Try to imagine something decidedly annoying that doesn't get much of your attention. That would be a good way to sum up automatic transmission shifters in classic Mustangs. We use them whenever we drive our Mustangs, and they get really sloppy through time and use. They get so sloppy that it's sometimes hard to know what gear they're in.

There's not much to an automatic shifter; a lever, cable, pivot bushings, an indicator light, a lever underneath, and a shift rod that connects the shifter to the transmission. When the shifter is shoved into Park, it pulls on the transmission's detented bell crank that moves the valvebody's manual valve and parking pawl mechanism. When the shifter goes into Park, for example, we're moving the manual valve to neutral while engaging the parking pawl at the same time. For Drive or Reverse, parking pawl is disengaged, and the manual valve in the valvebody is slid into the appropriate gear range, which directs hydraulic pressure to the right combination of band servos and clutch pack engagement to get us going. The shifter has detents, like the transmission, to keep it in the proper gear range.

Ford automatic transmissions prior to '67 didn't have a conventional gear-selection pattern. For example, the C4 Dual-Range three-speed automatic transmission used in '65-'66 Mustangs has two basic driving positions: small dot and large dot. The small dot position is actually Second gear for winter road starts. The large dot gets us started in First gear, with a normal 1-2-3 upshift. Ford called them Drive 1 and Drive 2, respectively.

Beginning in '67, Ford went to a more conventional P-R-N-D-2-1 pattern across all models to offer a more simplistic shift pattern. This is important to remember when searching for a shifter. For '65-'66, the shifter detent pattern is different than '67-'68. Both the shifter body and bezel are different as a result.

In '69, Ford simplified shifter design by coming up with one automatic floor shifter for just about everything. For '69-'70, it was die-cast chrome. Beginning in '71, it became lightweight, black plastic over the same shifter. Because the FMX transmission was decidedly different than the C4 and C6, it didn't have the neutral safety/back-up light switch at the transmission. It was located in the shifter instead.

Little did Donald know when he wrote this edtiorial that it would be stirring up the Mustang world the way it has. To alleviate any questions people may have about the editorial, we now post it as it appears in the June 2006 issue of Mustang Monthly.

Some of your favorite Mustang parts companies are facing serious legal action, serious enough to possibly put some of them out of business, and it's coming from the most unlikely of sources: Ford Motor Company.

Over the past few months, a number of major Mustang parts companies have received a letter from Howard, Phillips, and Andersen, a Salt Lake City law office that represents Ford on trademark and anticybersquatting enforcement matters. Loaded with legalese, the four-page document boiled down to a couple of important demands: transfer to Ford any Internet domain name containing the word Mustang and, worse, discontinue using Mustang in the company name. In other words, many of the companies that you and I purchase Mustang parts from are being told to change their names or face a Ford-powered lawsuit seeking $100,000 in damages.

The letter also demands that the companies turn over for destruction all signs, banners, business cards, stationary, and so on, that use Mustang in the company name, along with a cashier's check for $5,000 in damages. One company was given less than two weeks to comply, and another has discontinued its advertising, a potentially devastating move for a mail-order company, until the situation is resolved.

Upon further research, it appears the matter will only be resolved when everyone--parts companies, Web sites, even magazines--stops using the Mustang name, primarily because Ford fears the usage might be construed as an affiliation with Ford. A source at Ford, who asked to remain anonymous, explained that Ford has decided to "reclaim its legacy" by protecting its trademarks and logos. "The intent is to eliminate the use of trademark names," including Mustang and Thunderbird, among others. Apparently, Ford went after companies using Ford in their name first; now it's time to clean up Mustang.

Because so many companies use Mustang as part of their names, the enforcement is being rolled out gradually to prevent overwhelming the lawyers. According to our source, companies contacted first were either high-profile, or they were not participating in or complying with Ford licensing agreements. He went on to state that every company with Mustang in its name will eventually be contacted.

We also talked to Scott Ryther, a lawyer at Howard, Phillips, and Andersen, who confirmed that companies without a current Ford trademark licensing agreement are likely to be contacted first. He declined to comment on how the trademark enforcement will proceed, but when asked if a gas station called Mustang Mart would fall into the gunsights, he replied, "If Ford finds out about it, they'll eventually be contacted."

About 10 years ago, Ford started making noise about the use of the Mustang name. As a result, some companies modified their name to include a descriptive word, such as Classic. When asked if those companies would still be targeted, our source at Ford said, "At the time, that was deemed acceptable. Ford has changed its mind."

So now companies are faced with making a name change, and it won't be as easy as replacing Mustang with Pony or Stang. According to Ryther, Ford is protecting those trademarks too. His suggestion is for companies to change their names to something generic like "Classic Car Parts," then add a tagline about specializing in Mustangs. Sounds confusing to me.

While some companies are breathing a sigh of relief because they decided early on not to use Mustang in their name, others are staring at financial, if not total, devastation. Many of these companies have 25-30 years invested in their name, and any marketing guru will tell you that a name change can hurt company recognition for decades. Whether or not a company decides to fight Ford in the courts or simply decides to comply with the demands, it's going to be expensive, and you can bet that the expense will be passed along to you and me in the form of higher prices for parts.

I understand that Ford has every right to protect its trademarks. But it bothers me that there is no distinction between legitimate companies, many of which have doing business with Mustang in their name for decades, and companies that might be looking to deceive or defraud by using the word. In this case, Ford is going after the very people who support Ford and its products. One of the reasons the Mustang hobby remains strong is because parts are readily available for restoration, maintenance, and performance. I have to wonder how successful the '05-'06 Mustang would be without the strong Mustang hobby that feeds off the parts supplied by manufacturers and vendors.

It's a great time to be involved in Mustangs. The new Mustang is a whopping success, prices for vintage Mustangs are strong, and restomodding has strengthened the hobby with most of the companies we talked to reporting increased sales this year. But if Ford follows through on its path for Mustang trademark enforcement, many of the people who manufacture and sell parts may be forced to find another line of work. And if they go away, then our entire hobby may be headed down the tubes.

I can only hope that Ford comes to its senses and sends this whole Mustang trademark thing down the tubes first.

Jim Klok was quick with his one request: "Please don't use 'The Boss is Back' because we've been building Boss Shinoda Mustangs for the past 10 years."

While the much-used slogan from Ford's '82 GT advertising campaign would certainly be the easy way out for an article title, we'll admit Klok has a point. Ever since Larry Shinoda re-created the Boss concept with his graphics package for the '94 Mustang, Boss Shinoda Mustangs have dazzled the eyeballs with stripes, spoilers, and wheels. With the new '05 Mustang's retro styling, the Boss package is more stunning than ever, especially in red with white graphics as the prototype shown here proves.

Shinoda, who created the Boss name and image for the Mustang Boss 302s, 351s, and 429s while working as a Ford designer in 1968-1970, would be proud, especially since Klok is making an all-out effort this year to inject more performance into the Boss Shinoda package. As the program manager for Shinoda Performance Vehicles, Klok's goal is to make the Boss Shinoda as bad as it looks to help erase the "sticker car" stigma, which the Boss Shinoda Mustangs earned early on when only decals were offered. The base '05 Legacy model comes standard with visuals only, but everything on the SPV option list is available at extra cost. The front chin spoiler was designed by SPV, but the rear spoiler is actually a reproduction '71 spoiler from National Parts Depot. According to Klok, the shorter pedestals on the '71 version worked better on the '05 decklid. We have to admit, it looks pretty good on the retro-styled '05 Mustang.

The Level 1 Boss Shinoda packs more punch with cold-air induction, performance tuning and exhausts, and handling modifications like Boss Control System springs and struts/shocks. Level 2 packages take performance up another big notch with supercharging (for an estimated 450 hp), a performance clutch, and additional handling enhancements.

The Level 3 Boss Shinoda is more like Level 10 with its standard twin-turbocharger setup. Although still under development when we visited Shinoda Performance in May, Klok is predicting 600 hp at the rear wheels. Now that's Boss.

The top-of-the-line Boss Shinoda package is the "Stroker Edition" with a 310ci version of the '05 Mustang's 4.6 three-valve engine. Although its naturally aspirated 400 rear-wheel horsepower can't match the twin-turbo, the Stroker Edition will feature a number of unique components, like a special "retro" stripe package (which may include hood stripes like the ones on the yellow convertible shown above, a Shaker hoodscoop, and a Magnum 500 wheel package with 17x9s up front and 17x11s at the rear.

Optional upgrades like a Baer performance brake package and a T56 six-speed manual transmission are available for all five Boss Shinoda models.

As in the past, anyone can order and install the Boss stripes and spoilers, as well as any of the offered equipment. However, starting with the '05 models, only Mustangs built at the Shinoda Performance Vehicles facility will be certified as true Boss Shinoda models with a numbered dash emblem. Drop-ship orders from Ford can be placed at Orville Beckford Ford/Mercury in Milton, Florida, by calling Bryan Ceasar at 850/623-2234. The cars are then delivered to Shinoda Performance Vehicles for the Boss Shinoda conversion and can be shipped to local dealers for final delivery.

Boss Shinoda HistoryWhen General Motors' Executive Vice President Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen was hired by Henry Ford II to run Ford Motor Company in February 1968, he brought with him designer Larry Shinoda, who was best known for creating the original Corvette Sting Ray concept at GM. Put in charge of Ford's Special Project Design Office, Shinoda quickly came up with an image package for the street version of the '69 Trans-Am Mustang fastback, calling it "Boss" in homage to his nickname for Knudsen while also realizing that the word was popular with young people. The resulting '69-'70 Boss 302s, with their Shinoda-designed stripes, spoilers, and rear-window louvers, established a new standard for musclecar visuals.

Three years later, Henry Ford II fired Knudsen, and Shinoda was out the door with him. Shinoda followed Knudsen to White Motor Corporation before starting his own company, Shinoda Design Associates.

In 1994 when then-Mustang Chief Engineer John Coletti put together a Boss 429-powered '94 Mustang concept car as a show piece, he added to the Boss-retro theme by asking Shinoda to design a stripe package. At one point, there was even talk of offering a production Boss as a special model from Ford SVO; but when the idea was eventually scrapped, Shinoda asked for and received permission to use the Boss name for a Boss Shinoda appearance package, including the stripe package, a Shinoda-designed rear spoiler, and "Shinoda by Budnik" wheels.

