[King T]

A one-off car that was made utilizing the X-8 engine

1935 Hoffman X-8










Roscoe C. (Rod) Hoffman graduated from Purdue University in 1911 with a degree in mechanical engineering. In 1934, he started a company called Hoffman Motor Developments based in Detroit, Michigan. He was an independent engineering who was well connected in the automobile industry. His resume may have included work for GM, Studebaker and Packard. At around the age of 47, he began work on a special project - a car now called the Hoffman X-8.

Among the Packards, Ferraris, and Cobras on the lawn at the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours, there were some wonderful oddballs. One such car was the 1935 Hoffman X-8 that Myron Vernis of Akron, Ohio, brought with him to the Pebble Beach lawn. During the concours dozens of people could be seen reaching for their programs to search for information on the Hoffman X-8.

From the front, its shield-shaped grill and headlights give the little car a striking, art-deco appeal. In profile and from behind, it looks a bit like a two-thirds scale Tatra. Like the Czech car it was a novel approach to car-building for its time. It's a steel unibody car, and its engine is mounted behind the passenger compartment, just like a Tatra. Unlike the Hans Ledwinka's creation, however, the X-8's engine is mounted in front of the rear axle, making it a mid-engine car.

The Hoffman X-8 was given a 115 inch wheelbase, 181.35 overall length, and weighed around 3100 lbs. It had an all-steel unitized body and frame with honeycomb floor perimeter strengthening members. Up front is a tubular front axle, front transverse leaf springs, front trailing arms and tube shocks. In the back was a fully independent half shafts with Cardan joints at each end, plus longitudinal leaf springs and trailing arms. However the car came about, it is an absolute marvel of futuristic automotive engineering ca 1932-5. Built with an all-steel unit body construction, independent suspension, this car is powered by an X8 engine that had eight cylinders arranged in an X configuration. The X-8 engine is the true marvel of the car. Water cooled with overhead valves and twin cams, it is almost assuredly the only car ever built around an X configuration engine. The engine cylinder powerplant is approximately 170 cubic-inches, and puts out 75 hp. The entire car is a true one-off.

The X-8 is powered by—you guessed it--an X-8 engine with eight cylinders, arranged in an X configuration. Henry Ford experimented with X-8 engines but the one in this car is a unique design. While Ford's X-8's were air-cooled flatheads, this car's engine has overhead cams and it's water-cooled.

The X-8 was built as a prototype by an inventor named Roscoe C. Hoffman of Detroit. It's unclear which carmaker it was intended for, but Vernis believes that either the Fisher brothers or Henry Ford funded the project.

In 1961, Hoffman gave the car to Brooks Stevens as a gift and it remained in the famed designer's museum even after his death in 1995. Stevens' son, David Stevens was on hand with Vernis, eagerly assisting him in explaining just exactly what the X-8 was and what it was doing on the lawn at the most prestigious car show in the world.