if ur going to tell the history of the Chevy V8 then lets tell ALL of it,
from the 2nd paragraph here's a little more history on the Chevy V8 & 6's
Chevy's first V-8 engine was released in 1917. The 90-degree overhead-valve design debuted in the D-series, the last of the original long wheelbase cars. The eight-cylinder lasted only two years, as Chevrolet dropped these "large" power plants to develop four-cylinder versions. It would be 1929 before a six cylinder reappeared, and a V-8 wouldn't be available again until the introduction of the legendary small-block in 1955, 36 years later