Ford’s Bizarre Shelby GT350 Prototype Was Never a New Big-Block Mustang (Sad Face)
Ford was actually using this Shelby GT350 prototype to develop new 7.3L V8 Godzilla aftermarket parts for your next swap project.
Ford has been selling its beloved 7.3-liter Godzilla V8 in crate engine form for some time now, and currently offers that powerplant as part of a comprehensive package that comes with just about everything one needs to swap the motor in just about anything. That includes a full control pack and even the same 10R140 transmission that it’s mated to in the Super Duty, in fact. But Ford continues to develop new parts for the Godzilla that will accommodate even more projects, and that’s precisely what lurks under the hood of this very strange Shelby GT350 prototype.
This particular Shelby GT350 prototype was originally spotted this past spring, and stood out like a sore thumb thanks to its strange and massive hood scoop. Many believed that the car was a powertrain testbed for the forthcoming S650 Mustang, but as YouTuber REVan Evan recently discovered, that isn’t the case at all. Rather, this car is being used as a testbed for some new Godzilla parts destined for the Ford Performance catalog.
According to Ford, the automaker had this GT350 “laying around,” and it wanted to develop a new manual transmission control pack and engine crate combination, which sounds like a whole heck of a lot of fun to us. The fact that Ford stuffed a Godzilla in a Mustang is sure to excite a lot of folks that would love to see this combination in production form, but that doesn’t appear to be the case, sadly.
Regardless, the whole point of this exercise is Ford continues to work to make the Godzilla fit in just about anything, which is possible thanks to its compact external size. It isn’t nearly as wide as the Coyote, thanks to the fact that it’s a more traditional single-cam pushrod engine, making it suitable for a broad range of applications ranging from vintage Ford pickups to Fox Body pony cars and everything in between.
In fact, in this video, Ford also reveals that it’s working on developing a new intake manifold for the Godzilla V8 that replaces the upswept throttle neck present on the current version, which is what necessitated the use of this ridiculous hood. That way, the powerplant will fit in an even wider range of vehicles without having to resort to silly, attention-grabbing modifications like that.
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