The 2020 Shelby GT500 might be the most "Ford" car of all time, packing a lot of cutting-edge technology in a package that's part hammer, part drill. However, this is by no means the strangest tool crafted by the American automaker.
We're going "Down Under" for this one. Everybody knows about the Holden Commodore Maloo power utes, but Australia also had the Ford Falcon utility. This was a sports "pickup" based on a sedan and came with a variety of performance engines.
There's the FPV GS and the XR8, which had V8 engines. But the Falcon ute is also famous for some six-cylinder powertrains. Yes, unlike with the Mustang, they got downsizing right.
Now, we're not experts in these Australian-made cars, which went out of production a few years ago. But this rendering by 3D artist Rostislav Prokop was just too cool, plus it gave us an opportunity to talk about the "Barra" engine.
The Barra is the nickname (after a fish) of the Australian-made Ford 4-liter straight-six. It's been steadily growing in popularity as a swap powertrain because of its durability. Factory outputs ranged from about 200 horsepower to 430 horsepower in the limited-edition XR6 Turbo. The crazy thing is somebody has already put one of those in the Mustang GT350.
Despite being loosely related to American straight-6 truck engines, the Barra is modern. It has DOHC with four valves per cylinder. Australian tuners have managed to push it well past the 1,000 horsepower mark. However, the Shelby GT500 is not a slouch either.
The all-new pony packs a supercharged 5.2L V8 pumping out 760hp and 625 lb-ft of torque. The all-mighty Ford packs a suitable price of about $92,000 with the carbon fiber track pack, so it's not exactly utility truck material. However, the appeal of this combination is undeniably there.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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