Pontiac Straight-8 Engine - History

History

The straight-8 was dubbed the Silver-Streak at Pontiac Division, but unlike its "flashy" name, it was anything but. During its 21 year run, which included America's three year campaign in the war overseas, and right up until it being replaced by the V8, it was considered acceptable under Pontiac's somewhat conservative management. Powered by the "eight", a Pontiac was promoted as a likable automobile, with enough power under the hood to get the job done in affordable luxury.

However, by the early 1950s, overhead valve V8s from sister divisions Cadillac, Buick and Oldsmobile, as well as new overhead valve V8s from Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Corporation, made the "Silver Streak" all but obsolete in power, It was a quiet, smooth running engine that served the needs of the 1930s and '40s American consumer adequately for power, if not reliability or economy, but by 1954, the engine was decidedly eclipsed not only by competing auto makers, but by General Motors' own divisions' products as well. Further hamstringing the "Silver Streak" was the aged, but cheap to produce, flathead configuration. Interesting to note that the Strato Streak was ready to go in 1953, but was held back by the protesting Buick and Olds divisions. Evidence of this is in the details of the chassis/steering of 1953 and 1954 Pontiac's which were designed for the V-8. The V8 configuration of the "Strato-Streak" 287-cubic-inch engine that replaced it in 1955 did away with all the crankshaft and L-head related problems, replacing the Depression era "cheap 8" with a truly modern, durable but yet affordable design perfectly matched to Pontiac's target market. A few years later (fall of 1956), under the guidance of Bunkie Knudsen Pontiac was determined to change its image into a performance car to boost sales, this led Knudsen to look for further talent such as in Pete Estes as chief engineer (taken from Olds division) and John DeLorean as director of advanced engineering,a former Packard and Chrysler engineer. Pontiac became known as a performance division based upon the durable, well performing V8s that came later, all of them based upon the original 287 of 1955.