Listen to this tank-powered Ford Police Interceptor roar to life

An intrepid team of Swedish hot-rodders has made big strides with an absolutely bonkers car project. The Meteor Interceptor, as the absurd endeavor is called, is a 2006 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor that served in Stockton, California, but these day’s it’s the recipient of the mother of all engine swaps. Swedes take their drag racing seriously, and these guys weren’t content with any old big-block swap. They crammed a 1650-cubic-inch (27-liter) military surplus V-12 under the hood of the Panther car. Actually, that’s being generous, or understating the sheer size of this monster motor, as the car’s firewall is long gone and the engine protrudes well into the passenger cabin. It’s a good thing these cars are body-on-frame, as whatever structural role the firewall played in holding the car together is not being filled by anything at the moment.

The Rolls-Royce Meteor is a tank engine that was developed in WWII and is essentially a detuned Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine. It produced 550-650 horsepower depending on the application and was well-received in duty, where it was seen as a major turning point in British tank performance. Our power-hungry Swedes are hoping to roughly triple that output with a pair of Borg-Warner S500SX turbochargers pushing 22-29 pounds of boost into the intake to make 2500 hp. That is a ton of power, but in context not a huge output for an engine that size. This is the same displacement as five 327s combined, or three and a half 460s. Keep in mind, however, that the power is designed to peak at just 3400 rpm, meaning the engine would be cranking out more than 3800 lb-ft of torque. These things were not built to rev.