Ford 239 V8 Engine

When Ford started producing its Mercury line of automobiles in 1939 it was decided that a more powerful engine would be needed to set apart Mercury vehicles from Ford. That is why the 239 Ford V8 was put into production. It was basically a copy of the Ford flathead 221 with a larger bore and some extra horses. The Ford 239 was often called the “100 horse” motor for obvious reasons that should be clear to anyone with over a room temperature I.Q. The 239 would keep its “100 horse” status until 1952 when compression was increased and thus horsepower as well. After 1954 the 239 was replaced by the 272 Ford V8 which would be used in the all-new Fairlane and station wagon models starting in 1955.