1969/70 Prototype Mustang

Mr. Farr let us know it was Elana who alerted him to check out the Mustang. At the time he was the editor of Mustang Monthly magazine and after we discussed the history of the Mustang, he wanted to do an article on it. Are you doing anything for the 50th was his question? I knew the anniversary was coming up but didn't know of any plans for it. Ford and the MCA (Mustang Club of America) were doing 2 large shows, one at the Vegas Motor Speedway, the other at Charlotte Motor Speedway in April 2014. If any here have had to deal with magazine stuff there is usually months lead time involved and as this was November, Donald wanted to do an article to come out in Mustang Monthly coinciding with the 50th. After we discussed it amongst ourselves, the plan was made that we would all meet up again in Vegas in April and display the Mustang at the 50th. I had a ton of pictures thanks to Lyle but Donald wanted to set up their own photo shoot so that was another trip to plan as he would give my contact into to the photographer to set it up. Jerry Heasley ended up being his 'guy' so my buddy Greg and I headed back to Vegas and acted as his 'assistants' to take care of his needs. I've never pushed the car around that much before, but we got it done and after he told us Donald had sent him 'get me the cover shot' we thought it was probably worth it? As this stuff was going on, I was feeding NHRA with brief reports as in my mind, at least let them know we're still out here. We made it into the December issue of National Dragster and got a bigger picture of the car than Garlits did with his E-dragster that was just behind us and I thought 'that should help'? Anyway, it was my first time at SEMA, which definitely is a sensory overload and we survived and the Mustang went into storage in Vegas, hopefully short term??

Rag tag bunch..

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will carry on with the 50th,
 
Not sure what a T-bolt would sell for nowadays or how much more if it a had a big name attached to it ( Gas Ronda, Butch Leal) but I would think north of 250k US. Back in 2018 I went to the Knotts All Ford show in Buena Park, they were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Cobra-Jet. Al Joniec and his Winternational winning Mustang was their. Great piece of Ford racing history and beautifully restored.

All this reminiscing got me interested, so just out of curiosity I looked up the fellow I bought my Boss Mustang off of in 1977. Oddly enough he is still listed in the Merritt phone book from 44 years ago. I haven't spoke to him since, maybe I'll give him a call.
 
rmk57: Nice to hear this may spin off some reminiscing. I have tried to find out who bought my Boss after I sold it to a guy in Kitscoty to give some history and pictures if they wanted, but wasn't able to track anyone down. Would love to hear any Boss story you may have??
 
I bought my Boss 302 on November 9th 1976 from a Lincoln/ Mercury dealership here in North Vancouver. Competition Yellow and very highly optioned car. Drove it everywhere, even drag raced it at the old Irwindale Wednesday night grudge races. Ran high 14's-low15's, which isn't bad considering I drove it down from Vancouver to LA. Sold it a year later to an Asian guy in Richmond and lost track of it. It's not in Boss 302 registry.

Bought this Boss a year later and have owned it ever since. It was originally bought out of West Coast Ford in Mapleridge, BC. I'm the third owner and managed to track down the original owner who gave me the written up bill of sale for it. He traded a 1969 Cobra for it. 428 SCJ, 4-speed, formal roof model. It's a good runner, only has 14,000 miles on it, numbers match engine ( which is a miracle) and far as options, they came the way they came, I don't believe you could factory order one. I haven't driven this car since 2008? Been having fun with the 57 in my avatar out at Mission raceway and local get togethers.


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rmk57: Nice, very nice! Maybe a little more info in a project/build post? Hint, hint. I would like to see more on the 57 as well, looks like fun.
 