Jim Klok entered the picture when he was laid off from his job at Roush after his 5.0 intake manifold design was shelved in favor of a Roush ram-air induction package. Someone at Roush suggested that Klok offer the intake to Shinoda, who was looking for ways to add performance to the Boss Shinoda package. Eventually, Shinoda would recruit Klok as his performance manager.

When Shinoda passed away in November 1997, his daughter, Karen, and her husband, Brian Flahive, created Team Shinoda to continue the legacy of Larry Shinoda and his Boss Mustangs. Karen and Brian, who are both designers, are responsible for the current Boss Shinoda graphics and approve all aspects of the Boss Shinoda program. To eliminate confusion about Team Mustang being a "club," the name was recently changed to Shinoda Performance Vehicles.

Boss Shinoda Packages & OptionsS = Standard EquipmentO = Optional Equipment

By now, everyone knows of the havoc caused by Hurricane Katrina. Never before in our country's history has such an enormous number of Americans suffered so greatly from a single-or even series of-natural disasters. There's nothing we can say about the devastation and tragedy that hasn't been said a million times already. To help the victims as best we can, Year One has started the Hot Rodders' Relief Fund to collect donations for the Red Cross relief efforts. Every penny collected will go to the Red Cross.

Year One is in a unique position to quickly and effectively act as a collection center for donations. We have the business mechanisms in place to accept funds from customers via credit card, check, cash and electronically through our phone operators and our website. We have generated a specific part number in our system to track and account for every penny donated to the relief effort, and our system generates and mails a receipt to you for your donation.

All funds collected by Year One and our partners will be given to the Red Cross-there will be nothing "held back" for any sort of administration fees or anything else. Everything collected for the Red Cross will go to the Red Cross, to be used as they see fit. If you would like to help us in our effort, please visit www.yearone.com and click the Hot Rodders Hurrican Relief Fund logo or contact Marci Stevens at (706) 658-2140, Ext. 112, and we can determine the steps required to work with your organization.

Editor's note: The author is the only child of Phil Clark, the man who sketched the Mustang's original running-horse emblem. She, like the Mustang, celebrated her 40th birthday in 2004. Holly can be reached at kidofponymaker@aol.com.

It's a symbol adored by great men, desired by many, and recognized by almost everyone. The running pony has endured not only Vietnam, but also disco, the fall of Communism, and even the new millennium. It's still the quintessential symbol of the original ponycar. Regardless of the Mustang's fame, most don't know the story of the man who hand-sketched the running horse and whose mind captured the spirit of the Mustang.

My father, Phillip Thomas Clark, was only 27 in 1962 when he left General Motors to join Ford Motor Company. Ford's leadership promised to consider Clark's concept of a car that would not only be a means of transportation for the average American, but would also thrust its owner into the world of sports cars.

The "pony" came only after Clark and his associates at Ford spent nearly 100 arduous days working and reworking renderings of the final original design for the car now known as Mustang I.

My father had always been known for sketching animals. He sometimes even made amusing drawings on napkins as he lunched in Dearborn cafes. His wife, Marilyn, speaks even now of the pony's significance to her husband.

That uniqueness plays through even in Clark's artwork of the horse that gallops on the grille. In a popular board game, players are asked why the horse on the Mustang gallops to the left and not to the right. J Mays, Ford's group vice president of Design, said that Bill Ford requested research concerning Clark's work on the Mustang. Mays said, "Interestingly, I am informed that the reason the horse is galloping toward the left is because Clark was right-handed and it was more natural for him to draw the horse galloping to the left."

Today, more than 8 million Mustangs have been produced, most sporting Clark's emblem in four or more places. Mustang running-horse emblems are found on virtually everything possible, from T-shirts to car mats. The Mustang emblem is a wonderful legacy.

Clark had enormous vision for his work, and he desired to leave a legacy of more than a single running steed. He resolved to have a car with his name on it. He once said, "See the Cadillac? When you step into the door you see 'Body by Fisher.' One day I will create an automobile that you step into and it says, 'Body by Clark.'"

His short stint with General Motors did not allow him to create his heart's desire: a vehicle that would thrust futuristic designs into the real world. At GM, he worked on an imaginative city called Futurama for the 1964 World's Fair, and he designed "The Car of The Future" for GM's World's Fair display. When the task was completed, he and many others were let go.

Ford's Mustang would be the answer to his musings. He was at the right place at the right time when Ford hired Clark and several other young men for the Mustang I project. The car was dubbed the "100-day Wonder" because it was built in 100 days.

The Mustang I premiered at Watkins Glen on October 6, 1962. The white two-seater Mustang had a rear-drive, mid-ship engine and a welded aluminum skin over a steel-tube space frame. The headlights were retractable, a design Clark had drawn during his time with GM.

He had considerable input in the body design. He told his family this was the first time in Ford's history that one sketch was used for the design of a car. Until that point, auto companies combined bits and pieces of ideas from each designer.

J.J. Telnack, former vice president of Corporate Design, said, "Phil was one of our most talented designers and was part of the original Mustang design team throughout its development in 1962 until its launch. He had considerable influence on the total design with the early prototype Mustang concept vehicle that he directed."

Over the years, Clark was disappointed in the changes to the Mustang. He could hardly contain his disappointment, and the fact that his emblem remained on the vehicle was little consolation. He barely recognized what America would come to know as the Mustang. If the reflection of his friends and colleagues was an indicator, he would become more disappointed as the Mustang continued to evolve.

Clark met an untimely death at the age of 32. He suffered since childhood with an unknown urinary disease, and was on dialysis most of his adult life.

When you see the Mustang emblem of chrome, remember the legacy of Phil Clark: the man behind the running horse.

"Mustang prices are cheap!" Boston Bob, on the other end of the phone, paused as he gauged our surprise. Cobra Jets, Bosses, and especially Shelbys have been escalating, some in an almost vertical fashion, over the last year and a half. How can they be termed cheap?

Then, the New Englander hit us with the payoff. "They're cheap compared to other cars, like the Mopars."

Bob Brisbois restores old New England houses for a living. His after-hours passion is restoring Cobra Jets, such as his '69 convertible, on course for MCA Thoroughbred status. He's Cobra Jet crazy.

As Bob points out, classic high-performance Mustangs are part of a broader musclecar market that includes Chevrolets, Dodges, Plymouths, Pontiacs, and other American iron of the '60s and early '70s. When a '69 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 sells for $100,000, how can a Boss 302 be much less? They're rivals and street counterparts of their Trans-Am twins on the track. Or, when a '70 Hemi 'Cuda coupe fetches $250,000, what's a '70 Boss 429 (a hemi-powered ponycar) worth?

American muscle is hot. So, yes, as sardonic as Bob's comments sound, some Mustangs, though they've jumped wildly in price, just might be undervalued.

But how high can they go? How high will they go? Will they level off soon? What's the future hold for prices?

Bob Perkins, head Mustang Club of America national judge and full-time Mustang restorer from Juneau, Wisconsin, jumped into the fray with both feet, "I can tell you that, in my opinion, Boss 302s are the hottest thing going. Good ones are bringing in the $60,000 range."

By "good," Bob means either restored or excellent original. Like Boston Bob, Wisconsin Bob used musclecars as his point of reference for the current escalation of prices inside the Mustang hobby.

"I think any nice musclecar right now is going to command more money than they ever have. The Boss 302s are underpriced from the last jump in the late '80s." Perkins was referring to another time in the collector car hobby when prices soared. In those days, the Boss 302s did nothing.

He continues, "Now, all of a sudden the Z/28s and Boss 302s are really starting to get popular. I think the price of a '69 Z/28 has driven up the price of Boss 302s."

The 60-grand figure sounds regal, but is still one-third less than a Boss 302 brought this past January in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the Barrett-Jackson classic car auction. Bidders can get carried away at an auction. Perkins is a Boss connoisseur who knows the nuances, but maybe a wealthy buyer does not.

Perkins says, "The car at Barrett-Jackson was a perfect example of people not knowing what they were buying. After commissions, the price was like $90,000 and the car wasn't even painted the original color."

Furthermore, Perkins points out the seller had also chosen reproduction Firestone F70 tires, which is the wrong size for the Boss 302. He lamented the sale with the mantra of "people paying too much for incorrect cars." Nonetheless, the published reports of this price spread the word of $90,000 Boss 302s. He appraised the Barrett-Jackson Boss as a "$40,000 car."

Perkins opines top-notch Boss 302s should bring $75,000. Although these prices may worry some collectors-especially people who have procrastinated about buying their dream machine-he sees higher prices in a positive way. "It's to the point now that people can restore a Boss 302 correctly and not be buried in the car. It used to be they brought $35,000. You couldn't put all the correct parts on them and come out on the car. You'd spend too much money. Now, a top-notch 302 with correct parts, tires, and exhausts will probably bring $75,000 plus."

Restoration costs have long been the bugaboo of the hobby. Put $50,000 in a car, and it's only worth $25,000 to $35,000 the day it's done. This is no longer true with certain muscle Mustangs.

The Boss 429 falls into this category, as well. Perkins gave us a rule of thumb that is sure to excite Boss 429 owners who have held off restoring their cars. "If you can drive them onto a trailer, Boss 429s are worth $100,000, even if they are missing the good stuff."

If a driver is $100,000, how much is a restored Boss 429 worth? A benchmark was set last Labor Day when a black Boss 429 from the Woodhead Collection in Minnesota sold for $240,000. Numerous $200,000-plus prices at auction have backed up the price. However, there's a caveat, says Perkins, "If you've got a black one, it's worth probably $50,000 more."

It's amazing, but black is the rarest of the Boss 429 colors, and more important to price than an S-engine or T-engine, for example. A black Boss 429 has to be restored right or be an excellent original to look good because black shows imperfections more than any other color.

The Boss extended into the '71 model year in the longer, lower, wider body. Nevertheless, the Boss 351 is pure Boss, and prices reflect this heritage. Finding a top-notch Boss 351 is actually tougher than finding a Boss 302. Both will fetch about the same money-$75,000 in concours condition. The difference is the average Boss 351 brings less than the average Boss 302, say $20,000-$25,000 versus $30,000-$35,000.

