If you haven’t put 8 and 2 together yet, what Carscoops reader Ervin Mezey believes he heard from the two engineers in the 2015/2016 Ford Mustang prototype with the big quad pipes when he pulled up next to it and they said, “It’s a 10 not an 8”, is the engine cylinder number.

But could Ford really be working on a V10 Mustang? It sounds highly unlikely, but not entirely impossible with a stretch of the imagination and it would seriously turn a new page on performance Mustangs – wouldn’t you agree?

Since there’s no way of telling what the engineers meant other than speaking to them directly and that doesn’t seem like a plausible scenario (unless they happen to read this and chip in the comments), we’ll have to look at what else this heavily camouflaged tester could be hiding under its hood.

Another special edition aside , it may be one of the upcoming performance Shelby models with a GT350 or GT500 moniker wearing a replacement or further tuned version of the latter’s brutal 5.8-liter V8 with 662 ponies and 631 lb-ft of torque.

Before you tell us your theory, do check out Ervin’s account of the encounter with the Mustang prototype:

“I saw this Mustang earlier today and took some pictures,” said Ervin. “The driver wasn’t talkative and neither was his support guy (the Chevy parked behind the Mustang was a support vehicle). I gave them space because, after all, they have a job to do.”

“From what I could see, it has dual exhausts on both sides riding on 22” Michelin tires. I couldn’t detect any side scoops or a hood scoop, but maybe you have a better eye about these things then I do. What I could see (that doesn’t show in the pictures) is there are sweeping LED lights below the headlights in the shape of a soft J (similar to what you see on a new Lexus but without the sharp angle). The car also takes premium fuel.”

“I assume there may be a V10 under the hood. I mention V10 because I thought I heard one of the guys say while they were discussing a graph or spreadsheet placed on a clipboard (and I’m paraphrasing), ‘it’s a 10 not an 8’. I’m assuming he meant V10 and not V8 and also assuming he’s referencing the engine in the car. But I can’t be sure of this”

“Any green you see in the pictures is glare off the front windshield. These are pictures from a cell phone on a hot day near San Vicente Blvd. in Los Angeles (one block east of Beverly Hills),” said Ervin.

By John Halas

Big thanks to Ervin Mezey of Reatta Rally fame for the pics – if you own one or are a fan of Buick’s pop-up headlight model from the late 1980s, the guys at the Reatta club are holding their annual gathering at the Woodley Park in Van Nuys California on July 13.

PHOTO GALLERY