These Are The Rarest Ford Vehicles You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

Ford is a brand that’s steeped in automotive history. Since 1903, the Blue Oval has given us iconic vehicles like the Model A, the Mustang, the GT40, and the Torino. A company with a history spanning 122 years is bound to have come up with some special vehicles. We are talking about the rarest of the rare Fords. These include some obscure creations and some pioneering models that were way ahead of their time, and some certainly made it onto our list of cars that nobody knows about.

Throughout its storied history, the carmaker dabbled with some truly whacky concepts, including a two-wheeled car and an electric microcar in the ’60s, as well as a pocket car in the ’80s. We, however, will focus solely on project cars and production cars. We put together an eclectic bunch of the rarest Fords, including some you’ve probably never heard of. These are the proverbial automotive unicorns — count yourself blessed if you ever see one in the wild.

Ford built a lot of cool muscle car specials like the Torino Talladega, but you probably haven’t heard of the Ford Fairlane 500 R-Code. It was a homologation car that the company engineered specifically to compete in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). It was also the automaker’s personal attempt to make a road-going drag car special. It featured an R Code Big Block 427 V8 that Ford rated at 425 horsepower and 480 pound-feet of torque, which was already quite powerful for a ’60s-era sports car. But here’s the fun bit — the Fairlane 500 R-Code made more than 500 horsepower. 

It was the perfect sleeper. The Fairlane 500 R-Code looked similar to standard Fairlanes, save for the hood scoop. It was pricey, too. In 1966, the Ford Fairlane 500 R-Code cost over $4,500, making it significantly more expensive than many other muscle cars of the era. It continues to be expensive today. Considering that Ford built just 57 models, it is a rare car, and a mint example commands close to $300,000.

Did you know that Ford built a Mustang with a V10 engine back in 2004? It was a passion project for Ford engineers who wanted to push the envelope beyond V8s. Like Dodge, Ford did have a 6.8-liter V10 truck engine on hand, but the tall-deck engine wasn’t exactly built to fit inside the Mustang’s small engine bay. Instead, Ford engineers built an all-new V10 engine, despite an almost nonexistent budget. Engineers used the parts they had on hand — specifically, a couple of 4.6-liter V8s. Essentially, engineers chopped off the front part of one engine, leaving eight cylinders. They then removed the back half of a second engine, cutting away six cylinders, and glued the two together to form a V10. These intrepid engineers followed a similar procedure to build the heads, making castings from DOHC Cobra R heads with extra cylinders. The result was a 5.8-liter, all-aluminum short-deck short-stroke engine that revved faster and higher than the stock 4.6. 

Since Ford engineers didn’t have access to an engine controller for an odd-firing V10, they used two controllers with twin throttle bodies and set those up to run for an inline five-cylinder engine. The engine not only weighed significantly less than Ford’s iron-block V8 but also produced 426 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque. Ford fitted the Frankenstein engine into a 1999 Unibody Mustang test car. How fast was it? The V10 Mustang clocked sub-12-second quarter-mile times, which were even faster than a supercharged Mustang Cobra. Sadly, the engine’s complexity and production costs proved to be its downfall.

Yes, two of the most iconic automotive marques once collaborated on a project car. It wasn’t an exotic Mustang running a high-performance V8, though, but a tiny (for the time) inline four-cylinder Mustang. It was the ’80s, and carmakers were moving from large V8s to more efficient, small-capacity turbocharged engines. In the midst of it, was Ford. The company had recently unveiled its new Fox-bodied Mustang SVO, which featured a 2.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine. However, Ford still needed a way to market this ground-breaking Mustang. For this, Ford partnered with McLaren. The luxury automaker massaged the 2.3 liter, adding new pistons, connecting rods, and a revamped head. The rebuilt engine delivered 190 horsepower, a substantial increase from the 132 horsepower that the stock model made. The result was so good that this McLaren Mustang prototype could be called the king of all Fox bodies. 

That wasn’t all. The Fox-bodied McLaren Mustang featured IMSA racing-style bodywork with extended wheel arches and McLaren’s signature “Papaya orange” paint job. The Mustang also came with Koni suspension and BBS wheels with Firestone HPR tires. It was a proper race car for the streets, including Recaro LS bucket seats, a race-ready steering wheel, and even a roll bar. Only 10 units were built, and those came with a price tag of around $25,000. The M81 did not last, thanks to resistance within Ford’s newly formed Special Vehicle Operations group. That said, the McLaren Mustang has the grits to make our list of favorite Ford Mustangs.

You might think of Ford’s contribution to rallying in the ’80s as being restricted to the Mk2 Escort and the RS200. However, there was a third car that connected these two models. In fact, the RS1700T was the replacement for the Mk2 Escort for Group B rallying. It was modeled after the Mk3 Escort  and featured the same high-performance Ford Cosworth BDA-derived racing engine as the MK2. However, Ford did implement some changes for the RS1700T, including downsizing the engine from 2,000cc to 1,778cc to comply with new rallying regulations and adding forced induction in the form of a turbocharger. The Escort RS1700T prototype was everything Ford expected its future rally car to be, until it wasn’t.

The arrival of the Audi Quattro kind of rewrote the rules of rallying. Its revolutionary all-wheel-drive technology dominated the competition by miles, causing carmakers running rear-wheel-drive rally cars to step back and reevaluate. This affected Ford, too, as the company’s promising prototype didn’t seem so promising anymore, despite being highly capable. At a heavy loss of time and money, Ford dropped the RS1700T project and, instead, refocused its energy on the mid-engine RS200, which came with four-wheel drive. Ford made 18 Escort RS1700T prototypes, of which only four survived. One of those survivors sold for a cool $470,000, and it would probably be as cool to own as this fire-spitting Ford Escort Cosworth time attack racer. 

You may be surprised to learn that Ford made a targa-top version of its iconic GT supercar from the 2000s. The automaker showcased the GTX1 at the 2005 SEMA show, where it garnered so much interest that they decided to make a limited-production run of the second-gen, GT-based open-top roadster. Ford outsourced the GTX1 roadster to Wisconsin-based coachbuilder Gennadi Design Group, known for their specialized convertible conversions. The only major difference between the GTX1 and the standard Ford GT is the targa roof. Both vehicles came with a 5.4-liter supercharged V8, capable of producing 550 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque, as well as a six-speed manual Ricardo transmission. 

The GTX1 featured removable carbon fiber roof panels, a removeable plastic rear window, carbon fiber side skirts, bespoke interiors, racing seats, upgraded brakes, optional alloy wheels, butterfly doors, and other performance and suspension upgrades. While the Ford GT was a rare car (Ford only built 4,000 models), less 5 percent of those were converted into the GTX1, making them rarer and far more expensive. In 2021, a GTX1 went on auction for an asking price of close to $600,000.