Buick V8 engine

The Buick V8 is the family of V8 engines that the Buick division of General Motors built from 1953 to 1981, after Buick had used only inline engines since 1903. All of them were 90 degree, water-cooled, overhead valve, naturally aspirated V8s. The family divides into three groupings: the Nailhead engines of 1953 to 1966, named for their unusually long, small, vertically set valves; the small blocks of 1961 to 1982; and the big blocks of 1967 to 1976. The Nailhead, first introduced in Buick cars for 1953, was designed to be compact, light and short so that it fitted under the hood of existing chassis. Several Buick displacements match those of other GM divisions, but the designs are entirely different engines.