Today is 429

[Lee Stewart]

Motor Wheel Corp had been making the "spider" style mag wheels for Detroit ever since they were introduced on the 1966 442. MWC also sold them under their own moniker. It was Ford who used that moniker; Magnum 500 for the Boss 429 and Boss 302. Other monikers were; Road Wheels, Super Stock I, Super Sport, Mag Style Custom Wheels, etc.

[Lee Stewart]

Ford lost money selling Boss 429 Mustangs. It was estimated that Ford lost about $1000 on each car. That's $7,033 in todays money and Ford built a total of 1357 Boss 429 Mustangs.

The new rule for NASCAR was; you needed to build 500 production cars with a new engine before it would be allowed to be raced. 857 in 1969 and 500 in 1970.

BTW: Those are the tires used on the 1970 Boss 429.

[big gear head]

Thanks Lee.

[Lee Stewart]

Put a brand new high performance engine in a stock car when you know your competition is developing a "homologation special (Charger 500)" - not going to happen.

[Lee Stewart]

OK - Ford is back in the number one spot at NASCAR with it's Boss 429 powered Torino Talladega. What about NHRA? Mercury, Ford's sister corp. wanted a piece of the action and asked that a couple of Cougar Eliminators be given the Boss 429 treatment.

Unfortunately what works in NASCAR doesn't always work in NHRA and this proved out when the Boss 429 Cougars failed to garner the same results in drag racing that Ford was enjoying in NASCAR.

[Lee Stewart]

Look carefully at the specs. Notice that Ford is calling the engine a 429 Cobra Jet HO. The car is called the Boss 429 Mustang, not the engine.

[Lee Stewart]

Ford rated the Boss 429 at 375 HP which unlike the 428 Cobra Jet was probably very close to the engine's given rating. Even with the standard 3.91 rear the Boss 429 Mustang developed a poor performance rating as a muscle car compared to others. This was probably due to the choice Ford made for the carb, a 715 CFM. If Ford had used the 780 CFM carb from the Boss 302 it's performance would have been a lot better.

[Lee Stewart]

Some different color choices, a black painted hood scoop and halfway through the 1970 model year Ford finally pulled the plug on the Boss 429 Mustang.

[Lee Stewart]

For the 1970 model year Ford introduced a new engine; the 429. It was available in three configurations. First the 429 Cobra Jet Ram Air as seen on the Torino GT and Torino Cobra above. This engine was not available in the Mustang which continued to use the 428 CJ. Ford got a little more serious about their engine HP ratings with the 429 CJ now rated at 370 HP

[Lee Stewart]

The second engine configuration was the 429 Cobra. Identical to the Cobra Jet Ram Air just missing the shaker induction system. Same 370 HP rating. Both the Cobra and Cobra Jet RA engines were optional on the Torino Cobra.