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The 1957 Thunderbird could be ordered with a McCulloch-Paxton supercharger and up to 340 horsepower, which made it the fastest and most desirable two-seater Ford had ever sold. It was also the last. Robert McNamara had already decided what the 1958 car would be, and the styling department drew the entire thing before a single engineer was consulted. Read on to find out why the decision that infuriated the faithful turned out to be right.
Ford’s 1962 Thunderbird Sports Roadster used a clever fiberglass tonneau cover to disguise a genuine four-seat convertible as a two-seat sports car, right down to spoke wire wheels and special fender badges. Check the right option box and Ford would add Tri-Power carburetion to the 390 V8, bumping output to a genuine 340 horsepower — but only 120 buyers ever did, out of 1,427 Sports Roadsters built that year. Historians estimate barely 40 of those M-code cars survive today, making this one of the rarest factory options of the entire early Thunderbird generation.
Ford’s Y-block V8 got its nickname from its own silhouette, but it carried a hidden oiling flaw that could quietly destroy an engine from the inside, one that Ford’s own racing program solved years before the factory did. Despite the flaw, and a hard displacement ceiling nobody could engineer around, the Y-block gave Ford a real advantage over Chevrolet for three straight years. Read on to find out how the fix worked and where the engine’s limits finally showed up.
This 1964 Mercury Monterey wears the Marauder name, but that badge meant three different cars and two different engines that year, and only one combination makes this survivor genuinely special. Its FE-series 390 has reportedly never been rebuilt or swapped in six decades of ownership, a rarity among full-size 1960s Mercurys that mostly got driven hard and scrapped. Read on to find out which version of the Marauder package is actually hiding under this hood, and why full-size Mercury collectors still consider it one of the era’s best-kept values.
Two months before any other Ford product carried it, the FE V8 made its debut in the unlikeliest of cars: the all-new 1958 Edsel. From there it split into truck duty, police-package cruisers, and factory tri-power setups shipped loose in the trunk, before a redesigned block gave rise to the short-lived but influential 406. Read on to find out how a workhorse engine family quietly built the foundation for Ford’s most feared big-blocks.
In 1958 Ford launched three entirely new V8 engine families in a single year, named after the divisions they were built to serve: MEL for Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln, FE for Ford-Edsel, and FT for Ford-Truck. They shared oiling systems and bolt patterns but arranged their valves in opposite order, a detail that tells you almost everything about how they were designed. Read on for part one of three, covering how these engines were built and why they lasted until 1976.
Ford built the 428 Cobra Jet to solve a problem the 427 couldn’t: it was cheaper and easier to manufacture, yet nearly as powerful. Officially rated at just 335 horsepower to dodge rising insurance premiums, the CJ actually made over 400 with a hood scoop, and it proved it by winning the Super Stock Eliminator title at its competitive debut at the 1968 NHRA Winternationals — months before it even reached dealers. A Super Cobra Jet variant followed with quiet internal upgrades built for durability. Read on for the full story of Ford’s most underrated engine.
Ford built the FE 427 Cammer to solve one problem: Chrysler’s 426 Hemi was dominating NASCAR, and a conventional block wasn’t going to catch it. The side-oiler engine replaced a normal camshaft with an idler shaft and a six-foot timing chain driving twin overhead cams, hollow sodium-filled exhaust valves, and a hemispherical combustion chamber Ford couldn’t even call a Hemi because Chrysler owned the name. Sold as a crate engine in 1968, the dual-carb version made 657 horsepower for $2,350. Read on for how Ford’s FE family evolved from Mercury’s 410 to this NASCAR-killer.
Ford’s FE and FT V8 family wore more names than almost any engine Detroit ever built — Marauder, Interceptor, Thunderbird Special V8 — depending on the badge on the fender and the year on the title. This first installment breaks down the block architecture, oiling designs, and riser-head terminology that confuses even experienced Ford collectors, tracing the family from its earliest 332 and 352 cubic inch beginnings. Read on for the specs that matter before your next FE rebuild.
Ford’s FE V8 powered nearly every brand in the lineup for eighteen years, from Fairlanes and Mustangs to the AC Cobra and the purpose-built Thunderbolt drag car, while NASCAR homologation rules forced Ford to keep pace on the street. A side-oiler fix born on the race track, industrial and marine applications, and a still-thriving aftermarket kept the engine relevant decades after Ford stopped building it. Read on to find out what actually separates an FE from its heavy-duty FT cousin.
A 1970 Ford F-100 Ranger XLT was built to be the comfortable one, the half ton pickup for buyers who wanted brightwork and better seats on top of hauling capability. So a 428 Cobra Jet badge on the fender raises an immediate question, because Ford never offered that engine in a truck. Here is why the swap works so cleanly, what the Cobra Jet actually produced, and why this generation of F-Series became such fertile ground for sleeper builds.