An 800-Horsepower 2001 Ranger Proves Ford's Smallest Truck Can Carry Its Biggest Engine

A 2001 Ford Ranger has been fitted with one of Ford's own Godzilla pushrod V8s, built out to 511 cubic inches and rated at 800 horsepower. The engine displaces more than twice what any powerplant offered in that model year's Ranger did when the truck left the factory. The compact pickup now earns its keep on the drag strip, running the quarter mile rather than hauling mulch. For owners who remember the Ranger as the modest work truck of its era, the pairing is the appeal: a familiar, unassuming body over a modern Ford V8 that was never meant to fit under its hood. The build keeps the project in the family, so to speak, with Blue Oval power in a Blue Oval truck. We have not driven it, and no time slip or owner was named in the initial report.

With reporting from The Drive.