It was cast aside. But it was clear that its languishing state was not because it was a dud, just that it was the wrong engine for that side of the Atlantic. It was worth having. At least that’ s what William Martin-Hurst, Rover’ s Managing Director, thought. He spotted the aluminium V8 whilst visiting Carl Kiekhaefer, head of the Mercury Marine company, and he was impressed. Martin-Hurst was intrigued by the V8’ s compact dimensions, thinking it would make for a more appropriate‘ big’ engine for the P6 Rover 2000 than the long, cumbersome, handling-ruining straight-six that was proposed at the time.
As GM didn’ t have any use for it, Martin-Hurst wanted it for Rover. The risk was low as it was a proven motor. While GM might have considered it stillborn, that was only in the context of the US car industry; around 750,000 versions of the Fireball V8 were produced in the few years it was available. Martin-Hurst was also confident
that GM knew how to engineer a V8, given that this was far from its first stab at one.
In 1964, a deal was made. Martin-Hurst negotiated a license that allowed Rover to develop the V8 however it saw fit and to pay GM just £ 3 and 10 shillings in royalties on each engine produced. The deal also included all of the plans and 39 of GM’ s remaining engines so that Rover could start engineering its cars to suit the new motor, even before it had put the V8 into production. By January 1965, the engine was Rover’ s.
While not created as a performance motor, the Rover V8 was a respectable sports car and competition engine
20 The Engine Rebuilder Issue 04