:56 Detroit Locker put the power to the ground from the Rock Crusher 4 speed transmission.

This car was engineered with one purpose, to get from a stop to the end of a quarter mile as fast as possible. This car was very good at that. Darcy Joined us in the drive way and gave her dad a peck on the cheek, as we walked towards
the Alfa Mr Hosmer called out to us, we turned around to see a set of keys flying through the air towards us. I caught them as he yelled. “ I don't want to hear that this car lost a street race tomorrow.”.

The noise from this car was incredible, more so inside than on the outside and it was plenty loud out there. The thrill of being in a full blown race car of a model the is not yet available and to this point kept a secret; was pure adrenalin.
With Darcy my inspiration and navigator we hit every drive in and did at least 30 races with no one even coming close to the Firebird. After a whole night of being mobbed as celebrities where ever we went we finally made it back to the Hosmer compound at 3 am where the cook made us hot chocolates, def as posts we snuggled on the couch
drinking our chocolates and we fell asleep, our ears ringing with the noise of the exhaust the tires screeching and the rush of incredible acceleration our bodies tingling from 6 hours in a factory built race car. How fast was this car? From what I was told later, this car could do the ¼ mile in the low 11 sec time, on street tires. I have never forgotten you Darcy.