I had never heard of Barney Roos until I read about him in the Feb. Hemmings Classic Car. Here's an excerpt I found interesting, and thought you all might as well:
During his Indianapolis interlude, Roos worked the Locomobile magic again by replacing the aged Marmon six with a physically small straight-eight that had very similar overhead valve architecture to the Locomobile engine. By the time his creation hit the dealerships, Roos was gone again, this time to Studebaker, were he became the sole member of the engineering staff who refused to buckle to Pres. Albert R. Erskine's incessant bullying and verbal blowups. He stood up for his peers. He also created an even better straight-eight: the nine-bearing Studebaker President, an acclaimed powerplant.
Erskine had been trying to plug in unsuccessful cheap car that he'd immodestly name for himself. It flopped, but the car that replaced it, the Rockne – named for the South Bend gridiron God – boasted a Roos-designed L head straight six that lived on in Studebaker trucks until an overhead valve six came along in 1961.
During his Indianapolis interlude, Roos worked the Locomobile magic again by replacing the aged Marmon six with a physically small straight-eight that had very similar overhead valve architecture to the Locomobile engine. By the time his creation hit the dealerships, Roos was gone again, this time to Studebaker, were he became the sole member of the engineering staff who refused to buckle to Pres. Albert R. Erskine's incessant bullying and verbal blowups. He stood up for his peers. He also created an even better straight-eight: the nine-bearing Studebaker President, an acclaimed powerplant.
Erskine had been trying to plug in unsuccessful cheap car that he'd immodestly name for himself. It flopped, but the car that replaced it, the Rockne – named for the South Bend gridiron God – boasted a Roos-designed L head straight six that lived on in Studebaker trucks until an overhead valve six came along in 1961.
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