Ford MEL engine family

bleed American/Jimmy eat world

4:40 The reason the 430 dropped to 315hp was Robert McNamara. As president of FoMoCo, he proclaimed that anything more than a 2-barrel carburetor was excessive and wasteful. That 430ci engine had a 2-barrel on it! The guy was out there. He's remembered more for his role in sending American boys to die in Vietnam than for Ford, but he was a bad dude everywhere it seems...

Imagine had the 58 Mercury Marauder had the 430 MEL V8 add more upgrades like a cam as well as ported heads and tubular headers it would've made over 450 HP in 1958 and it would've even created the muscle car franchise as well.

I had a 58 mercury with a 430 Lincoln engine, this was in 1967. As a kid I put chrome reverse rims, removed the heavy front bumper. Heavy duty ford 3 speed with a Hurst shifter. Street racing was fun when your 20yrs old.

I'd like a 58 Tbird with a 462 V8 and 3x2 carbs. Add the column shifter three speed manual with a 3.55 Trak Lok diff. Nice street cruiser.

i had a 58 turnpike cruiser in 61 with the big hp 430, looked like a real cruiser but was the real deal from light to light on the street.

the Connie. I've got a Connie in my garage. I've had 62 and 70. wonderful cars

The "Y block" engine continued well past 1958. It was offered in trucks as the V-8 option over the I-6 up to the early 1960s.

I'm a Ford guy, so while I have great respect for the Chrysler 300, I LOVE the Super Marauder 400 hp formula.

i figure the description of a yblock is the block skirt below the crank which covers a lot of Ford engine series. I never forgot the power of the 59 bird J model I had in early 70s. I'd have another one but they didn't have manual trans so settled for a 59 bird with a performance 390 T85OD, very comfy fun to run super cruiser. Torque is a kick in the ass. As example watch youtube 'Tom Kristensen 59 thunderbird at Goodwood' hilarious.

A lot of traditional Hot Rodders look at the 1st gen Hemi's as the pinnacle of power back in the day, but for me it has always been the MEL's. How I wish that FoMoCo would've pushed this one more, because this was one heck of an engine. Dump that "slush-box" automatic and slap it up to a Top-Loader 4 speed manual, set of home-made headers, a modern carburetor, and these things COME ALIVE! The downfall of the MEL though, was it was too much for those early automatic transmissions. Also with that high of compression, they were fuel sensitive and prone to "dieseling" when people would get "bad gas" at a mom-and-pop gas station.

Interesting and certainly overlooked engines. Good research and period documents 👍👍👍. The horsepower race in the 50’s was a golden time in America. The torque produced by the engines was impressive. I noticed you had a clip of a Ford Muscle Parts catalog. There were 3 stages of improving power, Intimidator, ? and Dominator. I can’t remember what stage 2 was called, but it specified which parts to buy for each engine and each stage. Chevy performance parts were everywhere but Ford parts were less prolific and cost more. Most Ford dealers didn’t carry nor push performance parts. Chevy did. I also noticed your picture of the 385 engine family was a Boss 429.

A friend’s family kept a ragged old black 2 door Merc for the kids, and they lent it to me a few times. They called it the “Roachmobile”. A strippo black two door with automatic, no power steering and the MEL 383….hmmm. I never learned the history of it, I suspect it had something to do with law enforcement. It ran pretty darn good despite 2nd being gone. The speedometer did not work. I clocked it with my car on I-65 at my car’s top speed of 92 and he said it “had more”. On dry rotted bias ply 14” tires it could be thrown around pretty well also. RIP Roachmobile wherever you are.

had a january Continental with the 462. i rebuilt in while i was in the Air Force and loved that car. i wish i still had it

.....thanks for the vid......I pick the '58 Continental and the '59 T-Bird.....the T-Bird at this time was built on the same line as Lincoln at the new Wixom assembly plant, Ford's best quality plant.....the T-bird was more Lincoln than Ford, and got the 430 MEL as a seldomly ordered option for 1959....love all those models.....

1 & 2: Lincoln Continental. The suicide doors are just too cool to pass up.

Edsel and then the Merc. I did not know that the old Thunderbird 430 was a MEL engine and not a FE . Good stuff . Thx.

Thank you as always - another home run! WYR is actually easy for me this time - Continental and Thunderbird. I’ve never owned a car with one of these engines, but I did rebuild a 65 Thunderbird with a 390 (why the T-Bird was an easy pick for me). ~ Chuck

The car I would like out of the first group would be the Edsel. From the second group, I would like the Turnpike Cruiser.

Jay, nice piece! I never had considered just how much power Ford had increased between 1953 and 1957. With a F-code 312, Ford had increased horsepower by 3 TIMES (340 hp) in just 4 years!