If there's a good reason, problems can be overcome; that's what engineers are for. But what is the point? "Because it's neat" won't usually fly unless there's a fad among the wealthy...
My point exactly. There ought to be a market sizeable enough to keep the straight eights produced and developed, and that means some kind of conspicuous consumption subtly different from OTL, prizing the 'stately' cars over the sports and muscle ones.