Wrong Bill Americans were driving front wheel drive cars since 1966 The Oldsmobile Toronado, which reintroduced front-drive to the U.S. market in 1966, also used a longitudinal engine placement for its V-8, coupled with an unusual "split" transmission, which turned the engine power 90 degrees. The driveline was set well behind the centerpoint of the wheels, however, for better weight distribution. (Consequently, it was sometimes called the Mafia car, because it was "all hood").
The Cadillac Eldorado, with front wheel drive introduced in 1967, holds the record for the largest engine in a front wheel drive production vehicle, at
8.2 liters (The 1970 edition). The Cadillac Eldorado continued to be the only front wheel drive offering from Cadillac until 1980, when the front wheel drive Cadillac Seville was introduced. Reasons cited for the enormous engine are smoothness due to the inertia of the engine soaking up much of the vibration caused by low milling tolerances of the era, resulting in a very smooth ride.The changeover of cars in the US to front wheel drive began in earnest in the 1980s, with the introduction of the compact Chevrolet Citation probably marking the real beginning, and the 1986 introduction of the Ford Taurus bringing front wheel drive to prominence in mid-size cars. By the mid 1980s most formerly rear wheel drive Japanese models were front wheel drive, and by the mid 1990s most American brands only sold a handful of rear wheel drive models. Some suggest that the introduction of the Volkswagen Rabbit in
1974 led to Detroit's Big Three to market the FF layout; Chrysler's vehicle lineup was 100% FF by decade's end. GM followed Chrysler in the mid-1990s when their vehicle lineup was FF (with the exception of the Corvette and F-body lineup).The vast majority of front wheel drive vehicles today use the transversely mounted engine with "end-on" mounted transmission, driving the front wheels via driveshafts linked via Constant Velocity (CV) joints. This configuration was made popular by the Fiat 128 of 1969. The 1959 Mini, while a pioneering transverse front wheel drive vehicle, used a substantially different arrangement with the transmission in the sump of the engine.