why do american V8's sound different from ferrari's V8's?

Engine design philosophy.

American V8's are large displacement low-rev engines. Typical displacement, 5.0L or larger.

EX: Chevy Corvette 1970's, L48 engine, 5.7L

Italian V8's are small displacement high-rev engines. Typical displacement: 2-3L or so.

EX: Ferrari GT4 208/308's

Ferrari cars with V8's use a flat plane crankshaft which varies the spacing between firing strokes from that of an even firing North American V8.

That plus the fact that the Ferrari engines are virtually tuned to racing spec.

Red is right plus muffler styles. Ferrari's are preformance cars trucks and SUVs have quiet mufflers. And ferrari's are made with much more care and put together by hand unlike American cars

The are quite a few problems with " Beelzebub " answer is misguided & thoroughly stupid, yet another is the wide-unfold public of questions responded via human beings on Yahoo solutions (and the internet for that be counted) are frequently sarcastic reaction's you get from a sensible mouthed 13yr old attempting to be humorous. i will would desire to respond to this in 2 areas (area a million) The are quite a few aspects they sound distinctive yet the two substantial real reasons "supercars" with V8 engines sound distinctive then American V8's would desire to do with the crank shaft variety and the firing order.On autos like Ferrari's & Lamborghini the have what's called a "flatplane" crank the place an American V8 like LS from a Corvette has a "circulate airplane" crank. i will attempt to make this area basic while a motor vehicle's engine is working every time it hearth's there's a pulse on a motor vehicle like a Ferrari it may be like "dot,dot,dot,dot,dot,dot,dot,dot" very delicate and rythmic (to no longer say American V8's are not undesirable or delicate, in simple terms distinctive ) and maintains on that development. (persevered partly 2).

Emissions standards are different.

My neighbor's 355 GTB sounds like a vacuum cleaner btw.

Difference in displacement and how the valving is setup to open and close.