This was one of the most unusual performance Mustangs ever made. Ford was
in fierce competition with Chrysler in NASCAR racing. The Hemi-powered Mopars
had a slight advantage on the speedways due to the better flow of the hemi-heads
on the 426 engines. So Ford decided to build their own hemi engine and came out
with the Boss 429 engine in ‘69.
It was hard to tell how much the new
engine helped because at the same time, Dodge racers were running the Charger
Daytona that used a huge rear wing and big shovel nose clip. Meanwhile, back in
Product Development, planners decided to make the new 429 engine part of the
Boss Mustang option even though the Mustang didn’t race in NASCAR.
Like
the Chrysler Hemi, the Boss 429 was HUGE! It was amazing that Ford was able to
stuff the engine in the Mustang engine compartment. The car was actually
somewhat of an odd-ball combination. Because the engine made the car very
front-heavy, it didn’t handle as well as the Boss 302 and it wasn’t as quick as
the Mach 1 or Cobra Jet Mustang. Dollar-for-dollar, the Boss 429 wasn’t the best
performance Mustang to buy.
Back at the race track, NASCAR felt that
things were getting out of hand with the Dodge and Plymouth winged cars and the
slant-nose Torino Fords, so restrictions were placed on the big Hemi-powered
cars, thus ending the monster powered NASCAR racers. Ford’s Boss 429 hemi effort
was about 3 years too late.
