One Week With: 2017 Ford Shelby GT350 Mustang

The flat-plane crank spinning behind this Shelby GT350’s grille let Ford chase an 8,250-rpm redline and a shriek that sounds nothing like a normal American V8. Hand-built on a dedicated line at the Romeo Engine Plant, the Voodoo engine became the longest-stroke flat-plane V8 ever mass-produced — and then Ford stopped building it.

The flat-plane crankshaft in the 2017 Ford Shelby GT350 is about as big around as, oh, Dwayne Johnsonâ€™s bicep. Itâ€™s therefore somewhat terrifying to realize that, as the tach needle swings skyward and the exhaust note is shrieking and the car is trembling and that giant crank is whirling around mere inches in front of you at 6,000 rpm, youâ€™ve still gotÂ 2,000 rpmÂ leftÂ to go.

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That giant flat crank spinning inches from the driver’s seat isn’t just a party trick — it’s part of an engineering gamble Ford almost didn’t get to keep. Building a road-legal V8 that revs past 8,000 rpm meant fighting factory tolerances, emissions rules, and cost sheets that usually kill ideas like this one. Ford’s engineers won that fight for a few short years, and enthusiasts are still arguing over how much longer the fight should have lasted. Here’s what actually went into the engine screaming behind that Mustang badge — and why so many considered it gone too soon.

The Engine That Rewired the American V8 Sound

Ford’s 5.2-liter “Voodoo” V8 used a flat-plane crankshaft, a design more commonly found in Ferraris than in Mustangs, placing four crank throws directly opposite the other four rather than the traditional 90-degree American V8 layout. That change trims rotating mass, letting the engine spin to a factory-rated 8,250 rpm redline while producing 526 horsepower and 429 lb-ft of torque. It also changes the exhaust note entirely, swapping the familiar V8 rumble for a higher-pitched, almost exotic shriek that either delighted or unsettled anyone standing nearby.

Built by Hand, Retired Too Soon

Each Voodoo engine was assembled by two-person teams on a dedicated “Niche Line” at Ford’s Romeo Engine Plant, a level of hand-assembly rare for a mass-produced American engine. It powered the GT350 and GT350R from 2016 through 2020, becoming the longest-stroke flat-plane crank engine ever put into series production before Ford quietly let it go. Owners and tuners still treat surviving examples as something closer to a limited-run specialty engine than a garden-variety Mustang V8.

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