10 of our favorite Ford V-8s

3. MEL V-8 (1958–1967)

MEL stands for Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln, and this oddball V-8 had a personality all its own.

It looked nothing like the FE engines of the time, and its unusual “wedge-in-block” combustion chamber gave it a weird but wonderful character. The high point? The 1958 Super Marauder—a 430-cube beast making 400 hp, the first mass-produced engine to hit that mark.

Too bad MEL went out with the Edsel. It had potential.
Why it matters: The first engine to break 400 hp in a production car.