[jcp123]

Originally Posted by speedjerk

I've learned also that the OHV V8 is a much newer technology than the DOHC engine. DOHC came out in the 20's and the OHV V8 was debuted in the mid 50's. Research Duesenberg.

That's not entirely accurate...Chevrolet, for instance, had an OHV V8 in 1917, and Cadillac's vaunted V16 motor of the 30's, for instance, was an OHV design. As a design, flatheads, F-heads, OHV's, SOHC's, and DOHC's are roughly the same age, all dating from the automobile's stone age. OHV motors didn't become popular in the US until Oldsmobile debuted their (then)high-compression, high-revving oversquare 303ci Rocket Eight in 1949 (along with Cadillac's 331ci) - leading to the 50's when, as you say, most manufacturers debuted their own OHV designs. DOHC's were popular as early as the 1930's for racing, but didn't catch on until the late 1980's or 1990's in most production cars due to cost and complexity.