Ford Windsor engine

The 'Fairlane V8' engine, as it was known at Ford, went into production in July 1961 ready for installation into the all new 1962 model-year 'Intermediate' Ford Fairlane and Mercury Meteor cars which started to be released to the public in late November 1961. This all new engine began in May 1960 when chief engineer of the Engine & Foundry Division of the Ford Motor Company, Bill Innes, selected 39 year old section supervisor, George Stirrat, to lead a team of nine engineers to design a compact, light-weight V8 engine of 220-225 cu in, which had to be in production during July of the following year. This target was met with the whole process taking just 13 months from start to finish - a remarkable achievement in automotive engineering terms. This was only possible because the 221ci engine was designed to be machined using the existing Ford Y-Block V8 machine tooling. The production of an engine didn't just stop at Ford, engines were phased in and phased out with much over-lap. This way, if anything went wrong with the new engine, the old engine was still in production and could be increased to cover any deficit. This of course couldn't have applied to the 221ci because of its small dimensions so it had to be right. The Ford Y-Block was in fact going to be phased out at some time in the near future but the new engine wasn't at that time the intended replacement - just a new engine. One line of Ford Y-Block production at the Cleveland Engine Plant however was stopped in 1961 and converted to 221ci engine production. The Small Block Ford family of engines evolved significantly during its 39-year history through technological, performance, and reliability enhancements. Engine displacement also increased from 221 cu in (3.6 L) up to 351 cu in (5.8 L) over the years in several stages namely 221ci (1961-1963), 260ci (1962-1964), 289ci (1963-1968), 302ci (1968-2000), 351ciW (1969-1996), 335ci (1970-1996 in Mexico) and 255ci/4.2L (1980-1982).