Posted at the Cohort by William Rubano
Cohort Wordless Outtake: Of Course It’s a Genuine Shelby
– Posted on August 12, 2017
Posted at the Cohort by William Rubano
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The hood looks repopped, that’s the only area I’d begin to question the authenticity, but the mag wheels are correct, the brake duct holes in the quarters where the scoops would be I assume are correct, so I’m going to say real.
Underrated in my opinion. The 69-70s were actually my favorite Shelby Mustangs, they looked like their own animal, and not just a flared up Mustang(but that’s probably why many do dislike them). The big problem with these is that they didn’t make much sense over a Mach 1, let alone the Bosses. They should have used the Boss 302 engine for the GT350 and the Boss 429 in the GT500
I think some of the dislike of the 69-70 Shelbys stems from Ford itself. The in house Boss Mustang was Ford’s new darling.
The Mach 1 made the Shelbys redundant as top of the line cars.
Agreed on both counts, they were essentially made redundant by the Mach 1, and the Bosses effectivly got the glory previously occupied by the Shelbys – there was no Mustang that bested the Shelbys in 67-68 in performance, the Regular production mustang was limited to 390ci until mid year 68, while the 67 and 68 Shelbys were 427/428 powered from inception.
Uhm, no. The Shelby Mustangs had morphed completely from the original mission (hardcore racecar) to grand tourer when Ford took over production in 1968. The Boss engines were high-strung, de-tuned race engines, only put into production due to race sanctioning body rules, and wouldn’t have been appropriate for the market the Shelby Mustangs were aiming, which was much closer to a comfort-optioned Corvette. I’d go so far as to say the upcoming 1971 Pantera was likely the main reason the Shelby was discontinued.
As to the feature car, it looks like it got dinged in the front, taking out the original front bumper and hood.
“Uhm no”? Is it really that far fetched? The Boss 429 was detuned in street form, the 428 CJ by most accounts was the more hairy of the two as delivered, so an exotic race bred engine, seriously detuned for street use, in what is supposed to be the top of the line Mustang isn’t really that fantastical to me. They just as easily could have carried over 68’s KR designation for it, and have the standard GT500 CJ powered.
And I’m sorry but The Boss 302 makes total sense for the GT350. The GT500 I’ll concede was more grand tourer, but the GT350 used the hottest small block through 1968, the 68 being saddled by the unimpressive J-code 302 simply because the K-code 289 was dropped after 1967, and the 68 302 tunnelport (used in Trans Am) never made production. The Boss 302 was in essence the successor to both the K code and tunnelport, and the Boss 302 Mustang was as much in production for homoligation purposes as it was to compete with growing sales of Chevy’s Z28, unlike most cars built for this purpose(including the Boss 429), the B302s easily exceeded the minimum production number(1,000 IIRC) and were part of regular production, and therefore an appropriate the small block V8 for the Shelby. Not being appropriate for comfort optioned grand touring is ridiculous, Mercury had the Boss 302 engine available in the Mercury Cougar Eliminator, what is that?
XR7Matt,
Not sure I follow your comment on the engines. Are you saying the 428CJ is more hairy, being less streetable than the Boss 429? Or just mean it’s a better performer. Because I’d argue while the 428CJ was indeed a better performing street engine than the Boss 429, it also had some of the nicest manners of a Hi-Po muscle car engine. It’s cam wasn’t all too wild and it used hydraulic lifters. It made it’s power lower in the RPM band which helped it perform well on the street.
I also agree that the GT350 should have used a Boss 302, certainly would live to the spirit of the original Shelby. And don’t forget the entire front clip on these Shelby’s were fiberglass, so the ill fitting hood could be OEM.
I just mean as a performer. But keep in mind the cam and carb setup in the 429 were mild themselves. I can only base this on what I’ve read but I’ve never heard the street boss 429s referred to as high strung, not the way the Chrysler Hemi engines were anyway.
I thought the 428CJ, in my 72 T-Bird was very streetable, it was my daily driver in 1988.
I know the last year for the 428CJ was 1971, but with a VIN build date of my T-Bird at 10/71…It’s understandable how it got in there.
It was a factory leftover, confirmed by Rizzo Ford.
Wish I had that engine, now to put in my 88 Fox body 5.0 notchback.
