Today, we remember the five-liter V8 from the Ford Mustang of the ’80s and ’90s because of its mainstream popularity, the car it powered, and possibly a little pop culture help from Vanilla Ice. We remember the Chevrolet 454 V8 engine for its combination of displacement and output superiority, and the range of must-have models it powered. We remember early air-cooled Porsche flat-six engines and the rotary engines of the Mazda RX7 and RX8 for being outliers, oddities, and marking a technological shift away from the mainstream. Other engines become memorable because of consumer revolt, aftermarket tuning capabilities, and feats of output, sound effects, and extremely high revs.
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