We have to thank BangShift reader Zombie289 for the tip on this really bizarre but totally cool 1966 Ford Custom. The seller claims that the car is an ex-Virginia state police cruiser and that it seems to be equipped with all the cop car stuff like heavy duty brakes, spartan interior with rubber floor mats, beefy suspension, and ground straps a-plenty. Things get super cool and pretty odd with the car when the engine is revealed…a 410ci FE big block that was Mercury only option at the time this car was built. Not being total VIN geeks, we cannot verify the seller’s claim that the sixth digit in the code, an “M” stands for the Mercury engine.
One of the other things that strikes us as odd is the transmission in the car, a three on the tree manual unit. The vast majority of old police cars we have seen were automatic equipped for ease of operation on the driver’s part. If this officer were trying to drive the car and use a radio while rowing gears on the column something would have to give. The car is kind of rough, but not so rough as to disqualify it from a resto. Parts can be had for these cars and it is a complete piece so whoever buys the car is going to have a good foundation to start with.
We dig the fact that the seller is open with the fact that he cannot find any documentation to support Mercury engines being installed in these cars. He even goes to the level of letting potential buyers know that the car was built at a Ford plant where Mercurys were not built and there was no reason for that plant to have a 330hp 410ci engine laying around.
What do your think, did Ford really build this freak or did the 410 fall into the engine bay sometime down the line? Does anyone have one of the other 255 (or more) Ford cop cars the state of VA bought that year? Is this the only one with the weirdo engine?
eBay Link: 1966 Ford Custom ex-VA State Police car with Mercury 410ci engine for sale
M is indeed the engine code for the 410 4V mill in 1966.
Too bad this one’s too new for H.A.M.B. and other “traditional” events, because it’s a bitchin piece.
I’m thinking maybe it was on the OTHER side of the law…like a SHINE runner!!!!??!?!
i had a 1965 ford cop car in 1969 it was a 410 ci solid lifter 4 speed nys thruway trooper car
Never of heard of this kind of car having that type of transmission before.
Sure might be a shine car….I have a 63 1/2 X Texas Ranger car….390 375hp with 3 speed on the tree….
….is there any drilled holes for items such as auxillary switches, radio mounts, gun racks,etc.?
Well just by looking at the lower crank pulley,it doesn’t have a 3.98″ stroke crank,they were all external balanced.
Next Ford engine code is the Fifth position in the VIN not sixth.
It does have a 410 air cleaner lid.
Here is a story the man lays out, a Va X state police car, but all of a sudden the experts here say it was a shine car. If I was gonna make a story up to sell a car I believe I would have used the shine runner car story, not the Va police car story.
I think the car is what the man says as weird as it is, the engine and the tranny combo.
Just wondering , how many 79 Cutlass have you seen with a factory 5 speed ? Yep G bodies came with them.
just a point
Just my thoughts
The 410 was also used in Edsel cars.
The 410 used in the Edsel was a member of the “MEL” (383, 410, 430, 462) engine family used in Mercury, Edsel & Lincoln, hence the acronym.
This (if it is actually one) 410 is from the “FE” Ford & Edsel engine family. It is made by putting a 428 crank in a 390 block.
If it’s the real deal, I’d love to see this one restored and raced at PSMCDR. I yearn for the day when I can have a stick-shifted land-yacht.
2-door sedan cop car?
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