Woah, Someone Is Selling What Appears To Be One Of Ford’s Mythical Dual-Overhead Cam Prototype V10s As A Crate Motor On Facebook

Ford is well-known for its line of incredible V8 engines, but once upon a time, it nearly started using V10s in its performance vehicles. In the early 2000s, a secret prototype engine from a small division in Ford spawned one of the coolest engines to come from the brand, even if it only appeared in a handful of concept cars.

You might be familiar with Ford’s “Triton” V10, a 6.8-liter workhorse with single overhead cams designed for truck use, including towing and hauling. While some believe Ford’s mythical dual-overhead cam V10 engine used the Triton as a base, that’s simply not true. While the V10 was an inspiration for the project, these prototype engines didn’t share a block structure.

Despite the cool noises and notable advantages over comparably sized V10s, Ford never put the engine into production. Reportedly, just four prototypes were built, making them basically unobtainium. Yet somehow, there’s a guy on Facebook claiming to be selling one right now.

The Origins Of The DOHC V10

Ford’s hot V10 can be traced back to the turn of the century, when the company was first coming up with ideas for powering its then-new supercar, the GT. If you’re familiar with that car, you’ll know it eventually ended up with a supercharged V8 mounted behind the cabin. But at one point, management was considering up to four different types of powertrains. I’ll let Ford engineer Chris Theodore explain. From an excerpt from his book, published in Hemmings:

Back in the early days of the Ford GT, I called together guys from the Petunia skunkworks, SVT, Ford Racing, and Advanced Powertrain to discuss engine alternatives. There were four factions: One wanted a small displacement high-revving motor like a Ferrari V-8; another wanted twin turbos; a third pushed for a supercharged Mod V-8, like in the SVT Lightning; and I had suggested a large displacement V-10. I could see a horsepower war brewing, and a V-10 would allow us to supercharge or turbocharge it in the years ahead. The naturally-aspirated version would also be lighter and permit a lower center of gravity (Cg) than a supercharged V-8.

The high-revving engine option was put to rest when I told the guys we needed at least 500 horsepower and 500 lb/ft of torque. Turbocharging would have been a thermal challenge to execute in a mid-engine car in such a short time frame. Finally, Coletti convinced me that the only way Petunia could meet its timing objective was if we used the Lightning motors as surrogates in the Ford GT “workhorse” vehicles. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, the Advanced Powertrain team went off and built a V-10.

This V10 was not sanctioned by any upper management, according to Kevin Byrd, an engineer on the Advanced Powertrain team who spoke with Hot Rod back in 2018:

“We did the V10 to inspire the company to get into the supercar segment, to compete with the Viper and Corvette,” said Byrd, Research and Advanced Engines, Technical expert for engine architecture and design concepts and Supervisor for CAD and CAE. “Another part of the company was doing the Ford GT, but it was not publicized, even within the company at the time. We hoped the two [V10 and Ford GT] could merge.”

[…]

“We really didn’t have budget to do a project like this,” he added. “It was a grass-roots deal, and it came from the bottom up, not the top down.” If you recall, Ford didn’t have a supercar like the Dodge Viper, and in order to build one, Byrd and the team recognized that Ford would first need a supercar engine, so they set out to create something one.

The Advanced Powertrain team considered using the normal Triton V10 as a base, but its 5.4-liter deck height meant it was too tall to fit under the hood of a New Edge Mustang, the car they planned to use as a mule to test the powertrain. Instead, the team used the SVT Cobra’s 4.6-liter, all-aluminum V8 as a base, adding two extra cylinders. The head design, similarly, used DOHC units from the Cobra R, according to Hot Rod, with Cobra R cams.

The result was a 5.8-liter—or 351 cubic inch—engine that, according to MotorTrend, made 426 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque on its first run of a dyno.

Where Did These Engines Go?

