Cadillac V8 engine

The Cadillac V8 is the general name for the series of 90 degree V8 engines that the Cadillac division of General Motors has built since 1914, when its L-head Type 51 became the first mass-produced V8. The family runs from the side-valve engines of the 1910s to 1940s, through the overhead valve 331, 390 and 472 series that powered postwar Cadillacs in displacements from 5.4 to 8.2 litres, to the later Northstar and the twin-turbo Blackwing. The 1949 overhead valve engine, introduced alongside Oldsmobile's Rocket, set the pattern for Cadillac power for decades, and the 1963 redesign made it lighter and more compact. This entry covers the lineage as a whole rather than one displacement, and individual successors such as the Northstar series have their own entries.