Perkins is not a Shelby man, and in fact, there is a rivalry between Shelby and Boss enthusiasts. Initially, in 1965, Shelbys were royalty. They carried the racing colors and had the hottest engines. But the Boss cars took over the reins in Trans-Am. They were the hottest of the small-blocks and not available in the Shelby line. By 1970, Ford dropped the Shelby Mustang altogether.

Today, Shelby prices are rising at what Drew Alcazar calls an "accelerated" pace. In contrast, he sees Cobra Jets going up at a "standard market escalation rate."

Twenty years ago when Drew was a skinny teenager, we featured his blue 428 Cobra Jet Mach 1 on these pages. Later, he restored Mustangs at his Concours Restorations shop in California. Today, he's owner and president of Russo & Steele, an auction house specializing in sports and musclecars. They sell cars in Arizona in January, alongside Barrett-Jackson, and also in Monterey, which is their big sports car event.

Drew has gone big-time. With success came a few gray hairs, but the boyish smile is still there, along with his enthusiasm for Mustangs. Drew spoke to us about Shelbys, starting with 6S0001, the first '66 Shelby built. The selling price at his Scottsdale auction was $280,000.

Aknowledgeable Mustang enthusiast, he warned, "Does that instantly translate to all '66 GT350s making a huge, dramatic jump in value? Guys will call me and say they've got a car exactly like that. Well, first of all you can't have a car exactly like that because there's only one '66 GT350 with serial number one on it."

Drew refused to hype prices and called the sale an "anomaly" that auction houses like to "wave the banner over." He knows Shelby Mustangs from 20 years of experience in the hobby. He sounds like a Mustang enthusiast first and an auction person second.

He posed the question, "What are the two Shelbys at the top of the bell curve since the beginning of time?" His answer is the '65 GT350 and the '68 GT500KR convertible. According to Drew, those two Shelbys are "neck and neck for the top-dog spot."

Then, Drew said, "It depends on if you want an early Ricky Racer with a buckboard suspension and sidepipes howling in your ear that you put a license plate on. Or, whether you want a car that's got some cushy, comfort amenities with woodgrain on the dash and a kind of GT cruiser thing.

"The '67 GT500s have eclipsed both the rough-riding '65 and the cushy KR for the top spot, pulling from $135K to $175K. Nobody will forget the $280,000 the '67 GT500 with the 427 Shelby aluminum engine brought at Barrett-Jackson in 2004. Meanwhile, '65 GT350s are "around $150,000 to buy a concours-type car," Drew estimated.

Drew's surprise for us was the KR, dethroned and in the $100,000 to $125,000 range for a documented, restored, no-stories car, now deemed his dark horse. As high as Shelbys have risen, he feels the KR is under-valued. "Everybody is so gee-gawed about Eleanor cars and '67 this, that, and the other. I remember the days when '67 Shelby Mustangs were red-haired stepchildren."

No more. Price wise, is the '67 GT500 the king Mustang musclecar? Or does the title go to the Boss 429?

Meanwhile, Cobra Jets follow what Drew calls "a standard market escalation" seen in all kinds of musclecars. Prices are high, but not wild.

Perkins says, "Top-notch Cobra Jet Mach 1s are going to bring $75,000-$85,000 with all the stuff on them. But one missing tires, exhausts, and all the trick stuff under the hood? No."

Times do change. Mustangs were once mainly collectible to the Mustang community. Now, with the popularity of musclecars, it's open season on Shelbys, Bosses, and Cobra Jets.

Will prices level off? Roger Gibson, who mainly restores muscle Mopars, says, "Right now, it's a hard market to figure out what cars are worth."

Perhaps owners are holding, afraid to sell with the market accelerating. So are muscle Mustang prices cheap? Roger says the key is to compare Mustangs with other marques based on rarity and desirability. Boston Bob says ultra rare is a car they made 12 or 15 of. Roger agrees and adds Mustangs were made in large numbers. The '71 Hemi 'Cuda convertible that brought $3,000,000 at Scottsdale this past January was one of 11 built. It is the king of musclecars. Had Ford built a Boss 429 convertible in such numbers, we would have an apples-to-apples comparison.

Meanwhile, Drew sold a Parnelli Jones-driven Trans-Am Boss 302 for $500,000. That's ultra rare. It's got race history, same as the '65 Shelby Mustang GT350R.

Will prices level off? Boston Bob says no. Roger says, "Well, it has to do something."

Time will tell.

Running On Empty?"We're at the bottom of the barrel," says Rick Parker of Signature Auto Classics in Columbus, Ohio. Rick had a taste of today over 10 years ago when he went to a shop to see a friend.

He tells us, "My friend was working on a '37 Ford. I don't want to call anybody's car a piece of junk, but the thing was in horrible condition. There was nothing left. He was building a street rod. He says, 'Don't laugh, this is where you Mustang guys will be in 10 to 15 years.' He was right. We're now building cars that were parts cars 10 to 15 years ago."

Does this illustrate that we're running out of cars? In the '70s, the street-rod industry began building Model A bodies, then Deuce Coupes, and so on. Those first bodies were fiberglass. With Mustangs turning 40, we're about as far out as the cars of the late '20s and early '30s were in the '70s, when the industry started making those bodies.

Hot Rod magazine reported last October on the new '69 Camaro body from CARS (Classic Automotive Restoration Specialists) in Belews Creek, North Carolina. We visited with Jim Barber there, who verified the '69 Camaro will soon be joined by a '67 Mustang fastback. The estimate is in the $15,000 vicinity-no higher, but possibly lower. For this money, you'll receive basically a shell from the radiator support back, meaning full unibody minus front fenders, hood, doors, and trunk lid.

Who Are The Buyers?In 1989, the big rise in musclecar prices was peaking. The boom abruptly went to bust following America's surprise invasion and war against Iraq in January 1991 (which coincidentally started just as the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction was getting underway).

Boston Bob doesn't think we'll correct like 1991 because "we're years along now." He believes the previous boom was populated with speculators and older collectors more interested in pre-'60s vehicles, compared to people who are now in their forties and fifties and favor cars of the '60s.

Drew Alcazar pegs these 45- to 65-year-old buyers as affluent. George Waydo, owner of K.A.R. in Columbus, Ohio, has a showroom full of classic Mustangs. He says his customers call and ask the price of a car they want. Many are baby boomers buying the '60s car of their dreams. George says they want a "youth-extender," and a musclecar fits the bill.

"They are not conscious of value," George points out. "They don't know if a car is worth $19,000, $29,000, or $49,000. They just know they can afford it."

Are Longtime Owner/CollectorsThrilled With Prices?Dennis Falk owns a pair of Shelbys, both '69 GT500 convertibles. Prices are about $100,000 for fastbacks, and at least 50 percent more for convertibles. One of his Shelbys is an unrestored original. The other is in the paint shop and under restoration.

We asked, "Are you excited because your cars are going up in value?"

He answered, "Me? No. I mean, if I was going to sell it, yes. But I don't plan on selling. It gives me a good feeling to know my investment hasn't gone down. It's like buying a stock. If you're going to hold it, it's only worth what it is when you are ready to sell it. That's how I look at it. Had I bought them purely as investments, yeah, it'd be a nice deal."

Falk is a banker with the attitude of many of us. We don't want to sell and not have a car. His course remains the same as when he bought the Shelbys: "Buy it, drive it, and enjoy it."

Top 10 Known Prices for '64 1/2 to '73 MustangsIn the Nov. '04 issue, we compiled our first-ever, top-10 Mustang price list. Now, after the big winter auctions, six of the original ten have been bumped from their lofty spots. Interestingly, last year's list included a number of restomod-type cars; this year's list is dominated by original muscle Mustangs.

For nearly four decades, the name Bud Moore was synonymous with Ford racing, as he built and campaigned cars for some of the best NASCAR drivers in the history of the sport. By the time he sold Bud Moore Engineering in 1999, Bud Moore cars had won 63 NASCAR and Winston Cup races (seventh all-time) and 43 poles (ninth all-time).

But more importantly to Mustang enthusiasts, Bud Moore built and campaigned Boss 302 Mustangs for the '69-'71 Trans-Am seasons. With drivers Parnelli Jones and George Follmer (along with a second team campaigned by Shelby), the Boss 302s came up short in 1969. But Bud's team returned with a vengeance in 1970 to win 6 of the 11 races to take the '70 Trans-Am Championship.

Born on May 25, 1925, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Bud Moore was a war hero before he became a racing hero. At D-Day during World War II, he was one of the first to land at Utah Beach. Serving in the Third Army with General Patton, Moore went all the way to Berlin and returned home in 1945 with two Bronze Stars and five Purple Hearts.

Back home, he found himself "tinkerin' " with cars, and opened a shop so he could fix used cars to resell. In a June 1994 Super Ford magazine interview, Moore explained, in his deep Southern dialect, how the ball started him rolling toward racing. "We done a lot of work on what the bootleggers called 'moonshine cars.' All I did was work on them. I don't even know who drove 'em. All I know is we never had one of them stopped."

By the late '40s, Moore was running three or four times a week at local tracks and competing in races staged by Bill France's new National Association of Stock Car Racing, or NASCAR. In 1961, he created Bud Moore Engineering, with Joe Weatherly driving Pontiacs to championships in 1962 and 1963. By the end of 1963, Moore had switched his allegiance to Ford's Mercury Division to campaign cars for Weatherly and Darrell Dieringer. In 1967, Mercury asked Moore to build and race Cougars in the SCCA's new Trans-Am series. With drivers like Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney, Ed Leslie, and Peter Revson, Mercury would finish second in the championship standings, just two points behind Mustang. Mercury dropped out of Trans-Am for 1968, but Moore and his Cougars jumped to NASCAR's short-lived Grand American series, where Moore won the championship.

His road-racing experience paid off when Ford came calling for him to campaign a pair of new Boss 302 Mustangs for 1969. Putting his NASCAR business on hold, he dove full-time into Trans-Am to develop and build red, white, and black Mustangs for Parnelli Jones (No. 15) and George Follmer (No. 16). On the other side of the country, Shelby American was doing the same with blue and white Boss 302s for drivers Horst Kwech and Peter Revson.

