Restored 1965 Ford Mustang Packs Super Duty’s 7.3L V8

Restomods, which are restored vehicles extensively modified from their original state, often result in some badass rides. Ford Performance and Tremec joined forces to breathe new life into a 1965 Ford Mustang, showing it off at the 2025 Detroit Autorama, and this pony car packs a punch – it’s been fitted with the 7.3L V8 engine lifted right from the Ford Super Duty line.

This restored 1965 Ford Mustang has quite the history behind it. More than six decades ago, the pony car was given to Matt Memmer, a farmer, as partial payment for land that was acquired by a dealership. The Mustang stayed in the farmer’s family for decades and was left parked in storage on the property. In collaboration with the Memmer family, Ford Performance, and Tremec, that 1965 Ford Mustang was pulled out of the barn and given a second chance at life.

Perhaps the most significant upgrade was the decision to replace its stock powerhouse with the 7.3L V8 engine. It’s topped with the intake manifold from the supercharged 7.3L Megazilla variant, which helps it breathe sufficiently at the highest performance possible. The low-profile intake allowed for greater hood clearance and increased horsepower. To ease the process, the 1965 Ford Mustang was fitted with the Ford Performance Control Pack, which includes relevant electronics, sensors, and adapters for a true “plug and play” engine installation.

According to the engine’s product description, it’s rated for an output of 430 horsepower and 485 pound-feet of torque. In the case of this Mustang, all that power is relayed to the rear two wheels (RWD) via the Tremec five-speed manual transmission.

The 7.3L V8 crate engine is offered on the Ford Performance website for $8,900. It features a cast iron block with aluminum cylinder heads, a forged steel crank, cast aluminum pistons, 10.5:1 compression, port fuel injection, a composite intake, an 87mm throttle body, exhaust manifolds, ignition coils and wires, and a production flex plate. The crate engine features the same bellhousing bolt pattern as the 4.6L V8, 5.4L V8, and 5.0L V8 Coyote powerplants, and comes in a shipping and storage crate.