Hennessey Wouldn't Stuff A V8 In A Ford GT Even For $1 Million

Jan. 21, 2019 5:40 PM ET by Jay Traugott Supercars / 16 Comments

And it has nothing to do with making money.

Texas-based tuner John Hennessey knows a thing or two about adding copious amounts of horsepower to already powerful cars. And there's one current supercar that some people feel deserves a better engine than what it was born with. That would be the Ford GT and its 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6. There's an argument that the GT deserves eight cylinders, such as Ford's 5.0 or 5.2-liter V8s. So, could Hennessey make that happen? Well, apparently not.

Hennessey told Motor Authority that in his "qualified opinion" a V8 engine won't fit in the current GT. He's saying this as both an engineer and GT owner, a car that's "near and dear" to his heart.

First off, Hennessey believes the GT is fine as is straight from the factory. Second, a V8 likely won't even fit into the GT's engine bay without having to physically change the shape of the bodywork, such as those wicked cool flying buttresses which are key elements to the car's aerodynamics.

An engineering supervisor from the GT program also confirmed that stuffing a V8 into the GT is not up for consideration. In fact, it never was. Reason being is that the very small team assigned to design, engineer and subsequently build the GT had an extremely limited time frame to make everything happen.

There was only enough time to prep one engine and the natural choice was the twin-turbo V6 because it fit all of the required criteria like performance, fuel economy, and overall durability. Furthermore, the GT was intended from the get-go to race at Le Mans, and race rules forbid V8s in the car's class. Hennessey completely agrees with and understands Ford's position.

"If a customer came to me with a bag of a million dollars and said, 'Would you put a V8 in the back of my Ford GT?' I won't do it," he said.

Hennessey Wouldn't Stuff A V8 In A Ford GT Even For $1 Million

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Hennessey Wouldn't Stuff A V8 In A Ford GT Even For $1 Million

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