Once again, a bunch of us gathered for the 50th celebrations in Vegas. Donald was true to his word, as the article came out in the May 2014 issue of Mustang monthly and hit the news stands just before the anniversary. Sadly, we did not make the cover as some months before a new editor took over the magazine and I think we lost a 'fan', we still got the centerfold.

www.motortrend.com

1970 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet Sportsroof - Thanks For The Memories

"It shocked the living daylights out of me!" says Tony Rainero when describing his reaction to seeing his old Super Stock '70 Mustang for the first time after i
www.motortrend.com www.motortrend.com

I was in contact with some of the MCA people organizing the show trying to secure a prominent spot for the Mustang but it seemed like they were a little overwhelmed with it all. The show was large so I totally understood, although I thought if Ford was involved they would surely help to make sure it was a success? There was lots to see, you could even make laps on the speedway with your old or new Mustang if you wanted. One of the things we all noticed immediately, was not a lot of 65 to 73 Mustangs, one Boss 302, no Boss 429's. The other thing that amazed us were how many people came for the event from overseas from both directions as we were being thanked for being there as many told us they came to see 1st gen Mustangs and what they saw looked like a used car lot in their home towns. Still was a good show, more exposure for the car and met lots of nice Mustang lovers.

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As always, I forwarded the museum a brief overview and the related press we generated. The Mustang went back into storage in Vegas again.
 
At some point after SEMA or the Vegas show I got an email from Doug Boyce, an author for Cartech books. He had seen coverage of the Mustang and was authoring a book which ended up being called 'Drag Racing's Quarter Mile Warriors Then and Now'. It follows some old original cars, no clones, from there 'glory days' to present day. What a great idea for a book I thought and was in. Tony and I fed Doug with info/pictures for some time.

Drag Racing's Quarter-Mile Warriors: Then & Now (Cartech): Boyce, Doug: 9781613251331: Amazon.com: Books

Drag Racing's Quarter-Mile Warriors: Then & Now (Cartech) [Boyce, Doug] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Drag Racing's Quarter-Mile Warriors: Then & Now (Cartech)
www.amazon.com

I believe this book was somewhat influential as Greg Sharp (still the curator of the museum then and now) was holding it when I drove the Mustang into the museum in February of 2016. I got the call or email in late 2015 or early 2016 that said we have a spot for the Mustang, when can you bring it? I contacted Tony and we made plans to again get together for this. I am not sure how this happened, but Ford Performance now wanted to do an article and sent Bill Bozgan to document the intake and wrote an article for the online site. Here dropping it off.

Drag Racing's Quarter-Mile Warriors: Then & Now (Cartech): Boyce, Doug: 9781613251331: Amazon.com: Books

Drag Racing's Quarter-Mile Warriors: Then & Now (Cartech) [Boyce, Doug] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Drag Racing's Quarter-Mile Warriors: Then & Now (Cartech)
www.amazon.com

On display,

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This should be the end of the story, close but not quite yet. Will end this later....
 
Does the NHRA museum rotate their inventory? I know the Peterson museum has different themes and does change cars out.
 
Kind of, from what I've seen things come and go but it's years in between. Some I know move when unfortunately owners pass away and maybe the family wants to do something different? I know some of the cars end up being 'donated' to the museum after some years on display as well. I did inquire with the Petersen but the Mustang wasn't the greatest fit to what they had going on at the time. They do have a HUGE storage area they call the 'vault' with many cars down there that never get displayed. I didn't like that potential for the Mustang.

Sorry for the double link to Amazon above, was trying to find a link to the Ford performance article which seems to be gone now as it was very well done. Bill noted that the Mustang had returned to Pomona where it's started it life as a race car 46 years earlier. Another story I haven't told you about involved "The Border Bandit'. Long story short, he put a pass on the Mustang for Tony. Here is a picture from what would have been class run offs at the Winter Nationals when the Mustang was fresh out of Holman Moody Stroppe with not even a decal on it yet.

