This is a Holman-Moody Ford 427 FE V8 that was fitted to a Shelby Cobra 427 – the most powerful version of the British/American sports car developed by Carroll Shelby and his team in the 1960s.
The version of the 427 used in the Shelby Cobra was capable of 425 bhp at 6,000 rpm and 480 lb ft of torque at 3,700 rpm. By the standards of 1965 when the car debuted these were astronomical numbers, far higher than the output of the V12 in the back of the Lamborghini Miura – a vehicle now widely regarded as the first supercar.
This historic engine is said to have been modified by Holman-Moody in 1967 and fitted to a Shelby Cobra 427.Holman-Moody was formed in 1957 by mechanic and engineer John Holman and race car driver Ralph Moody. The two men had been working at the Ford Motor Company when the American Manufacturers’ Association banned Ford’s factory participation in stock car racing in June of 1957 – this resulted in both Holman and Moody becoming suddenly unemployed.
They would form Holman-Moody almost overnight, with Moody borrowing against a plane he owned, and buying out Ford’s now defunct Charlotte-based racing facility. The men set to work developing one of the first “purpose-built” stock racing car chassis and their success would be almost immediate – with two race wins by the end of 1957.
The successes kept coming and soon, Ford was sending much of their motorsport-related work to Holman-Moody. This would continue for much of the rest of the 1950s, the 1960s, and well into the 1970s.
Holman-Moody would become famous for their successes not just in stock car racing, but in Can Am, drag racing, sports car racing, European rally, NASCAR, Indy racing, off road racing, off-shore boat racing, USAC competition, and more.
The company is still in operation today based in Charlotte, North Carolina offering new high-performance Mustangs, Holman-Moody GT40s, performance parts, and restoration services.
The engine you see here was reportedly built in 1967 by Holman-Moody, it has a cast-iron block, medium-riser cylinder heads, a Holman-Moody-stamped timing cover, a dual Holman-Moody fuel filter, and an Aviaid Metal Products oil pan.
In the right state of tune, the Ford 427 FE V8 is capable of 425 bhp at 6,000 rpm and 480 lb ft of torque at 3,700 rpm.It also has an Autolite distributor, an aluminum sidewinder intake manifold, a four-barrel Holley LeMans 780 CFM carburetor, and a pair of long-tube headers.
The engine is now being offered for sale on Bring a Trailer out of Lilburn, Georgia with no reserve. If you’d like to read more about it or place a bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