Ford's four-car attack jumped into an early championship lead by winning four of the first five races (three by Moore cars). But problems with the Firestone tires prevented the Mustangs from winning another race, and Ford eventually lost the championship by 14 points to Roger Penske's Camaro driven by Mark Donahue.

For 1970, Moore returned to Trans-Am with new '70 Boss 302 Mustangs and the entire effort on his shoulders as Ford eliminated the Shelby team entirely. The school-bus-yellow Mustangs of Jones and Follmer dominated, winning the first four races and six total to win the Trans-Am championship over new rival American Motors. Jones also won the Drivers' Championship.

Ford withdrew support from all forms of racing at the end of 1970, but Moore continued as an independent during the '71 Trans-Am season. With drivers Follmer and Peter Gregg, along with sponsorship help from contractor S.S. Jacobs, Moore's Mustangs managed to win three races and finish second to the factory-backed American Motors' Javelins.

He returned to NASCAR in 1972. Over the next 20 years, Fords built by Bud Moore Engineering would win races for a who's who of NASCAR's top drivers, including Buddy Baker, Bobby Allison, Benny Parsons, Dale Earnhardt, Ricky Rudd, Geoff Bodine, and Morgan Shepherd. In 1999, Moore sold his operation to Fenley Racing.

Now 80, Moore spends most of his time "running my cattle farm" at his home south of Spartanburg. He was inducted into the Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame in 2002.

MM: You were running NASCAR in the early '60s. How did you get involved with Ford's Trans-Am program?BM: Well, I've been racing since 1947. I'd run modified Fords up until about 1951, and I ran some Fords in '56. We ran Pontiacs in 1960 through part of '63. Then we got hooked up with Lincoln-Mercury in the last of '63. We ran Grand National with Joe Weatherly, Darrell Dieringer, Billy Wade, and several more of 'em. But then Mercury wanted to run the Cougar in 1967 in the Trans-Am series. Fran Hernandez, who was over the Mercury racing program, had us build a couple of Cougars. We had Parnelli Jones, George Follmer, Dan Gurney, Peter Revson, Ed Leslie-those were all the drivers that drove them Cougars. We ran awful good in the '67 Trans-Am series. We lost the championship at the last race in-I think it was Kent, Washington-because of dead batteries. What happened, Ford had made some smaller batteries-not much bigger than a motorcycle battery-to save weight. Now on the pit stops, you had to cut your engine off, then the engine had to fire on itself . Well, George was running second so we brought him in first. And it wouldn't crank. So we had to push him behind the wall to put a battery in it. And the same thing happened to Parnelli. That cost us the race and the Points Championship.

In 1968, they wouldn't let us run the Cougars because we were out-running the Mustangs. I think Shelby ran the Mustangs in '68, and Penske tore their butt up real bad. In the fall of 1968, Jacque Passino from Ford called me and said, "I need you to come to Detroit. We need to talk over a couple of things." So I went up there and they said they wanted me to take over the Trans-Am series for 1969. Said they were testing the 1969 Mustangs right then in Riverside, California, and they couldn't stand to be beat like they were the past year. So I took over the Mustang program in the fall of '68.

MM: In 1969, Mustangs won four out of the first five races, with your cars winning three of them. Then Mustangs didn't win any more the rest of the season. What happened?BM: We had tire problems. Like Parnelli was talking here the other day. He said, "You know, if we'd made Firestone fix those tires we wouldn't have lost that series." What hurt was the fact that Parnelli was a Firestone distributor. We hollered with them and this and that, but they said, "There ain't nothing wrong with the tires." If we'd just put our foot down a little bit harder and had done something to the tires, like Parnelli said, we'd have won three or four more races without any problems.

MM: But then you won the championship in 1970.BM: Yep. In the fall of '69, we got on Firestone's butt real hard and told them to fix the tires or we were going to run Goodyears. So they decided they better fix 'em and we won the championship hands-down in 1970. We had some Mustangs for the '71 season-in fact, I had already got a couple or three to build for 1971. That's when Ford got out of racing, in the fall of 1970, so we went racing as an independent.

I was the one, you know, who started working on the small-block engines in NASCAR because we had so much experience with the 302. We pioneered the 351 Cleveland in '72 and '73, and we were competing against the big-block motors, which were running restrictor plates. We ran awful good with 'em. And France decided, and told Chevrolet in the early part of 1973, "You better get your small-block ready because we're going to switch from 427s and 429s to 358 cubic-inch." So we did. That's one thing that kept us going, because we did all the experimental work from 1971 and 1972 on the Cleveland small-block.

MM: So working with the Trans-Am Boss 302s, with their Cleveland heads, helped you in Winston Cup?BM: Oh, yeah, that's one thing that helped us real strong, you know, as far as what we could do with the cylinder heads and stuff.

MM: In late 1968 when you started with the Boss 302 program, did Ford build the engines for you?BM: Oh, no, we built the engines ourselves. We done all the experimental work. In fact, we're the ones that built the mini-plenum intake, a box-type manifold we ran in 1970 on the 302. After that, I pioneered a box-type manifold for the 351.

MM: Ford gave you complete '69 Mustangs and your guys tore them down to build them into race cars, right?BM: We built the race cars from scratch. Now, we did have some help out of Ford; they helped build some rear ends for us-hubs, safety equipment, and all this kind of stuff. We had a couple of chassis engineers from Ford who gave us a hand. We all worked together on it. We came up with a real good package.

MM: Did you share any information with the Shelby team?BM: Well, they ran their program and I ran ours. I never was asked to let out any secrets as far as Shelby was concerned. I guess Passino and them up there at Ford figured they'd let each person run their own team.

MM: Lee Morse worked on the Boss 302 engine at Ford, then later became the director of Ford SVO. Did you know him in the '60s?BM: Yeah, I'm the one that got him a job at SVO when Ford came back strong in 1980-'81. When Michael Kranefuss came over from Germany , he came to Spartanburg to talk to me about what we needed for the 351. I said, "Well, the first thing you need to do is get some good people up there. You need to find Lee Morse, wherever he is at Ford, and get him over there." Mose Nowland was the other one. He knew all about how to get cylinder blocks made, so they got him. That's how we all started working together and got things rolling.

MM: In the '60s, NASCAR competitors were known for stretching the rules. Did you bring some of that to Trans-Am?BM: Well, you know , we done everything we could, what we could get by with. It was pretty hard to get by with anything on the bodies. They'd let you make a little bit of clearance on the fenders. SCCA was pretty smart. They'd go to a school where they had mechanical engineering and they'd get engineering students, telling them, "Alright, now go down to the Ford place, or Lincoln-Mercury place, or whatever, and measure up a Mustang or a Cougar or whatever, and do the same thing on a Camaro, on the Plymouth Barracudas." So when you came through the inspection line, the students got out there and they measured that car. You didn't get by them too much. They did allow a little on the fenders, but not much.

MM: We remember one report that they were weighing Parnelli's '70 car and it came in under weight. The write-up said you noticed the car was missing its air cleaner, so you ran back to the pits to get it. With the air cleaner on, the car made the weight. Were the cars that close?BM: We had to weigh, as well as I can remember, 2,700 pounds. That was with an empty fuel tank. We had them where they weighed 2,700 pounds right on the nose. What happened was, when the race was over, you pulled in and they weighed the cars. If it weighed over 2,700 pounds, we was fine. But that particular situation, we rolled across the scales and we were a little on the light side. And when we put the air cleaner on, it was right.

MM: Judging by some of the photos we've seen of you in the garage and pits, you were a hands-on owner.BM: I done whatever it took. Didn't make any difference what. I done whatever I could and whatever effort I could put into it to help out all the way. I think that's another reason why our crew worked so good, because we all worked together. It didn't make any difference to me if I was cleaning the windshield or using the jack or air wrench.

MM: Who were some of your crew members back then?BM: Well, that's hard to say. We had different groups, kept changing them all the time. My oldest son Darrell, he ran the engine room, along with Daniel Fowler and a couple or three more of 'em back there. Ken Myler was the shop foreman. We had a good crew, and they all worked together real well.

MM: In 1969, you had two four-barrels, and in 1970 the rules limited you to a single four-barrel. Did that cost you much horsepower?BM: With two 4500s on it-that's what they were, four-barrels-we had a little bit more torque and power. But the problem was, it was unusable power. It didn't run around the racetrack real good and clean. So during the '69 season, we was working on that mini-plenum box manifold. When we got it perfected, we'd take a car and go test with different manifolds. And we found out we could run 11/42, 31/44 second faster around the racetrack with the box manifold instead of the two big four-barrels. It was just a better combination for road racing.

MM: Did you ever do any testing with the Autolite Inline four-barrel?BM: Yeah, we tested that too. It didn't do too bad, but it wouldn't compete with that little box manifold.

MM: Ford had the rear spoiler as an option on the street Boss 302s. You didn't use them in '69 but you used them in '70. Did they make any difference?BM: It helped a little, but very little. That was just something that was an eye-catcher. Just like in '70, we had the cars painted school-bus yellow. We changed to that color because Ford wanted them to stand out. If we were painted red and there was two or three other red ones out there, you couldn't tell which one was which. So we painted 'em all school-bus yellow, and when they came around, everybody knew which car it was.

MM: When did you start using the number 15?BM: The 15 came along about 1967. See, Parnelli ran for Stroppe out on the West Coast, driving Mercurys in USAC. His number was 15. So when Parnelli came over to drive the Mustang, we decided we'd make his car 15 and the other car would be 16. So from then on, all up through the whole time I was racing-through NASCAR and the Winston Cup series and everything else-I ran the number 15.

MM: In 1970, the side stripes were mounted lower on the body than on the street cars. Why was that?BM: We did that on account of the number. See, when you put the number in the round circle, we didn't want the black stripe to be part of that white circle. The number had to be a certain size and it had to be in a circle. So we moved the number up as high as we could and we put the black decal stripe on below it, so it wouldn't run through it. It balanced out and worked real well.

MM: Did you ever meet Larry Shinoda, who designed the Boss stripes?BM: Yeah, I met him several times. I'm sure he came to some of the races, but I can't exactly remember.

