cav551:
Having trawled through this thread, strangely there is no reference to the thinking behind the V8 by its design team way back in 1962.
Robert Fryars, AEC Chief Engineer, and later Leyland Chief Engineer, is on the record as saying that the V8 was regarded as nothing more than a concept project when they started development. There was no defined application for the engine and he was horrified when Leyland instructed it to be fitted into the V8 Mandator.