The horsepower wars were in full swing by 1966, and Chrysler had just released its NASCAR-derived street HEMI engine. As a follow-up to its dedicated drag racing 1964 Thunderbolt, Ford responded ...

he special-ordered a less-expensive base-model 1967 Ford Custom two-door sedan and had the Mahwah, New Jersey factory drop in the W-code 427-4V engine, which automatically triggered a four-speed ...

The resulting 427 engine blended raw American muscle ... unavailable to private teams. Ford and Cosworth upended this model by offering the DFV to any team that could afford it.

Monster motors were the order of the day in the late 1960s, and GM's 427 was a part of that class. The drawback to a big-block's burly output was, and still is, the increased weight of the engine.