“The engine has its two banks of cylinders set at 70 levels in a standard casting,” defined Autocar. “The crankshaft has 4 throws and the connecting rods of reverse banks run nearly aspect by aspect, however not fairly, the crank pins being themselves canted barely to permit for the 20-degree offset between the 2 banks. The shaft runs in three essential bearings (copper-lead with indium flash) and has stability weights solely on the ends. No torsional vibration damper is employed, however 7000rpm has been achieved with out bother.”
“Two years later, our street testers wrote of it in 115bhp kind (up from 105bhp initially): “There are only a few 2-litre saloons with a pace corresponding to that of the 8V.”
It had received from 0-60mph in 12.6sec (20.1sec sooner than the 1100!) and 0-100mph in 35.0sec.
“To offer a efficiency like this it’s essential to have first-rate dealing with qualities, and the independently sprung wheels each entrance and rear present a snug trip and provides a level of roadholding that it might be troublesome to higher for [such a car].
“It has significantly good directional stability, along with nearly the correct amount of understeer.
“The steering offers the driving force a really correct sense of really feel, being mild and energetic.
“The 8V could be very a lot a sports activities automobile within the fashionable sense of the phrase. It’s a automobile that should be ‘pushed’ to be loved; equally it disguises its true pace by advantage of its good manners.”
Italy was in fact well-known for its carrozzerie, and lots of of them dressed the 8V chassis fantastically, together with Bertone, Farina, Ghia, Pinin Farina, Vignale and Zagato.
In the meantime, rallyists and racers did nicely in privately entered 8Vs, most notably Elio Zagato topping the 2-litre class in a help race for the 1954 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, then embarrassing Porsche’s 356s within the 1955 Berlin GP (for sports activities automobiles) at Avus.
But regardless of the ‘halo impact’ of all this, Fiat bosses misplaced curiosity within the 8V and killed it after simply two years and 114 chassis had been made.
Surplus engines and different components went into Turin minnow Siata’s ultra-low 208 competitors automobiles, however there the story ended. No different Fiat has used a V8, and ‘Otto Vùs’ at present promote for thousands and thousands.