Yukon, Oklahoma - All 1960s and 70s Ford Mustangs are cool; that’s why they are big business in the states. An entire industry has grown up around restoring and supplying parts for early Pony Cars - anything from a brand new original tail-light lens to a complete crate engine.
But some Mustangs are extra cool, even by polar bear paw standards - and the coolest of them all are the first Boss Mustangs and the original Mach 1, made in 1969 and 1970. Rarest of all is the big-bore Boss 429, a homologation special built to legalise Ford’s then new seven-litre Nascar V8 racing engine.
The street-legal version was rated by Ford at 280kW, but that was just to fool the insurance companies; its actual output was closer to 400kW, fed to the rear wheels via a four-speed manual gearbox and a 3.91 ratio rear axle with a "Traction-Lock" limited slip differential. Top speed was in the region of 270km/h.
Scarcity value
Only 859 were made in 1969 and 499 in 1970; the survivors are now so scarce and valuable that most owners won’t drive them; in 2016 a nicely restored black 1969 Boss 429 sold for $500 000 (then R7.6 million) at a Barrett-Jackson auction in Palm Beach, Florida.
Which is why Classic Recreations of Yukon, Oklahoma, is now licensed by Ford to build the first ever complete recreations of the Boss 302 and Boss 429 Mustangs, as well as the 1969/70 Mustang Mach 1, using either a fully restored original body-shell from a less exotic variant of the same year or a brand-new Ford-approved replica body-shell from Dynacorn in Camarillo, California.
And a Classic Recreations 'restomodded' version. Picture: Classic Recreations
Each car will be hand-built to the customer’s specifications, using a combination of the latest chassis and drivetrain technology, and Ford-licensed reproduction parts, including a custom-built 429 engine with an updated valvetrain and state-of-the-art fuel-injection and engine management systems.
What you get is one of the most iconic muscle-cars ever made, that runs, stops and handles like a modern car.
'Period custom'
The Boss 302 Mustang, based on a similar shell, will be offered with either a brand new 5.2-litre DOHC 32-valve Ford Coyote V8 crate engine or a ‘period custom’ engine based on a 4.9-litre Windsor block using a long-stroke crank that takes it out to a full six litres.
And you can have a replica 1969/70 Mustang Mach 1 with just about any Ford engine from the current EcoBoost turbo engines to a period-original FE big block engine of up to seven litres.
Okay, they’re not originals, but they’re better daily drivers, and they’re not irreplaceable 50-year-old classics.