Rizzo Ford confirmed it was a factory leftover, not installed into a regular 1970-71 car.
I’m thinking, maybe a Ford assembly worker had it set aside and threw it in the T-Bird?
I dunno… It still baffles me, how the 428CJ ended up in there(and NO, it wasn’t a 429CJ).
When me and my buddy, David opened the hood, he was stunned to see the 428CJ in there… His uncle had a 68 Shelby with the same engine.
I’d venture to say that over half, if not more, of the GT-350s were ordered with automatics. Not feasible for the Boss 302. This would have resulted in very low sales, not a desirable consequence.
Yes, they could have expanded the engine choice to 3, but in a low-volume product that may have complicated matters more.
The Boss 429 was offered as a street engine in order to make it legal for NASCAR. That is the only reason that they exist. I don’t think that Ford made any serious effort to tune it for the street. I would guess that it was mainly set up the way it was to pass emissions. They did have smog pumps on them after all.
Car testers of the day panned it because it had a flat low end due to the massive intake ports and valves. Further, the mild cam and carb set up made for an unimpressive top end as well. It was really not a good street package.
The 428 was by far a more potent STREET engine.
Same deal with the 426 Hemi. I had a chance once to drive a stock Hemi Road Runner with a torqueflite and 3.23’s. It did nothing to impress until the revs were really up. I would argue that a 440 Magnum is a superior STREET engine.
Mythology and reality don’t always correlate.
No doubt the 351W that the ’69-70 GT-350 used was a better engine when it came to street manners and low end power, but the BOSS 302 was a superior performance engine. And while the BOSS 302 was somewhat high strung, it still was a little more tame than the Chevy 302 in the Z/28 in terms of its power band.
The Shelby Mustangs had evolved more into luxo-performance machines by this time. However, I always thought that these cars should have stayed with their roots as a true performance machine. At least the ’69 GT500’s had the 428CJ which was arguably Ford’s most potent engine of 1969. Ford could have made the GT-350 a true performance car again and using the BOSS 302 engine with a 4-speed would have helped. Instead it sought greater sales through the more docile 351W, and chose to use the Mustang BOSS 302 as their performance model. Brock Yates said that the ’69 Shelby GT-350 “was little more than a tough looking Mustang Grande, a Thunderbird for Hell’s Angels. Certainly not the car of Carroll Shelby’s dreams.”
I always felt that the Boss 302 in a Cougar was a mistake. It never made much torque and the Cougar was heavier. Remember, the Boss actually made less torque than a regular 302, at a much higher 4300 RPM peak.
Exactly. The Boss 302 in the Cougar Eliminator is a perfect example of why it wouldn’t have worked in the GT350. In fact, the street Boss 302’s poor low end torque is the reason it’s earned a place on a few ‘worst cars ever’ list. The days of the GT350 being a track-ready racecar had passed years ago.
Now, the Boss 351, that’s a whole different story.
Where on earth is there a list that puts a Boss 302 among the worst cars ever? Furthermore, internet lists are a relevant reference?
The Boss 302 It may not have low end grunt but it will still leave the 351w the GT350s did have in the dust. Maybe those days were behind it, but that’s not the point. Turning it into a boulevard cruiser did nothing to help sales or keep it relevant.
I call fake on the Breezeway Shelbys!
Those are the famous 1965-built Shelby Montereys that Carroll put in a warehouse until 2001, when he completed them and sold them with 1965 titles.
Check the glovebox door for the signature!
What is interesting is that these previewed the front end styling of the ’71 through ’73 models. I agree that Ford thought of these as competition with the loaded Corvette, not a real runner like the Boss series cars. There were far too many performance versions in the Mustang corral at this time. As to the authenticity of this particular car, what does the VIN say? I’d guess that there would be a specific identifier. The Mach Ones have one. Send in the Clones!
In many ways the 67 Shelbys previewed the 1969 Mustang as well. The exaggerated nose with quad headlights(driving lights on the Shelby) and the integrated ducttail spoiler on the sportsroof were the prominent features evolved directly from it.
I would take a ’70 Shelby Maverick with a Boss 302 in my dreams….
The 1969-70 Shelby Mustangs, as well as the 1969 Dodge Daytona & 1970 Plymouth Superbird, caught my imagination when I was a kid back then & even though I’m an old man now, I would still love to own any one of them.