MM: There was a lot of travel involved to get to all of the races. How did you manage that?BM: We had some help from the SCCA, talking them into running all of the races on the West Coast at the same time. Then we'd come back to the middle part of the country and then on the East Coast. So when we'd go out to the West Coast, we'd run two or three races out there before we came back to the shop-unless they got tore up real bad or something other happened and we'd have to get another car. But we always carried a spare car.

MM: What was it like working with Parnelli?BM: He was about as enjoyable as anybody I worked with. We worked together real good. He'd go out and run the car, and we'd talk about what would help it a little bit here and there. If things weren't going exactly right, we'd make a few changes to where it made him happy, that's all. I remember one time I had a new-type carburetor I wanted to try. It showed a little more power on the dyno. So I reworked everything on it and I put it on the car. Didn't say nothing to Parnelli about it. He went out and run a lap or two, then he come in and said, "I want my damn carburetor back."

I said, "What's wrong with that one?"

He said, "It's not smooth, and it's not running through the corner exactly like the other one did."

I said," Well, we need to work on it."

And he said, "Let's just put mine back on." So I had to put the carburetor he'd been running back on. He knew right quick it wasn't the carburetor he had to start with.

MM: He was a pretty aggressive driver. BM: One thing I always heard him say-he used to call Donahue and all them "Fruit Cuppers." He'd say, "Ain't no Fruit Cupper going to out-run me if I can help it." And they didn't, either.

MM: Winning the Trans-Am championship must be one of the highlights of your career.BM: We won the Grand National championship in 1962 and 1963. We won that Grand American championship in 1968. Then winning the Trans-Am championship in 1970, it was one of the biggest things in my career. The next thing, I guess, was winning the Daytona 500 in 1978 with Bobby Allison.

MM: We remember seeing that pile of wrecked Trans-Am Boss 302 Mustangs behind your shop. Can you believe what they're worth today?BM: Somebody told me those cars are worth about $300,000 to $400,000. I was out at Monterey last year and I saw one of the '69 Trans-Am Mustangs that Vic Edelbrock had out there. And I saw some other '69s and '70s. They have accounted for all the Mustangs we ran in '69 and '70 except one. That car went to Mexico City. Some Mexicans bought that car and it ran a race down there. They wrecked it and brought it back, and we fixed it. They left and I don't know whatever happened to that car. Nobody else does either.

What amazed me was the car that George wrecked at Laguna Seca. That car was tore up pretty bad. We stripped it down and it sat out there back of the shop for, oh, I don't know how many years. A guy come by one day and he said, "I'd like to have some parts off that old Mustang sitting back there." I said, "There ain't no parts worth much on it." Ken Myler sold him that thing. I don't know what he got for it or how they done the deal. He wanted that thing bad. I think he restored it.

MM: Any other stories from your Trans-Am days?BM: Well, I might be able to think up some more by Carlisle.

What's The Bore?In the Nov. '04 issue, the In Search of Mustangs column indicates that a 289 engine bored .040 should be considered a "throwaway" when rebuilding. What is the maximum bore you recommend?Birl AdamsWhitefish, MT

Engine-block castings do not have to be absolutely identical to each other, because precise areas will be machined to perfection after the casting is complete. A good casting is one that allows for the original machining without regard for future machining operations. Ford small-block engines have enough material in the cylinder-bore area to allow for a finished cylinder diameter of up to 4.030 inches and still provide enough material for proper cylinder-wall strength. This is common to any typical block casting from the Ford foundry. Some castings may have come out better than others and will have a more uniform, thicker cylinder-wall area that allows for an additional overbore, up to .060 inch in some cases. Simply stated, all small-blocks can be safely bored .030, while some can tolerate up to .060.

To determine a cylinder wall's thickness, the engine builder or machine shop can perform a sonic test. Should the block prove to be exceptional with thick, round walls, an .040 or .060 bore is OK. Sonic testing is expensive and not all machine shops have the equipment to perform the test. It's much simpler to use any block and limit the overbore to .030.

Power AlignmentI have installed power steering in my '69 Mach 1. The water-pump hose is on the left side, but my power-steering bracket might be for a right-side water pump. The bracket is a little off. Is there a difference between righthand and lefthand brackets?Gary MakarVia the Internet

The brackets do indeed differ slightly and can lead to alignment problems. As you mention, the problem is relatively small. With a bit of filing and a few spacers, the power-steering pump can be properly aligned.

Head SwapI have a '67 Mustang fastback with the 289 two-barrel engine. I recently upgraded to a four-barrel Edelbrock intake and carburetor, and recently got my hands on a set of stock heads from an '89 5.0 engine. Would it be worthwhile to install these heads? I also obtained a set of 1.7 rocker arms.Larry WaughColorado Springs, CO

Because the late-model 5.0 heads are basically a copy of the 289 heads currently on your engine, there is no advantage if you install them. The roller rockers, however, increase the camshaft parameters, but not as much as they would with a 5.0 camshaft. I suggest you switch to the Edelbrock camshaft that's designed to complement the carb/manifold combination. The Edelbrock folks have spent countless hours on the dyno to develop these packages, and they make good power without sacrificing driveability. A good performance exhaust system is also in order, utilizing headers as your budget permits.

Six-Cylinder DiscsAs a new subscriber, I don't know if you've answered this before. I've owned a six-cylinder '66 convertible for nine years. I rebuilt and installed a 351 Windsor, FMX transmission, and a 9-inch rearend out of a '69 Cougar. My only problem is the factory four-lug six-cylinder brakes on the front. All of the disc-brake kits do not bolt to the six-cylinder spindles. What's my best option to get better braking and possibly a dual master cylinder for safety?Dan BaberBuchanan, MI

You'll have to install V-8-style spindles in order to install disc brakes on an early six-cylinder car. Replacement of the small spindles is a good idea regardless of brake choice because the six-cylinder spindles are prone to breakage. They also utilize undersized wheel bearings that are prone to failure.

We have indeed covered this subject many times before, but we'll hit the highlights again. The V-8 spindles from most Ford intermediate vehicles are interchangeable as long as they are used with the corresponding wheel bearings and outer tie-rod ends. Two styles of disc brake assemblies can be used: either the four-piston, fixed-caliper style from 1965-1967 or the single-piston, floating-caliper style from 1968 and later. Early fixed calipers utilize a bracket to mount the caliper to the spindle, therefore the spindle can be from either a disc-brake or drum-brake vehicle. Later floating calipers fasten to the spindle directly, thus disc-brake spindles are unique to a disc-brake car.

Your choice of disc-brake styles will obviously dictate the spindle choice. The early four-piston setup is correct for your car. However, they cost more and used parts are not readily available. The newer style single-piston setup is more common as it was also used into the '80s on Granadas, so a donor car can usually be located fairly easily. If you still have the '69 Cougar, its brakes will bolt into your convertible with the '69 tie-rod ends.

A dual master cylinder from a '67 and newer Mustang will fit your early car with a bit of fabricated plumbing. A proportioning valve for the rear brakes must also be plumbed in.

Boss Headers In A '66I have a '66 Shelby GT350 with a Boss 302 engine and I'm trying to locate someone who makes headers for that application. Any help would be appreciated.Brad PippettVia the Internet

A set of headers for a '69-'70 Boss 302 Mustang will fit your combination. However, the tube for the No. 2 cylinder will require some slight modification because the tube interferes with the shock tower. It should be cut and rewelded to provide clearance.

Another choice is a set of specialty headers designed to install a 351 Cleveland engine into a '65-'66 chassis. As you know, Boss 302 heads are almost identical to 351 Cleveland four-barrel heads, so those headers will bolt up to the Boss engine. A small interference may occur because the Cleveland is a little taller and wider than a Boss 302. However, it can be done. Call Mustangs Unlimited at 888/398-9898 for a set of its conversion headers.

Not-So-Cool JerkI own a '72 Mustang hardtop with a 302/automatic. For some time while driving between 25 and 55 mph, I get a jerking, holding-back sensation. I performed a complete tune-up (points, condenser, cap, rotor, plug wires, PCV valve, and air filter) and even switched to a PerTronix ignition system. The problem is still there. The car accelerates just great, and runs fine otherwise. It only exhibits the problem at a steady speed. What else should I check?Andy KobackVia the Internet

The condition you describe is a classic case of "lean surge" and is related to a problem in the carburetor. The problem is in the intermediate circuit and is creating an improper air/fuel mixture under light throttle conditions. A carburetor is a combination of idle circuit, intermediate circuit, and power circuit as it must provide the correct air/fuel mixture under all those driving conditions. As you can imagine, the carburetor must blend the circuits together continuously, depending upon engine load, for seamless operation. It doesn't take much to upset the carb and only a small amount of debris or varnish deposit from old gasoline can partially clog a circuit. Rebuild or replace your carburetor and your problem should be solved.

Sprint StripingI purchased a '66 Mustang hardtop in 2003 and began the long process of converting it into a restomod. The pinstripes on the side puzzle me. I searched many Web sites for accent-stripe kits, but can only find the ones for a GT or a Shelby, which my car is not. Then, in your June '04 issue, there was a Resto Roundup answer that said the Sprint 200 edition included a "body-side accent stripe." My car came with the chrome air cleaner with the Sprint 200 decal, so that explains the striping on my car. My question is, where can I get replacement stripes?Jennifer CookNew Bern, NC

The accent stripe is unique because it was painted on at the factory, as opposed to an added-on tape stripe. A special fixture was used on the assembly line to apply the painted striping.

As such, the stripes aren't reproduced. However, you can use striping tape, available in various width and colors from any local autobody supply store. A shop that specializes in vehicle lettering can easily hand-paint the stripes should you prefer the factory look as opposed to aftermarket tape.

Send your questions to: Beyond the Basics, c/o Bob Aliberto, P.O. Box 205, Salt Point, NY 12578. E-mail us at mustang.monthly@primedia.com.

There are many ways to enjoy a vintage Mustang these days. Some owners prefer to take the restomod route and maintain the vintage appearance while improving comfort and performance with modern components. Others are fanatical about originality; they go to great lengths to obtain new-old-stock parts in the quest for Mustang Club of America recognition. The more adventurous among us drive our older Mustangs every day, while the majority tend to save their prides and joys for weekend cruises and shows.

