If you gave me a wrecked Lincoln Continental, a gas V10 engine from a Ford F-250, and a pile of Mustang cylinder heads, it would still look like a pile of scraps after nearly three years of work, but the two guys behind the Build It Yourself YouTube channel have managed to build a working, running, and driving car. Their goal when this project started in July of 2022 was to build an American super sedan that Ford never could, and do it using mostly Ford parts. There are still some fit and finish issues to work out, but their success is evident. This rear-wheel-drive converted Continental is now powered by a home-built four-valves-per-cylinder V10 shifted through a manual transmission out of a Mustang GT500, and it’s all kinds of awesome.
It seems like most of this project has been just getting the engine built that Ford never had the commitment to push into production. Ford’s truck V10 is based on the same modular architecture as the 4.6-liter V8 found in all manner of Mustangs and Explorers, but while Ford engineers had access to a 4V version for its concept cars and backroom builds, it was never released to the public. These dudes managed to hack together enough 4V Mustang GT cylinder heads to make their own 4V V10 cylinder heads in their backyard, and design their own set of camshafts to operate the whole thing. And that’s before you get to the custom-fabbed headers, driveshaft, transmission tunnel, firewall, air suspension, differential mounts, and intake manifold.
Dedicated to the cause
The backbone of American hot rodding is built around genius dorks like this who build an answer to the question nobody was asking, but damn I’m glad they did it. If you want something bad enough, you can theoretically build it yourself with enough time, money, and know-how. There’s nothing like this on the market anywhere in the world, save maybe Toyota’s V12 Century, or a couple of German super sedans, but certainly nothing with a manual transmission or as American-style rowdy. If you can dream it, you can make it.
I look forward to seeing how this build concludes when the bodywork and interior are finished, but I’m already completely and totally impressed by the skill shown here. This is the kind of thing a giant YouTube channel would have thrown six engineers and a million dollars at, but these two dudes just developed the whole thing themselves in their home garage. It can’t be stated enough how smart and talented these kids are. Go subscribe to their channel right now, because they deserve a billion followers.