AEC’s V8 engine, introduced in 1968, wasn’t as successful as first hoped. What began as a promising venture to secure AEC’s future ended up having the opposite effect and is thought to have played a part in the company’s demise. Its shortcomings were blamed on inadequate development resulting from parent company Leyland’s pressure to begin production before a full test programme could be completed.
Some commentators even suggested that Leyland might have knowingly obstructed the project, preferring to promote their own `Power Plus’ 680 engine. Ironically, by all accounts, the ill-fated AEC ‘800 series’ V8 diesels were impressive performers. Impressive, that is, when they were running -all too often they ended up in the repair shop. If they completed more than 50,000 miles without a major overhaul, that was considered some achievement.
AEC engineers foresaw the need for higher-power diesels back in the early 1960s, before the 1962 merger with Leyland Motors. They were very forward thinking and, in principle, the V8 power unit was the perfect answer for the