How you intend to use your Mustang will dictate how you build your Mustang. Circumstances may play a role. Maybe your Mustang is your only car. In that case, you're looking at a daily driver, otherwise it's a long walk to work. Today, most stay home during bad weather and go out to play on nice weekends.

We suspect you already own your Mustang, or perhaps you've got your eye on one to purchase. And we imagine you've already pictured yourself driving into the office parking lot every day or stepping up to the podium to receive your show trophy, so you know which way you're leaning. We've got some ideas and suggestions that can help make your Mustang ownership, whether you're driving daily or strictly showing, a more pleasurable experience.

No matter which way you go with your Mustang, you need to have a solid undercarriage and body. Rust problems won't go away on their own-they only get worse with time. Before you drop in that 5.0 powerplant or pay a couple of grand for a stereo system, replace the rusty sheetmetal or frame components. It will be expensive, but it should be your first priority. Otherwise, you could have a nice little Mustang with doors that pop open every time you pop the clutch, or you could experience wet carpet and feet whenever it rains thanks to a leaking cowl vent.

Daily DriverIt takes a brave person to drive an older Mustang every day, and fewer and fewer Mustang owners are subjecting their cars or themselves to the challenges of maintaining a 35-40-year-old car on an everyday basis. Maintenance alone can be frustrating on top of typical aging problems like leaking window seals, rust, and frayed electrical wiring. While today's new cars have electronic ignition and fuel injection, vintage Mustangs came with ignition points that wear out and carburetors that get dirty and clogged. Unless the Mustang has been subjected to a full and thorough overhaul or restoration, many of the components, such as ball joints and steering gears, are old and worn, possibly making the Mustang not only uncomfortable to drive but also unsafe.

We assume you're a safe and careful driver, especially when you're driving your prized Mustang. But no matter how careful you drive, you can't be certain about the idiots sharing the road with you. Tailgaters, speeders, red-light runners, and SUV drivers who think they own the road are all a threat to your Mustang, and when you drive it every day, you're putting it in harm's way on a daily basis. Not only should you make sure your brakes, steering, and suspension are in good shape for those evasive maneuvers, it's also a smart idea to install three-point safety harnesses and a rear-seat barrier (for early hardtops to prevent injuries from a gas-tank explosion during a rear-end collision) for your own safety.

Driving an older Mustang on a daily basis also makes it more visible and available for theft, so it's a good idea to install an alarm.

Weekend WarriorThe weekend street driver is by far the most common Mustang out there. These cars could be driven every day, but the owners prefer (and are able) to preserve their cars for weekend shows and Saturday night cruises. They aren't concours show vehicles by any definition, so there is plenty of room for modification and personal touches. Check out any local show and you'll see the weekend warrior with performance spark-plug wires (usually yellow), engine dress-up kits, chrome wheels, Shelby-style LeMans stripes, mudflaps, and fuzzy dice hanging from the rearview mirror. No worries, mate, because even if the judge does stop by with his white gloves and clipboard, the owner of a weekend warrior doesn't fret. He had more fun last night bench-racing with his buddies than the concours competitor who spent all evening detailing his Mustang's undercarriage for a judge's scrutiny.

Weekend warriors are similar to daily drivers, and should be prepared like a daily driver because they're driven frequently. They should start reliably and drive safely. But weekend warriors have the luxury of staying in the garage during inclement weather. Wear and tear are less, and paint and interior vinyl stay nicer because the car isn't constantly subjected to the hot sun or damaging environmental matter floating in the air.

Based on our observations, owners of weekend warriors have more fun than owners who torment themselves over originality, detailing, correct paint daubs, and cleanliness, all in the quest of adding trophies to the garage display. Nothing wrong with any of that-to each his own, we say. But while the concours and show Mustangs get most of the glory (including features in this magazine, we admit), the owners who do it their way with weekend drivers are having the most fun.

RestomodThis is a growing segment among vintage Mustang owners. A few are daily drivers, but the vast majority fit into the weekend warrior category. By definition, a Mustang restomod looks like a mostly original car with all of the classic Mustang lines, but it has been improved with modern upgrades like power disc brakes, rack-and-pinion steering, fuel-injection, bigger wheels and tires, overdrive transmission, comfortable seats, and a powerful stereo with a CD changer and larger speakers.

Added performance is always a restomod goal. Most early Mustangs came with small-blocks, and today's owners prefer to stick with a 289, 302, or 351 because they can make good power with the right aftermarket performance equipment. Also, they aren't as heavy as a big-block, which aids handling. Stroker small-blocks are extremely popular because they add displacement without adding size or weight; they're available from a number of engine builders. You can go with either a traditional four-barrel carburetor and aluminum intake manifold, or you can drop in a fuel-injection setup from a late-model 5.0. A popular restomod swap is a complete 5.0 engine from an '87-'95 Mustang.

There's nothing wrong with a big-block, either. A huge 428 Cobra Jet between the shock towers looks impressive, and the available tree-puller torque is a blast on the street. On the downside, changing spark plugs can be a challenge and the added weight over the front wheels only enhances the Mustang's inherent understeering characteristics. If you're thinking about adding headers, don't call us to help.

No restomod is complete with without an overdrive transmission, either an AOD automatic or a five-speed manual. Conversion kits are available from a number of manufacturers. With the overdrive, you can go with deeper rear gears, like 3.50s or even 3.91s, for improved acceleration, yet still maintain a comfortable cruising rpm.

Of course, restomod also means comfort and convenience, and there are a number of ways to add to both. For seats, we've seen everything from late-model Mustang buckets to aftermarket racing-types. If it feels good and fits, put it in. Brand new are the Classic Sport seats from TMI Products for '65-'66 Mustangs. They look like the popular Pony seats and fit the factory bucket-seat frame, but the foam is contoured for comfort and fit. If you prefer to stick with the factory seats, leather upholstery is available as a luxurious upgrade.

RestorodA few years ago, this wasn't even a category in the Mustang world. It's a step beyond restomod, incorporating street-rod influences into the classic looks of older Mustangs. With the emergence of eBay's FastForward Fastback by street-rod builder Troy Trepanier and the fantastic pair of wild creations from the Ring brothers, the Mustang is quickly becoming fodder for this growing automotive trend. In fact, the GT-R roadster from Mike and Jim Ring was one of five finalists for the coveted Street Rod of the Year award from Goodguys.

Building a restorod requires skill and creativity. It isn't something for the rookie or hobby mechanic, unless he has the money to commission a build from someone like Trepanier or the Ring brothers. Like street rods, the goal is to build something different, not a copy of something that's already been done. But the rewards can be great, with possibilities of magazine articles, Best of Show awards, and maybe even a spot on a TV show.

The difference between restomod and restorod is in the sheetmetal. With a restorod, the builder can take more liberties with the shape of the car by opening up the grille, reshaping the instrument panel, cutting out the shock towers for a 4.6 Cobra engine, and adding larger fender flares for bigger wheels and tires.

Concours ShowFor many early Mustang owners, the challenge comes from making an old Mustang look just like it rolled off the showroom floor. Satisfaction is achieved by subjecting the car to expert judges at Mustang Club of America national shows, where every little scratch or incorrect hose clamp deducts points from the Mustang's total score. For some, part of the fun is the chase for correct parts, like N.O.S. shocks, tires, and wheels, all of which are becoming harder to find with every passing day. Then you've got to have the correct finishes for bolts and brackets, date-coded belts and windshield, the right paint daubs for the driveshaft and other components, and just the right amount of overspray on the undercarriage. All that and the money to get them; and more than likely you can't or won't drive the car, which also means you'll need a trailer and an F-250 diesel to pull it with.

But when a concours Mustang is restored just right, it's a thing of beauty and a snapshot of what the car was like when it was brand new.

When it comes to concours shows, the days of polishing the alternator and slapping some flat-black paint on the undercarriage are over. This is serious business, with owners shelling out thousands of dollars for rare N.O.S. parts, and tens of thousands of dollars for a rotisserie restoration from a restorer who specializes in concours Mustangs. High-performance Mustangs, like Shelbys, Bosses, and Cobra Jets, are particularly popular subjects for concours restoration. But their rare parts, including the emissions equipment that original buyers tossed in the trash almost immediately, are among the most expensive restoration parts-if you can find them.

Even if you're lucky enough to find an extremely low-mileage Mustang, you're saddled with the responsibility of preserving the car.

These days, there are two ways to obtain a concours Mustang: buy one already restored (and show-proven) or have one restored. More than likely, you'll enlist the talent of a restoration shop, which can handle everything from farming out the media-blasting and paint to replacing rusty floorpans and bolting everything back together. Or, if your mechanical abilities allow, you can restore the Mustang yourself, farming out only the parts you can't or don't have the equipment to handle. Either way, unless someone gave you the car or you're restoring a rare and desirable model, don't be surprised if the cost of the restoration exceeds the actual value of the Mustang.

But, hey, it's your hobby-better than spending all that money on tee times.

Daily Driver Survival KitPerTronix ignition: No points, no problem. This easy-to-install electronic ignition kit eliminates skipping, hard starting, and no starting caused by worn-out ignition points.

Larger radiator: Nothing's more frustrating more than an overheating Mustang. Larger-than-stock radiators are offered by all Mustang parts vendors. Three-row factory-style radiators are a big improvement, but the aluminum versions are even better.

High-flow fan: Continuing the cooling theme, dump that chump factory four-blade fan and replace it with either a flex-type fan or an electric version. Flex-types with the clutch hub conserve horsepower at higher engine speeds, while electric fans require no horsepower to run at all.

Coolant: Use a quality brand and check the level frequently. Never use just water.

Hoses: Inspect them often, and make sure the lower hose has a spring inside for support. At higher engine speeds, lower hoses can collapse and cut off coolant flow to the radiator.

Heater core: Unless it's relatively new, it's going to blow at some point, so be prepared for leaking coolant on the passenger-side floor. In a pinch, you can cut one of the heater hoses and bypass the heater core by looping the hose from the outlet to the inlet on the water pump.

