BangShift.com MEL V8 engine history look back at the 410 engine by Ford

We’re here with a pair of blue oval products that were both short-lived and while of the same displacement they were not related at all. Interestingly Ford produced a 410ci of the MEL engine and then nearly a decade later they produced a 410ci of the FE big block series.

The first 410 we’ll look at is the MEL engine which was produced to power the Edsel Corsair and Citation models. It was only used in those two cars and as best we can tell, it was only used for that model year. Most people know the much larger versions of the engine which went up to 430ci and then the biggest which was 462ci at its peak. The MEL 410 was a runner with 345hp and over 400 lb/ft of torque at its disposal. That horsepower and torque came in handy to move the large and heavy cars down the road. Hot rodders flirted with the MEL engines of the time and if you can believe it there were some dragsters that ran them and C-T strokers actually produced a kit to take one out to 500ci in the 1960s. That was a mountain motor back then!

The second 410, which has no relation to the first one was about as weird as the MEL engine. The 410 FE was produced in 1966 and 1967 and used to power Mercury models. The 410 had the same bore as a 390ci FE which was 4.05″ and the stroke of the 428ci FE mill which was 3.98″. The externally balanced engine used the same exact crank as a 428 (obviously the stroke but the rest of the specs were the same as well). With 10.5:1 compression the engine was rated at the (popular for Ford) 330hp/444lb-ft of torque level.

So there you have it. A pocket biography on two engines many people have totally forgotten about…unless you love the Mercury or Edesl brand!