I think you're asking the wrong questions ...
The one ford to rule them all !
While I agree with your statement, I'm with [MENTION=334]BillyBob[/MENTION] on this, there's some sacred ground you don't step in the history of cars, and modding cars like the Escort Cosworth should land you some man size whupass. You don't fuck around with Collectors Cars.
In the age (families and town beliefs as well) I grew up with/in, there was this belief that at some point in your life you stop with the smaller stuff and a 6 or 8 cylinder car was a thing of stature, even more so if you put it in there. I haven't fogotten my roots yet. Now a YB would be fun, I mean it's a cossie and will drag some bigger motor cars easy, but somehow with everything out there today Cossie YB's seems to have taken the back seat. The scene is much more into 1JZ/2JZ/RB25/RB26 motors than anything else and as Billy said, YB's have become chicken teeth and cost as much
What I'm after is that torquey grunt that scares the shit out of even you if you tap the pedal too hard. I'm more favored towards the V8 for that. Balanced bottom end, well worked heads and cam and perhaps EFI should be more than enough for that Badboy feeling. Another thing I like that will help with the Sleeper mode is rather than straight pipes is to silence it more and end up with something that kicks ass but sounds like this.
[video=youtube;jGL-WRXMcOE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGL-WRXMcOE[/video]