Brake lights: Check the brake-light switch for proper operation and adjustment. You'd be surprised how many don't operate or engage properly. The last thing you need is an F-150 pickup in your trunk.

Ball-joint grease: Unless you have a boom-box stereo to hide the annoying squeaks, you'll want to keep the ball joints greased. Lubrication also prolongs ball-joint life.

Battery cables: They're cheap, so replace old ones. Otherwise, make sure the connections at the battery terminals are clean. Most no-start problems can be traced to a bad connection between the terminals and the cables.

Battery: If it's over 4 years old, replace it.

Air filter: Change it often, or clean it often if you have one of the cleanable performance versions. An open-element housing, as used on the 289 High-Performance, breathes better and allows you to inspect the condition at a glance.

Tool kit: Be ready for anything, because if it's an old Mustang, anything could happen.

Insurance: Make sure it's adequate and paid up.

Restomod Must-HavesThere are a lot of restomod modifications, but you can't have a true Mustang restomod without these upgrades:

Rack-and-pinion steering: Got to have it for modern steering feel and performance.

Disc brakes: Fronts are good, four-wheel is better.

Power brakes: Master Power has booster kits that fit most '65-'70 Mustangs.

Sixteen-inch or larger wheels: Take your pick of a million choices, but Torq-Thrust IIs remain a favorite.

Electronic ignition: From PerTronix to aftermarket systems from MSD or Mallory.

Fuel-injection: Might as well drop in a complete late-model 5.0.

Overdrive transmission: Late-model AOD for automatics, T5 five-speed or T56 six-speed for the shift-it-yourself crowd.

Suspension kit: Modern handling is the goal.

Comfy seats: We really like the new Classic Sport seats from TMI Products.

Upgraded steering wheel: A factory woodgrain wheel is an improvement over the plain-Jane installed in most Mustangs. From the aftermarket, Grant Products offers a number of wheels that provide the right look and feel.

Tilt-steering column: Just right for obtaining the perfect steering position.

Sequential taillights: Simply cool, and easy to install too. Mustang Project now offers a wider, Shelby-style version for '65-'66 Mustangs.

Air-conditioning: Gotta have it in a restomod. Classic Auto Air offers several systems, from stock and original to daily driver.

High-zoot stereo: Custom Autosound offers a number of head units that fit the early Mustang instrument-panel openings, but from there you can add a trunk-mounted CD changer and speakers, including CA's kick-panel versions and Rear Seat Driver for hardtops with 10-inch woofers and an amp.

In the overall scheme of things, the Shelby Mustang should be but a mere footnote in the annals of Mustang history. Looking at the numbers, Shelby Mustangs represented barely over one half of one percent of the total Mustang production from 1965 to 1970. Yet, with racing success, high-performance engines, handling suspensions, and highly visible racing stripes and scoops, the Shelby Mustangs arguably generated more press than all other '65-'70 Mustangs combined. While the Shelby Mustangs were by no stretch of the imagination a sales success, their very aura contributed heavily to the Mustang's overall 2,568,633 sales during the last five years of the '60s.

Shelby made his initial Mustang mark from 1965 to 1970, on the street with his GT350s and GT500s, and on the track with SCCA and Trans-Am Mustangs from 1965 to 1969. However, he has never been far away from the minds of Mustang owners. In 1975, just five years after the last new Shelby Mustangs were sold, the Shelby American Automobile Club was formed to keep Shelby Mustangs, along with Cobras, Tigers, and other cars from Shelby American, in the spotlight. In 1980, Shelby even endorsed the building of 12 '66 GT350 convertible "continuation" cars. Just two years later, Shelby followed his buddy and former Ford President Lee Iacocca to Chrysler, where the two teamed up to offer front-wheel-drive Shelby Chargers. In 1988, Shelby filed a lawsuit against Ford over the use of the GT350 name on a special-edition '84 Mustang, a car that was rushed into production for the Mustang's 20th anniversary.

By the late '90s, Shelby was back in the business of building Cobras, the CSX4000 Series S/C roadsters. But it would be a Hollywood movie that set the stage for Shelby's return to Mustangs. When the remake of the movie Gone In 60 Seconds featured a modified '67 Shelby look-alike called "Eleanor," the subsequent Eleanor craze convinced Shelby to team up with Unique Performance, from his home state of Texas, to build Eleanor-look GT500E Mustangs for the public. Last year, the model lineup was expanded to include the supercharged Super Snake model and a '66 GT350SR. So 40 years after building his first Shelby Mustang, Carroll Shelby, who turns 82 on January 11 (happy birthday, Carroll!) is back in a big way.

Over the next few pages, we're going to take a cruise through the last 40 years of Carroll Shelby's Mustang creations. Now once again affiliated with Ford, there is a strong possibility we'll see a brand-new Shelby Mustang at Ford dealerships, perhaps as early as 2006.

The legend continues...

Pre-Mustang MilestonesJanuary 11, 1923: Carroll Hall Shelby is born to Warren Hall Shelby and Eloise Lawrence Shelby in Leesburg, Texas.

November 1941: Shelby begins training at Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas. As a flight instructor, he did not leave the United States during WW II.

August 1945: Shelby leaves the Air Corps for civilian life and starts a dump truck business in Dallas.

1949: Shelby goes into the chicken business. His first batch of broilers nets a $5,000 profit, but he goes bankrupt when his second group of chickens die of Limberneck disease.

January 1952: Shelby drives in his first race, a quarter-mile drag meet, behind the wheel of a hot rod with a flathead Ford V-8.

May 1952: At Norman, Oklahoma, Shelby drives in his first road race behind the wheel of an MG-TC, taking First Place in competition.

August 1953: Shelby has to hurry to the track and wears his work overalls. When his odd attire nets him more publicity than his racing, Carroll sticks with the striped bib overalls, which become his trademark.

April 1954: Shelby goes to Europe to drive an Aston-Martin DBR3, finishing Second and leading to a ride with Aston-Martin at Le Mans in June 1954.

August 1954: Austin-Healey invites Shelby to help set 70 new Class D records at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

March 1957: Sports Illustrated names Shelby "Driver Of The Year."

June 1959: Shelby and Ray Salvadori codrive an Aston-Martin DBR1/300 to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans

.February 1960: Shelby opens his Goodyear Racing Tire distributorship.

May 1960: Doctors diagnose chest pains as angina pectoris, in which the coronary arteries are starved for blood.

December 3-4, 1960: Shelby competes in his last race, the Los Angeles Times-Mirror Grand Prix. Overall, he wins the USAC driving championship.

1961: Out of racing, Shelby opens his Shelby School of High Performance Driving.

September 1961: When England's AC Cars loses the engine source for its two-seat roadster, Shelby proposes that the company keep building the chassis for a special Shelby sports car to be powered by an American V-8.

October 1961: AC Cars is interested in Shelby's plan as long as a suitable engine could be found in the States. The same month, Shelby finds out about the new 221ci Ford small-block.

February 1962: The first 260 Roadster, minus engine and transmission, is air freighted to Shelby's shop. In less than eight hours, a 260 and Borg-Warner four-speed are installed.

March 1962: Shelby American begins operations at a shop in Venice, California.

April 1962: The first Cobra is shipped to the New York Auto Show where it appears in the Ford display. Shelby American formally commits to building its new Cobra.

October 13, 1962: Shelby enters the Cobra in its first race, during the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix.

June 1963: Shelby American completes its first 125 Cobras.

December 1963: The Cobra wins the USRRC (United States Road Racing Championship).

March 1964: Shelby American enters a 427 Cobra at Sebring in the Prototype Class. For the first time, a Cobra beats the Ferrari GTOs.

June 1964: Shelby American wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Cobra is fourth overall and first in GT, defeating Ferrari.

For as long as there have been Mustangs, there has been Ford's Dearborn, Michigan, assembly plant. The Dearborn Assembly Plant-or D.A.P., as it is affectionately known at Ford-has been building Mustangs ever since production began in early 1964. Few nameplates survive 40 years, much less continue production in the same plant for just as long.

Along the way, there have been two other Mustang assembly plants-Edison (Metuchen), New Jersey, and San Jose (Milpitas), California-both of which are now closed. While Mustang production ended at Metuchen during the '71 model year and San Jose stopped producing Mustangs after 1970, Dearborn continued to produce them at a healthy clip, even in the leanest sales years. During the Mustang's 40-year history, Dearborn has produced some 6.7 million of them. The other 2 million plus were produced at San Jose and Edison. This makes Dearborn the undisputed champ in Mustang manufacturing.

When the Edison assembly plant built its last Ford vehicle, an '04 Ranger, in March of this year, our attention immediately turned to Dearborn, which was scheduled to close in May. A call to Ford SVT boss John Coletti, and a call back from Dearborn Assembly Plant Manager Rob Webber, confirmed our wildest fantasy: We were invited to the closing of one of the greatest chapters in Ford history and the opening of two new ones.

The Dearborn Truck assembly plant, a brand-new, state-of-the-art facility right next to Dearborn Assembly, represents a new chapter in the rich Dearborn Rouge history. The second plant is AutoAlliance, the Ford/Mazda joint venture in Flat Rock, Michigan, where the all-new '05 Mustang will be built. AutoAlliance has been building new cars since 1988, including the Ford Probe, Mazda 626 and 6, and the more recent Mercury Cougar. Mustang quality will be the best it has ever been at AutoAlliance.

Webber graciously invited us into the Dearborn Assembly Plant for an up-close look at the last five days of '04 Mustang production before wrapping it all up at precisely 1:07 p.m. on Monday, May 10, in a crowd of more than 1,000 people. It would prove to be one of the most incredible journeys of our careers as historians and journalists.

The Last Dearborn MustangWhen we asked Plant Manager Rob Webber how we could photo-document the assembly of the last Dearborn Mustang, I didn't realize how challenging my question would be. It's difficult to define the "last" anything when it comes to mass production. There are too many variables: You have the last Cobra, last Mach 1, last GT, last red car, last black car, last yellow car, and so on. Because units get shuffled around during production, it becomes nearly impossible to define the "last" Mustang. Units get sidelined for repairs. And they get pulled from the line when specific parts don't arrive. The last unit out of the body shop might wind up 20 units up the line in the paint plant, then five units from the end of the line in trim and chassis.

