460 Ford vs V 10

I wouldn't eliminate the early V10 based upon the fear of popping a spark plug. I had a '99 V10 upon which I put 110K miles and never spit a plug. In talking with other early V10 owners the problem is created when the plug is not torqued properly or an incorrect plug is used. If you do buy an early V10, just retorque the plugs properly and you'll be good to go. This is not meant to disparage later V10s as there are lots of good reasons why they are better. My point is that the early ones are not a bad engine or particularly problematic. Yes they had fewer plug threads which was fixed in the later years but if torqued properly you should be fine.