Ford’s Heritage Fleet Keeps The V10 Mustang Dream Alive

For a run in the 1990s and 2000s, Ford’s engineers built a wide range of amazing prototypes, demonstrators, and show vehicles that were often far more alluring than the production machines that hit dealer lots. From an SVT Lightning V8-powered Ranger to the vaunted Boss 429-powered SN-95 Cobra, there were some impressive machines born in the Blue Oval skunkworks. One such example is a one-of-one V10-powered New Edge Mustang, which still lives on as part of the Ford Heritage Fleet.

For some, the V10 Mustang carried near-mythical status for decades. Built in secret by Ford engineers, the one-off coupe was the kind of project that could easily have disappeared into corporate history by way of the dreaded crusher. Instead, it survived, and now the Heritage Fleet is making sure it stays that way.

Matt Korczyk, Ford Heritage Fleet manager, grew up hearing stories about the car before eventually becoming one of the people responsible for preserving it. After years of sitting, the Mustang recently underwent work with members of the original team, including attention to its electronics and other systems that hadn’t been touched in decades, with the goal of bringing the car back to life.

“The goal wasn’t to make the car faster,” Korczyk explained. “It was to make sure future generations could see it, hear it, and experience it the way its creators intended.”

Back To Life

That effort culminated with a dyno session, where the V10 made more than 510 horsepower at the wheels. For a prototype conceived roughly 25 years ago, that’s an impressive number, but the dyno sheet wasn’t really the point. Hearing the V10 fire and seeing the original engineers gathered around their creation again mattered more.

Greg Coleman, Jim O’Neill, Paul Vella, Don Masch, Mike Shelby, and their supervisor, John Brune, were among the engineers who spent countless nights and weekends turning the idea into a running Mustang. Their work included machining parts, solving problems, and proving that a V10-powered Mustang could work.

“The V10 has a sound all its own. It’s raw. Mechanical. It doesn’t sound like anything we’d build today,” Korczyk said. “It sounds like a group of engineers got together and decided to do something completely unreasonable just because they could.”

This scribe was offered a chance to drive the V10 Mustang a few years back, but the logistics didn’t work out. However, thanks to the efforts of Ford’s Heritage fleet, the V10 Mustang dream lives on…