V12 or V16 - a half-century war of giant motors

At the dawn of the automotive industry, the problem of increasing power was solved, especially without bothering: they simply increased the number of cylinders, and the car became longer and longer. Until someone thought of designing a V-shaped engine with inclined valves. Now it only remained to understand: how many cylinders do you need to achieve the best results - six or twelve?


The competition turned out to be serious: such giants as Cadillac, Ford, Packard and others entered it. The management of the latter was sure that the use of 12 cylinders would not only increase power, but also reduce vibration. Packard managed to launch a successful model into the series, which the presenter on the Autotrends channel talks about in detail. But gradually, manufacturers began to turn to cheaper and more massive 6 and 8-cylinder engines. And the “horses” were squeezed out of them in other ways: for example, by improving the fuel system, ignition. Many were sure: the era of increasing power by increasing the number of cylinders is over. But it just seemed...

Cadillac struck a sudden blow, for the first time in the world, presented to the astonished public a car with 16 cylinders. And not a concept, but a production car! However, the "happiness" in the form of popularity did not last long: a severe depression, the global crisis of the 30s reduced the demand for such cars to a minimum. Nevertheless, Cadillac produced such cars until 1940. But the market began to conquer cars with fewer cylinders. From the video you will find out when the last production car with 16 cylinders was produced, what attempts to revive the V12, V16 were made recently and how they ended.