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Promise to end the story soon,
 
Going to try to finish this long winded story off now. I may have posted this link before (and tried to do above) but it's a short video done when we dropped the Mustang off at the museum. Just to show it still runs and I think the motor sounds pretty good when you consider it's a flat tappet cam motor built in 1973. I did no upgrades, just reassembled it with all the components that were on the motor when I bought it. Another neat fact it's mostly the motor shown in the 1971 Popular Hot Rodding article.


Needless to say, when you give a car to the museum to display there is some paper work. Nothing too crazy but I did notice some 'language' of being able to use the car for other purposes. I did not know what that meant but found out when I received an email from Greg Sharp in March of 2019. As some of you may know the Museum is called 'Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum' and now the key here, presented by the Automobile Clubs of Southern California. I did not know what relationship they had? The email was from a representative of the Auto Clubs asking for a vehicle to display at their 'Employee Car Shows', seems the theme for this year was the Ford Mustang. John Force had already committed one of Robert Hight's Mustang F/C and the Petersen had also given a vehicle. They were asking if my Mustang could also go on this tour. This is a yearly thing for the AAA, closed events only available to employees and guests where a few fixed vehicles go on tour and each location the employees get to display their own stuff. After talking with the rep, I liked the idea behind it and agreed. There were 4 shows confirmed at that time with the chance to add 2 more and would cross most of America and end back at Pomona at the Auto Clubs NHRA World Finals. They would need the Mustang from June to November so again, Greg and I made the trip in early June to meet those involved and turn over the Mustang. Of course, one of my first questions was 'does the Mustang go back into the museum? Yes.

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One of the things Tony and I had talked about while we were together, was maybe we could attend at a race someday? I asked the AAA rep about the end event, the Finals meant. The Mustang would be displayed at the World Finals through the races and then go back into the museum, you and Tony are of course invited to attend. OK, call Tony and he's in. We make arrangements to attend, AAA send us a few passes for all 4 days (Tony and I wanted to watch stock/super stock qualifying) including what was called SkyBox? Another long story short, we were treated like royalty, did a on stage interview with Allan Rienhart and ended up with ME handing out the Wallys to all the Pro Class winners! They dressed me up in AAA gear, Jianna Salinas (a new comer) won Pro bike and was crying/emotional, Jeg Coughlin won pro Stock, very nice down to earth guy, we chatted a bit as Hines showed up just then and the cameras ran over there, Doug Kalitta won Top Fuel and seemed in shock and a little out of it, and Beckman won Funny Car and was so excited he attacked me! That is the end of the story?

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As Beckman called me 'The Trophy Girl',

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Has been a great ride!
 
Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us. It makes for great reading between trips outside to shovel snow and think about Spring.
 
Thanks Bob for the fine story! Your commitment to that car is amazing. I know your a pretty conservative person in showing emotion but I'll bet your heart was pretty full the first time you unloaded and placed it in front of the museum, probably your ultimate dream for the car?
Fred
 
I looked forward to reading each days Mustang post. Thanks for taking the time posting your story.
 
Well done Bob, One of the greatest stories I have read. You got me googling 1970's NHRA events now and I'm loving it !
Thanks for Sharing (y) (y)
 
Thanks guys, glad you liked the story. Fred you are very correct that the NHRA museum was an unobtainable dream in my mind in the beginning but I was going to give it a try anyway. My last statement about being a great ride doesn't do the journey proper justice.

Another bit of information I think I can share here. Doug Boyce contacted me again early in the year about another new book he is doing. It will be on Mustang drag racing cars and the focus of the book is how and why they went fast. Delving more into the technical and secrets (what racers are willing to reveal). Tony will have all 3 Mustangs in there and has spilled some of his secrets. Doug did contact a bunch of the players from back in the day so I for one am looking forward to a great read. I do not know the title yet but I think it's coming out in the spring. Here are Tony's other two Mustangs you may not have seen. He held the record for years after he quit racing the 72 stocker.

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What a great read so far. Lots of efforts there that are very interesting to follow along in your story. Thank you for your efforts, I look forward to the remaining posts.
Greg.
 
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