It's one of the rattiest-looking Ford Mustangs we've ever seen, but don't let looks deceive you. Under the hood of this 1973 Ford Mustang is a Jaguar V12. It's called the Mach 12, and it's equal parts junk and amazing. It's so good that Deboss Garage had to fabricate parts for it just so they could go for a test drive in the rain.
An Old Mustang And A Jag V12 Were A Match Made In Heaven
The owner, Alex Reid, said he had wanted to do a Jag V12 swap into something more interesting for a few years. Ford Torinos were on the list, or maybe a late 1960s GM A-Body car. But when a completely crusty 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1 that hadn't been on the road since the '80s popped up, it was a done deal. The Mach 12 idea was cemented, and work was started on the conversion.
Reid said that dropping a V12 into a Mustang wasn't as hard as you might think. These old Fords have so much length under the hood that there's almost room for another V6 in there without any serious fabrication. Enough work with cutting tools and new sheet metal, and you might be able to drop in another one.
A pre-made kit to drop a Tremec T5 into the transmission tunnel sent power to the car's rear tires. The clutch came from a Jeep CJ-7 because it had the right mix of Ford on one side and GM on the other. Then, a lightweight flywheel with a universal set of bolt holes made everything go together.
Instead of the original engine's fuel injection system, the Mach 12 uses carbs. A kit to fit dual-barrel carbs is available off the shelf from one crazy fabricator, so the engine gets a whopping six knockoff Weber carbs with power-improving and ultra-cool velocity stacks. That many carbs has made tuning a headache, Reid said. One cylinder in particular loves to shoot flames from time to time out of those stacks.
Restoring the car was tougher than the engine swap. The floors and firewall were rotten, and that took a lot of fabrication. Reid's skill with a rivet gun is clearly on display every time you pop the hood and take a look at the firewall. It's not quite clean enough to look professional, but it's much nicer than most jobs. The look is almost perfect.
1989 Jaguar XJ-S HE V12
This Transformation Is About Presence, Not Performance
How much power does it make? Who knows, and who cares. It makes a sound you'd never expect to hear coming from a classic Mustang, which was already one of the best-sounding American cars ever, and it has a ton of low-end torque. Isn't that all you really need from a car? And hey, Jag became part of Ford not long after this, so it's practically a factory conversion!
What about those newly fabricated parts? Well, the 12 velocity stacks poke out of the hood completely uncovered. They're the only external cue to what the car is packing, they're also more than happy to suck down rain water.
So Deboss and Reid make some custom plexiglass and aluminum angle covers. They keep the rain from coming into the engine, at least directly. It can still suck in some moisture, but at least it won't flood. Plus the covers look even cooler than the open stacks.
With 274 hp stock, this engine might not make much more power than the 210 hp or 240 hp the 1973 Mustang Mach 1's V8s did. But it more than makes up for it in character. And in velocity stacks.
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