Secret V10 Ford Mustang Boss 351 Project Surfaces
The Ford Mustang is the last V8-powered pony car standing, but you almost could’ve had a V10.
Engineers at the Ford Research and Advanced Engines group in 1999 wanted to see how far they could push the Mustang and built one with a V10 engine.
The car was a mule that was used during the development of the 2000 Mustang SVT Cobra R, but the engine had to be built from scratch.
An original plan to stuff Ford’s 6.8-liter Triton V10 into it, but it didn’t fit, so they designed a new one by adding two cylinders to the modular 4.6-liter V8 to create a 5.8-liter, or 351-cubic-inch 10-cylinder.
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The naturally aspirated engine was rated at 426 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque in an era when the 4.6-liter was rated at 320 hp and 317 lb-ft and the Dodge Viper’s 8.0-liter V10 cranked out 450 hp and 490 lb-ft. The power was sent through a six-speed manual to a 9-inch rear and was good for an 11-second quarter-mile.
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Ford called it the Mustang Boss 351, but only the one car was ever built and still exists and is part of the newly curated Ford Heritage Fleet of historic vehicles, which includes hundreds of milestone production cars, concepts and projects like the Mustang Boss 351.
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The 2000 Mustang SVT Cobra R was limited to 300 cars.
The Mustang Boss 351 is one of 50 cars that Ford has put on display at its headquarters in Dearborn for its employees and invited visitors to check out through the end of the year. Alongside it can be found the first of the 300 Mustang SVT Cobra Rs that were built and equipped with a 5.5-liter V8 rated at 385 hp and 385 lb-ft, which isn’t too shabby for being down two cylinders.