So what makes a BOSS stang a BOSS?

I watched that Grand-Am race and have been thinking of doing some BOSS style stripes like the 2nd place race car.

 

Here are some ideas for stripes

 

BOSS Mustangs to me mean tight handling mustangs setup for racing. Larry Shinoda worked on some of the best, '69 BOSS 429.

He died in 1997 but it looks like someone is trying to carry on his association with the BOSS name tag.

http://www.teamshinoda.com/

 

A Boss 330 would be nice.

 

i actually saw on some website they were gonna release a shinoda boss for 2005

 

The original BOSS Mustang's of 1969-'70 differed quite a bit from all other Mustang's of those years.

Both the BOSS 302 and BOSS 429's didn't share their respective engines with any other Mustang.

The BOSS 302 was designed for TransAm racing and at that time they (Trans Am sanctioning body) had a displacement limit of 5.0 liters which is why both the Ford BOSS 302 and Chevy's Z28 both were 302's which worked out to just under 5.0 liters.

The BOSS 302 engine's head was designed for good air flow and differed completely from any other 302 engine. The heads that Ford developed for the BOSS 302 became known as "Cleveland" heads instead of the normal "Windsor" heads that were used on the 221, 260, 289, 302, and 351 Windsor.

The BOSS 302 head was the design used by Ford starting in 1970 in the Mustang with the 351 "Cleveland". Ford offered both the 351 Cleveland and 351 Windsor in the Mustang in 1970.

The BOSS 351 replaced the BOSS 302 in 1971 using the 351 Cleveland block and the heads from the BOSS 302 of '69-'70.

The BOSS 429 of '69-'70 was put into the Mustang so that Ford could use the "new" hemi head 429 that they developed for NASCAR racing.

It would have been much easier for Ford to have put the BOSS 429 into a Galaxie or T-bird but they instead chose the Mustang.

Because they chose the Mustang they had to "sent" the BOSS 429 cars to A.O. Smith to "alter" the shock towers and other front suspension pieces (the BOSS 429 engine would not fit in a stock Mustang). Ford through their dealers auctioned these cars off to the highest "closed" bidder.

Both BOSS 302 cars also differed with front fenders that had their wheel wells rolled back under (One way to tell if one is original).

The BOSS 302 of 1969 didn't have the fake vent in the quarter panel that all other '69 Sportsroof (fastback) cars did. Larry Shinoda didn't care for "tacked" on pieces which is also why the '70 Mustang lost these fake vents.

To sum it up the BOSS cars were quite special and rare even in their day.

P.S. The BOSS 302 replaced the '68 302 Tunnel Port which was quite powerful but had durability problems which allowed Chevy to walk away with the TransAm title in 1968, leading to Ford developement of the BOSS 302 head design for '69.

'69 BOSS 429's had solid lifter cams and most '70's had hydraulic.
'69 Boss 302 had larger valves than the '70 which Ford changed because of the lack of low end power in the '69's.

 

Cool, thanks for the pics and explanation.

 

Dave - thanks for the great history lesson. I just learned a lot from that!

 

Wow. I thought I had too much Mustang knowledge.

On a side note how cool would a 5.4L N/A Boss be. I really miss all that low end torque from the old days.

 

Thank you, I've always loved the BOSS cars especially the BOSS 302's.
Someday I'll get me a '69 BOSS 302 (love the white one pictured above). I had a chance to buy one (a '70 Grabber Blue) about 15 years ago. The guy had it apart in pieces but it was all there (it was real nice before he took it apart ). I knew the guy from the time a was a little kid, he was selling it because of health problems. I can't remember exactly what he wanted for it, but I think it was around $10,000.00. My mistake .

 

I would not buy anything from a place with such a crapptastic website. No excuse these days for a reputable company not to have a well made website.

 

I heard their shop is just as bad.

 

man, dave thanks. trying to give brad a run for his money on mustang knowledge there are you?

 

Check out this stripe!

 

And this stripe!

 

And this one from Bob White Decals.
The other two are from Graphic Express.

 

One last pic. I love the BOSS!