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Henry Ford's 1925 X-8 engine and How it will be used to raise dollars for Special Needs Children. |
| | | X-8 Engine built by Henry Ford in 1925 |
| This engine is documented as the final design of the experimental air-cooled prototype radial X-8 engine conceived by Henry Ford in 1918. He built the first X-8 in 1919 and built a special car, named the X-Car, to road test it in. After many design changes, he then built the second and final X-8 engine in 1925, which is the one pictured here. It was secretly tested in an Oldsmobile and driven around Detroit. This X-8 had the greatest appeal to Mr. Ford of both his air-cooled and water-cooled designs which he considered in the 1920s to replace the four cylinder engine in his popular Model T. After test driving this exact X-8 engine in an Oldsmobile for nearly a year, Henry Ford decided his engine needed more power and eventually developed the flathead V-8 design. The first flathead V-8 experimantal engine was built in 1927 and had 25 head studs. That one-off engine is also in a private collection owned by "Speedy" Bill Smith of Speedway Motors in Lincoln, Nebraska. Henry Ford finalized the flathead V-8 in 1931 with 21 head studs and went into production with it in 1932. The flathead V-8 was such a success it was used through 1953 in both Ford automobiles and trucks. It is still a great racing engine even today in 2009. As an interesting side-note, the Wright Brothers famous Kitty Hawk "first flight" airplane engine was also sold by mistake at the same 1982 fundraiser auction. It also remains in a private collection today.
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| Even after "shelving" the X-8 in 1926, the X-8 project continued to remain a secret while Ford engineers worked on the flathead V-8 design. Several years later, possibly after the flathead V-8 became public, Mr. Ford placed this experimental X-8 engine on display in his museum in Dearborn where it was to remain forever to be shared with the public. However, this engine was apparently miscataloged and many years later showed up in the museum inventory as a 1946 company project that was abandoned along the way. After Henry Ford's death on April 7, 1947, the significance of this piece of history was forgotten and during a redesign of the museum historical displays in the fifties or sixties the X-8 was removed from the museum and relegated to a spot on the concrete floor in the Sorghum Mill, an old building within Greenfield Village where several dozen old Ford prototype and experimental engines were stored. The result being it was among numerous engines designated for housecleaning and was put up for sale through an oversight at the 1982 Greenfield Village Dearborn Museum fundraiser auction along with numerous other used radial airplane engines, including the previously mentioned Wright Brothers Kitty Hawk engine.
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| I was very fortunate to be able to purchase this historic X-8 engine from the Dearborn Museum (aka Henry Ford Museum) at that 1982 fundraiser auction. I have enjoyed owning this magnificent piece of history for over a quarter of a century. This X-8 is only one of two Henry Ford experimental engines in private ownership, the other one being the 1927 experimantal flathead V-8 owned by "Speedy" Bill Smith in Lincoln, Nebraska. I am told the value of the X-8 may exceed $4,000,000. Therefore, I have decided to use it to raise that amount or more to benefit special needs children by placing the X-8 into an antique car museum where the general public can again view it and enjoy learning the history of it. It would be nice to see it go back into The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan. However, if that is not possible, other museums are being considered such as "Speedy" Bill Smith's museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, the AACA Museum (Antique Automobile Club of America) in Hershey, Pennsylvania, the Petersen Automobile Museum in Los Angeles, and the national Smithsonian in Washington, D. C. I will also assist them or any other interested museum in raising the necessary funds to acquire the X-8 using donations from major car collectors such as "Speedy" Bill Smith, Dennis Varni, Jay Leno, Tom Monaghan, Nick Alexander, Lew and Margie Webb, Fran Roxas, Estate of Jerry J. Moore and many others. Funds may also come from other wealthy philanthropists such as Michael and Susan Dell, Bill and Linda Gates, Warren Buffet, Joe Jamail, Red McCombs, just to name a few, and also from the general public.
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The $4,000,000 or more in donated funds will be used in three ways: $1,500,000 will go to a long-term care fund for our special needs daughter Ruth, who this fund raiser is dedicated to. $500,000 will be donated to families through organizations which provide services for their children with Autism, Down Syndrome, and other Special Needs to help them pay for those services (such as therapy and special teaching techniques). And $2,000,000 will be donated directly to families who are challenged with children with special needs to provide housing, financial assistance for ongoing therapy, special ed summer camp, special equipment to assist with care for their child, and even for a family trip to Disney World or Disney Land. Additional funds donated over $4,000,000 will be used in the same manner.
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| These ongoing medical, therapy, and long term care expenses are the financial challenges we have been confronted with for the last ten years with our daughter Ruth. Through God's grace the money has always come from somewhere so we could continue with Ruth's many therapy and medical expenses, which have exceeded half a million dollars since 1998. Ruth has worked hard advancing her skills through therapy five days a week after a full school day for over ten years. She has surpassed all the limits we were told in 1998 that she would never develop beyond. We have the same dream for other children and their families.
And while Ruth has grown, developed and learned, we have watched other families and their children struggle with challenges even far greater than we have faced. Our happiness and excitement for Ruth's endless successes have been tempered with concern for others who are dealing with far greater handicaps and life long care expenses. So we will share the money raised from the sale of Henry's historical engine and its placement in a museum.
Thank you for viewing this historic 1925 X-8 engine and for any donation you may have made or plan to make in the future. In the coming weeks, reach out to a family with a special needs child . . . YOU can brighten their day.
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X-8 Engine built by Henry Ford in 1925 |
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The most recent update is November 1, 2009. | | | |
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