From the June 2023 issue of Car and Driver.
There’s a 7.3-liter V-8 hidden under the doghouse, and its just-in-time snare-drum-plunging-into-cement-mix soundtrack brings back memories of school buses. I rode a light grade through Arizona, not with a Blue Bird or a Thomas, but in a Ford E-350 chassis cab double, and the engine that tried for the drum line was a heavy-duty Ford V-8 truck. And the dog house? It’s what people in the van world call a protruding engine cover that serves as part of the dashboard.
Another cross-country drive, my third in nine months, this time driving a rented 16-foot box truck filled with my life in Los Angeles. Hanging in the back is a car carrier with my soon-to-be wife’s 2015 Ford Escape. At 65 mph, the E-series pack mule requires constant attention to keep it from veering to the right, but I’m forming a bond with this rough thing. Five days in a vehicle carrying almost every precious thing you own instills appreciation and love. That admiration led to overlooking the many, many shortcomings of the ancient E-series based design. Complaints seem trite and inappropriate. Conestoga wagon riders don’t complain about the ride quality, wind noise, cushion softness, brake pedal feel, dim lights and non-existent straight-ahead feel, and neither do I.
See Godzilla
The current E series started in 1992. Although its life as a van ended in 2014, it continues as a chassis cab. What is a chassis cab? Imagine what’s left after you’ve stuffed the fish—in this case, the coelacanth. Instead of a fish head, there’s a van cab, and instead of a spine is a long ladder frame. It’s the Lego of the automotive world. Build an ambulance, box truck, tent, or minibus. And while the chassis may be a living fossil, the 7.3-liter V-8 appeared only a few years ago. Nicknamed the Godzilla, it was a push design with an iron block and aluminum head. It makes as much as 430 horsepower in the Super Duty F-series and will take the F-350 to 60 mph in 7.5 seconds, but in the E-series, it’s a low-pressure 325-hp tune to meet federal emissions regulations for heavy-duty trucks. As a result, horsepower and torque peak together at 3750 rpm. Loaded, it burns a gallon of 87 octane every 10 miles.
Engine tuners embraced the Godzilla V-8 because it didn’t take much time to develop it. Promises of 600 and 700 or more horsepower are common. Granted, that’s the tuner’s claim, but let the big engine rev, and it’ll make big power. The pushrod setup is relatively compact compared to overhead-cam engines, allowing the crate version to slide easily into the Fox-body Mustang.
Viewed through a modern lens, this is a simple machine. Call the engine back to basics, but you can’t say that about the chassis because it’s not back; it never goes away. The front and rear suspension could be on display in a Henry Ford museum, but it got the job done: safe arrival and no valuables harmed. Any vehicle that can do that deserves some love.
Chief Editor
Tony Quiroga is an 18-year veteran Car and Driver editor, writer, and car reviewer and the 19th editor-in-chief for the magazine since its inception in 1955. He has subscribed Car and Driver since the age of six. “Growing up, I read every issue Car and Driver cover to cover, sometimes three times or more. It’s where I want to work because I can read,” Quiroga said. He moved from there car Magazine to the position of associate editor at Car and Driver in 2004. Over the years, he has held nearly every editorial position in print and digital, edited several special issues, and also helped produce C/D’YouTube’s early efforts. He is also the longest serving test driver for the Lightning Lap, having played the Grand Course of the Virginia International Speedway more than 2000 times over 12 years.