Origin of 'Straight 8' name

[ben]

On 12/21/2018 11:37 AM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
> Back in the first half the 20th century, there were various
> configurations of 8-cylinder internal combustion engines.
> 
> We're all familiar with the V-8, but there were inline 8-cylinder
> designs used primarily on luxury cars, making for a wonderfully long
> engine compartment.  Cord, Buick, Packard, Chrysler and Oldsmobile all
> offered the "straight 8" on their high-end models.  Those were called
> "straight-eights", I suspect because of the attractiveness of rhyming
> name. "Straight 8" configuration was also used on some aircraft as well.
> 
> I suspect the name for the early PDP-8 is just a convenient adaptation
> of a once well-known automotive term, much like "V-8".
> 
> For what it's worth, Ford experimented with an X-8 configuration as
> well, but never put it into production.
> 
> --Chuck
> 

Now I got a stupid image of the newer models adding 6 bits on every
other clock phase for a faster cpu.