When an air-cooled V4 engine was developed in America
Air-cooled four-cylinder engines? That would be more of a German specialty, one would think. But the Americans also developed an air-cooled four-cylinder engine in the fifties, two in fact. There was Willys, which came up with a four-cylinder boxer that developed 25 SAE hp from 877 cm3.
And then there was the American Motors Corporation, which surprised everyone in 1957/1958 with an air-cooled V4 engine that produced 62 hp from 1770 cm3 at the relatively low engine speed of 3500 rpm. The engine was not only compact, but also weighed just 90 kg. And the highlight of the story: the engine had a modular design so that it could also be expanded into a six- or eight-cylinder engine. A two-cylinder engine was also possible. The aim was to achieve 15 to 18 hp per cylinder.
However, the AMC V4 engine did not have a great career. Although it was installed with reduced power in the M422 "Mighty Mite" military vehicle, this was only produced for the US Navy from 1960 to 1963. For use in American passenger cars, the engine proved to be too weak and at the same time probably too loud and uncouth.
Incidentally, the AMC M422 in the photos will go under the hammer at the "Elkhart Collection" auction on October 23/24 . This should be one of the rare opportunities to buy an American V4 engine with air cooling.