As I mentioned earlier, the Advanced Powertrain folks decided that a New Edge Mustang was the ideal testbed to showcase the V10’s advantages. The car was a silver model that, aside from a humorous “Boss 351” badge on the rear trunklid, looked totally stock on the outside. It was only when you either popped the hood or cracked the throttle that you could tell something was different. I’ve probably watched this 18-year-old YouTube video showing the car doing a burnout a few dozen times over the course of my life:

Proud of their creation, the Advanced Powertrain department went straight to Theodore to see what he thought. By the time the V10 was ready, the GT project was already too far along. But the V10 wasn’t going to die quietly. From that Hemmings excerpt:

Greg Coleman and Kevin Byrd called me one day and asked if I wanted to take a ride in a hot Mustang. Of course I did, not suspecting what was under the hood. Performance was phenomenal, but it was too late to disrupt the Ford GT program, even though the V-10 engine would have fit. Mays and I decided to put it in the 2003 “427” sedan concept – we fibbed a bit about displacement! I called Greg and said we needed another V-10. “Just write the check for the parts!” he replied.

The 427 concept was first shown in 2003, and looked like a cross between the first-generation Ford Fusion (which hadn’t yet debuted) and a Bentley Continental Flying Spur. It had a stately shape and wore an all-black paint job, with its massive hood hiding that experimental V10 underneath.

The next car to get a prototype V10 was the last true Shelby Cobra, a concept vehicle built in 2004 as a feasibility study. Matt did a deep dive on this car a few years back after it was purchased by Autopian co-founder Beau Boeckmann; I highly recommend reading it. While the original engine was 5.8 liters, and the 427 concept got a 7.0-liter version, this one was limited to 6.5 liters, making 605 horsepower.

The final car to get a racy Ford V10 was the Shelby GR-1 concept, a sort of modern take on the Daytona, aimed directly at the likes of the Dodge Viper. It was first shown to the public at the 2005 North American International Auto Show in Detroit as a fully functional prototype. The version of this V10 displaced 6.4 liters, and made 597 horsepower.

This Engine For Sale

While browsing Facebook this morning, I came across a post by Dan Schoneck, co-founder of Schoneck Composites, a Minnesota-based fabrication shop that specializes in production body panels for Mustang drag cars. The post lists four engines for sale, one of which, according to him, is a dual-overhead cam Ford V10 with a custom Roush intake.

Seeing as how just four of these hot V10s were reported to have been built, and all four made their way into concept cars, it’s unclear where and when Schoneck got hold of this engine. The V10 Mustang test mule, the 427 concept, and the GR-1 concept are all currently sitting in Ford’s Heritage Vault in Michigan (another GR-1 was sold at auction back in 2011, but it was a design buck with no drivetrain or interior, so it never had an engine to begin with). Meanwhile, the Cobra concept from ’04 is in Beau’s collection. So theoretically, all four engines are accounted for.

It’s very possible Ford built more of these V10s for testing or other purposes, and this is one of them. Schoneck claims his engine displaces 6.8 liters, which is more than any of the previously known prototype engines. When I reached out to him, he told me only that he purchased the engine off Facebook Marketplace, and didn’t ask the previous owner where they got it from. I’ve also reached out to Ford to see if the company can provide any more details.

While it seems unlikely, it’s also possible this is a custom engine built by someone outside Ford. Those who spend a lot of time on the internet will know of the Build It Yourself YouTube channel, a team of two engineers who decided to build a dual-overhead cam Ford V10 of their own and swap it into a modern Lincoln Continental. Here’s a video of that car ripping a burnout:

Original or not, a Ford Modular V10 with dual-overhead cams is still a unicorn. Going by the singular photo, this one looks to be in complete condition and ready to swap into a project of your choosing (so long as there isn’t a hole in the block on the other side). With an asking price of around one 2026 Mazda MX-5 Miata Club ($35,000), it’s certainly not cheap. Nonetheless, that’s a relatively low price to pay for a truly rare piece of Ford engine history.

Top graphic images: Ford; Dan Schoneck on Facebook