This 800-HP, 572ci F-100 Makes Zero Sense In This Economy, And It Died On Its Shakedown Drive
Gas prices hit the highest levels ever recorded for this time of year in October 2026, and the national average has barely budged since. Ford has spent years shrinking the engines in its best-selling F-150, leaning on small turbocharged V6s to squeeze more miles out of every gallon.
One Arizona shop just finished a classic Ford pickup that goes the opposite way with a giant naturally aspirated big-block, and the truck didn’t even make it through its test drive.
Gas Is Expensive And Trucks Keep Getting Smaller
AAA reports that gas prices are sitting at record highs for autumn, with the national average hovering around $4.29 a gallon in late October. That’s a rough backdrop for anything thirsty, and Ford’s F-150 already leans small, starting with a 2.7-liter twin-turbo V6 or the 3.5-liter EcoBoost and 5.0-liter V8 remain options for buyers who want more.
Even the wildest F-150 money can buy, the Raptor R, gets by on a supercharged 5.2-liter V8 with 720 hp. The truck on Autotopia LA’s YouTube channel ignores all of that logic, stuffing a big-block nearly twice that size into a 67-year-old pickup and still out-muscling the Raptor R by 80 hp without any boost.
This 9.4-liter 1959 Ford F-100 Packs 800 Naturally Aspirated Horsepower
Autotopia LA via YouTube
A naturally aspirated 572ci V8 in this economy is just wild! But Fat Fender Garage just that with as they built this 1959 Ford F-100 around a Jon Kaase Boss Nine 572ci big-block, which makes 800 hp without a turbo or supercharger. That 9.4-liter displacement is roughly three and a half times the size of the base F-150’s engine. In fact, it’s bigger than the two of its larger engines (5.0-liter V8 and 3.5-liter V6) combined.
Autotopia LA via YouTube
Kaase has built engines professionally since 1977, winning an NHRA Pro Stock title with Dyno Don Nicholson in his first season and 12 Mountain Motor Pro Stock championships between 1995 and 2006. The truck underneath is just as significant, since 1959 was the first year Ford offered the F-100 with factory four-wheel drive.
Autotopia LA via YouTube
Owner Mike built the chassis himself by inverting one frame into another, and he made the grille from two stock grilles. He also fabricated the front bumper and a double-walled tailgate from Bronco parts, while his dad handled the early bodywork.
The shop routed 2.25-inch header primaries into a single 5-inch exhaust, lifting the engine an inch just to fit one header. The finished truck weighs over 5,000 lbs and rides on massive tires.
The 800-HP F-100’s Shakedown Drive Ended In Fireballs
The F-100 impressed on the road at first, with steering that felt surprisingly tight for a leaf-sprung off-roader. That changed when play crept into the steering, which the crew blamed on splines starting to wear, possibly at a cast pitman arm.
After the crew tightened things up, the host pushed the big-block hard with the exhaust cutouts open, and those watching reported two big fireballs before the engine shut off. The shop suspects a fuel problem, possibly made worse by the open cutouts at around 5,000 rpm, though the cause wasn’t confirmed on camera.
Autotopia LA via YouTube
The host called the shop to admit he’d broken the truck, and the team pushed the 5,000-lb F-100 off the street by hand. It had only about 100 miles on the clock, and Fat Fender won’t hand over any build until it has covered 1,000 miles, so this breakdown is exactly the kind of problem that rule exists to catch.
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