Best Engines Ever Built By Ford

This Car News Central compilation set out to rank Ford’s greatest engines ever built — and immediately triggered one of the most detailed comment-section debates of any video like it, with fans defending everything from the humble 300 inline-six to the 427 SOHC Cammer. One commenter even claimed a little-known 4.2-liter Fairlane V8 once beat Ferrari. Watch the list, then see how many corrections it inspired.

Ask ten Ford fans to name the best engine the company ever built and you will get eleven answers, at least two arguments, and probably someone bringing up an engine that is not even from a muscle car. That is exactly what happened under this compilation ranking Ford’s greatest engines — the video sparked one of the most detailed, technical comment debates on the whole channel, with viewers correcting the list almost paragraph by paragraph. So which Ford engine actually deserves the crown, and why could not anyone agree?

A List That Immediately Started a Fight

Car News Central built this video as a straightforward best-of compilation ranking Ford’s most celebrated engines, the kind of format that works well for quick viewing but almost guarantees an avalanche of corrections in the comments from people who know the platform intimately. That is precisely what happened here — the reaction section reads less like casual praise and more like a peer review from Ford loyalists.

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The Workhorse Everyone Forgot to Praise

One name that came up repeatedly was not a big block or a high-revving performance mill at all — it was Ford’s humble 300-cubic-inch inline six. Multiple commenters independently called it one of the most reliable gas engines Ford ever produced, with one writer noting it is bulletproof and delivers good mileage to boot, a reminder that raw durability earns just as much respect among Ford diehards as outright horsepower. Others chimed in defending the Coyote, the Voodoo, and the 5.4-liter modular family as unfairly left off the list entirely, arguing that any credible ranking of Fords best engines has to account for the modern era, not just the carbureted decades most compilation videos default to.

The Muscle Car Classics Nobody Disputed

Predictably, the muscle car era engines drew plenty of love too, particularly the 351 Boss and 428 Cobra Jet. One commenter recalled the Boss 351 running low-12-second quarter miles when they are running good, while another said their family currently owns a 428-powered stepside, a 429-powered Bronco, and is actively building a 351 Boss for a 1967 Mustang — a household that is apparently all-in on Ford performance across three different builds at once.

A Modern V8 That Split the Room

Not every engine mentioned in the comments came from a muscle car at all. One viewer argued the 4.6-liter modular V8 deserved a spot on the list purely on the strength of its balance of fuel economy, power, and reliability, even though it never carried the outlaw reputation of a big block. Another pushed back specifically for the 4.6 Terminator Cobra from the 2003-2004 model years, pointing out Ford’s decision to use a steel block instead of aluminum proved unexpectedly durable under heavy boost.

The Engine That Reportedly Beat Ferrari

Perhaps the most surprising claim in the comments involved a comparatively obscure engine: the 4.2-liter Fairlane V8, which one commenter said brought Ferrari to their knees, a reference to Ford’s storied rivalry with the Italian brand during the 1960s. It is the kind of claim that sends casual viewers straight to a search engine, and it is exactly the sort of detail a simple best-of compilation rarely has room to unpack.

Diesel and Turbo Fans Crashed the Party Too

The debate did not stay confined to gas-powered muscle either. Diesel fans jumped in defending the 7.3 Powerstroke as the true engine of choice for reliability, while another commenter brought up Ford’s modern Barra turbocharged inline-six, claiming it can handle 1,200 horsepower with no trouble at all — proof that Ford’s engine reputation extends well past its muscle car glory years and into modern performance and heavy-duty territory alike.

The Engine Banned Before It Could Prove Itself

The 427 SOHC Cammer that one commenter singled out as deserving a spot on the list has its own famous backstory: Ford developed it specifically to compete with Chrysler’s 426 Hemi, only for NASCAR to effectively ban it from competition before it ever got the chance to prove itself on track. That kind of what-could-have-been history is exactly the sort of detail serious Ford fans bring up whenever a compilation like this one tries to summarize decades of engineering in a few minutes.

Why Ranking Videos Always Go Viral in the Comments

Compilation channels like Car News Central have built entire audiences around exactly this format — rankings, countdowns, and best-of lists that are cheap to produce but reliably pull in strong engagement, precisely because viewers cannot resist correcting a list they disagree with. Whether that is a flaw or a feature depends on your perspective, but judging by the length and detail of the comments here, it is clearly working.

The Underrated Big Block Even Ford Fans Forget

One of the most detailed comments buried in the thread made a case for an engine most viewers had probably never considered: the 460-cubic-inch big block, as used in late-1960s Lincolns and later marine applications. The commenter described Berkley jet boat pumps relying on the 460 and Oldsmobiles 455 almost exclusively for decades because of their durability under constant wide-open-throttle use, and noted a 10.5-to-1 compression Lincoln variant was rated at a conservative 365 horsepower that could reportedly outrun far more aggressive-looking performance cars of its day. That kind of niche application knowledge rarely shows up in a mainstream ranking video, and it is exactly the sort of detail that separates a passing fan from someone who has actually turned wrenches on these engines for a living.

Why This Argument Will Never Actually End

Even the flathead V8 got its moment, with one commenter praising a hemi-head OHV conversion on an early flathead as genuinely sexy — a phrase not often applied to 1930s engineering. Between the inline sixes, the big blocks, the modulars, and the diesels, this comment section proved something the video’s title alone could not: there is no single best Ford engine, just decades of arguments waiting for the right video to reignite them, and this one clearly did its job. If nothing else, the comment section under this video did more to catalog Ford engineering history than the ranking itself ever attempted, one heated correction at a time.

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