Webber and his manufacturing team developed a decisive plan for the last Dearborn Mustang, a red GT convertible ordered internally by Ford for display at its new Dearborn Rouge Visitor's Center. In April, Webber scheduled the last Dearborn Mustang for assembly. The body was built in Redfire Clearcoat paint, then placed in storage and wrapped in a huge plastic bag. But it wouldn't exactly be the last Mustang body Dearborn produced. There would be hundreds more over the next couple of weeks. This teaches us something about the confusion of mass production. "Last" is a loose term at best because it encompasses many variables.

After all of the remaining Mustang orders had been processed into trim and chassis, "Mustang Last" was retrieved from storage and placed on the line. So were all of its components. I would be there to see it happen at 11 o'clock on a Friday night. For the next two days, I would walk the entire length of the Dearborn assembly line with the last vehicle this plant would ever produce.

Balancing OutBuilding new cars is a complex process. Those who do it daily don't completely understand this process because their jobs are but a small piece of a large and complicated puzzle. We spent five days in the Dearborn Assembly Plant and still don't have an understanding of how dealer orders become completed automobiles. But here's what we can tell you. Car building begins with raw materials and winds up with a working machine that has to perform reliably for many years. And Ford does this well thousands of times each day across the world.

As an assembly plant winds down to the last vehicle build of a given model year, production has to become less complicated as the clock ticks and the line moves. This means fewer options, fewer colors, and less complexity. At Dearborn, simplifying the 2004 "balance out" process was much as it has always been since 1964: build the more involved Mustangs first, then wind down to more modestly optioned examples toward the end. For example, the last '04 Cobra was built; then the last Mach 1 (which went to Rob Webber); then the last GT. These events happened in the weeks and days leading up to our arrival on May 5th.

When we arrived at Dearborn Assembly, there were only four colors left on the line: black, white, silver, and charcoal. Charcoal was on the home stretch, followed by black, silver, and white. Eventually, there would be only white, with the line becoming a sea of Oxford White V-6 coupes and convertibles, most destined for rental-car duty. The rest would be affordable Mustangs, easy for any Ford dealer to sell.

On our first day at D.A.P., we were introduced to Alan Honeycutt, body area superintendent. He took us through the process of building Mustang bodies in the dark, noisy, dusty segment of the manufacturing process. This is where assembly workers take raw steel stampings and begin to assemble a puzzle. Because manufacturing standards have become so strict, it takes a lot of attention to detail. Working in the Dearborn body shop isn't for everyone. It's grimy, backbreaking work for 10 hours a day.

The Mustang body-build process begins with the platform, which is produced in three sections: the front-end assembly, centersection, and trunk pan. Each of the assemblies is built on its own line, then fed into "the marriage," where all three are joined to become the platform. Classic Mustangs were built the same way-a platform consisting of three sections, just like the Fox-body '04 Mustang.

The three platform sections are then moved into a holding "corral," which allows flexibility for excess platforms. The body shop keeps additional platforms on hand in case there's an equipment failure or a shortage of parts. This allows the line to run normally for a given amount of time, with plenty of platforms to keep the body shop going. This, in turn, keeps the paint plant and trim/chassis lines moving.

Subassembly lines in the body shop build the front-end assembly, centersection, and trunk pan. Other subassembly lines build important assemblies like body sides, which consist of quarter-panels, A/B-pillars, and wheelhouses. Body sides are among the first subassemblies attached to the platform. When the body sides are tied to the platform, they are retained with fold-over "toy tabs," which is plant slang for metal tabs that are bent over to hold subassemblies loosely together as they travel toward the welding process.

Ride A Painted PonyFor many years, the Dearborn Assembly Plant had its own paint shop. The greatest challenge was paint quality due to the close proximity of heavy industry, which creates plenty of dust and ash in the air that contaminates paint. In 2000, Ford opened the new Dearborn Paint Plant to improve Mustang body finishes. The brand-new Dearborn Truck Plant, which opened in the spring of this year, also benefits from this new high-tech finishing plant. During our visit, both the Mustang and the '04 F-150 truck were being painted in the same space, something that will never happen again at Dearborn.

John Grace, manufacturing engineering manager at the Dearborn Paint Plant, took us on a tour. Because the paint plant is hospital clean, we had to don coveralls and wear a hairnet to minimize fallout that can contaminate a Mustang's new finish. It was like being in an episode of ER. Environmentally controlled segments of the paint shop, such as E-Coat and the paint booths, must be kept closed to keep out unwanted contaminants. This tightly controlled environment yields the best paint quality in Ford history.

Trim & ChassisAfter painted Mustang bodies pass Ford's tough paint standards, they go through a long, dark tunnel back to D.A.P. to begin a 24-hour journey through Trim & Chassis, which begins on the second floor. Every component you can imagine (and even some you can't) is fastened to the body as it makes its way down the trim and chassis line. At first, it's a lot of little stuff: trunk lock, nut plates, fasteners, heating and air conditioning, wiring, automatic shifter, brake and clutch-pedal assembly, and so on.

Once many of the things you don't see are installed, the things you do see are installed, such as the instrument panel, engine and transmission, suspension, headlights and taillights, and rear axle. It's a long process performed by dozens of people, each one experienced at a specific task.

When we arrived at Trim & Chassis, we were introduced to Dan Klebe, launch manager at the new Dearborn Truck Plant. Dan's job was to make sure Trim & Chassis ran smoothly for Mustang Balance Out. Dan introduced us to Tom Sea and Tommy Demeester, two guys who are familiar with Dearborn Assembly. These gentlemen and Dan were our sidekicks for the next couple of days as we documented the building of Mustang Last.

A Note Of ThanksWe want to thank everyone at Ford Motor Company who made this article possible: John Coletti, Rob Webber, Will Cowell, Dan Klebe, Tommy Demeester, Tom Sea, Anne Marie Gattari, Art Cairo, Alan C. Honeycutt, John F. Grace, and the dozens of Dearborn Assembly Plant associates who grabbed the ball and ran with it those last days at this legendary facility.

D.A.P. HistoryMost of us think of Dearborn Assembly for Mustangs, Cougars, Falcons, and two-seat Thunderbirds, but these nameplates represent less than half of the plant's 86-year history. When Dearborn Assembly opened in 1918 as a three-story factory building, it was constructed to produce Eagle boats, known as submarine chasers, for World War I.

After the war, Dearborn became home to the production of Fordson tractors and Model T parts. By 1927, Dearborn was building the highly successful Model A. Some 10 years later, in 1937, Dearborn was producing Ford trucks. In 1939, Ford added a line at Dearborn for the new Mercury Division.

When World War II broke out, Dearborn went to war as well, building tanks, staff cars, and Jeeps. When the war ended in 1945, Dearborn went back to the business of building automobiles for a bustling post-war economy. If you visited Dearborn Assembly during the '50s, you saw Fords of all kinds moving down the line, including the '55-'57 Thunderbirds.

In the fall of 1961, Dearborn turned its attention to smaller cars, like the new '62 Fairlane, a nice fit between big Fords and smallish Falcons. If you're thinking Falcon at Dearborn, that didn't happen until 1966, the only year Mustang and Falcon shared a line at Dearborn. When Ford began developing the Mustang in the early '60s, Dearborn was the targeted plant for Job 1.

When Mustang assembly began at Dearborn early in 1964, no one would have believed the nameplate would still be in production at the plant four decades later. Mustang and Fairlane shared the Dearborn line for a few months in 1964 until Fairlane production was moved to Kansas City, Missouri, in June. Mustang and Cougar were built bumper to bumper at Dearborn from 1967 to 1973. From 1974 to 1978, Dearborn became one of two birthplaces for the Mustang II.

* 40 Years of Mustang Milestones* 2005 Mustang* 10 Rarest Saleens* Iacocca Speaks Out* 40 Years of Performance* Mustang No. 1 Rides Again* Supercharged Shelby GT350S* Mach1 Racer

Look for this special publication at your local newsstand.

In our February issue, we put out the call to Mustang Monthly readers to send us photographs of the Mustangs they owned back in the '60s and early '70s. We were overwhelmed with vintage pictures and digital copies, many with their then-much-younger owners alongside with beehive hairdos, leisure suits, and bellbottoms. We dressed differently back then, and we obviously treated our Mustangs much differently as well. Today, we baby them. In the '60s and '70s, we drove them, mainly as our everyday transportation, and modified them with side pipes, mag wheels, and everything else available at the local speed shop. Few of us ever gave a thought to preserving our Mustangs for the future. They were merely transportation, albeit much cooler than the average Galaxie station wagon.

Several readers sent photos from then and now. It's amazing how many original Mustang owners are out there who are still married to the young lady sitting in the car over 30 years ago.

So enjoy the look back at ourselves and our Mustangs.

When the Mustangs Northwest annual Mustang Round-Up takes place every July in the Seattle area, we're treated to a good mix of cool vintage and late-model Mustangs that have been restored, preserved, and enjoyed by our fellow Canadian enthusiasts. Doug Hansen is no exception; he brought his quite original '72 convertible to the 2003 festivities from his home base in Delta, British Columbia.

The car has an interesting history. Doug says, "A woman purchased this car new at Peter Pollen Ford in Victoria, British Columbia. She owned it until her death in 1994. My uncle found it on a small car lot south of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island in 1995. It was hit in the rear in 1997, then parked. In 1999, I sort of rediscovered it in my uncle's backyard, quietly decomposing, and I pestered him to have it repaired. It was completely original and unmolested when he bought it in 1995. There was no rust. There were no dents and the paint was in good shape. To see it sitting uncared for wasn't something I wanted to let continue.

"When I realized he was past the point of having it repaired himself, since he is quite elderly, I talked him into selling it to me and made him an offer. After a couple of weeks he called to say I could have the car as long as I promised to have it repaired. That sounded fair enough to me.

"It took awhile to get it running. Nothing electrical really worked right after sitting under a tarp for two years. It needed a new taillight panel, a rear bumper, a front bumper, a fender extension, a hood-lip molding, a grille, and bodywork on the right rear quarter-panel.

"The shop I took it to did beautiful work, but it had a reputation for making you buy back your own parts after they mysteriously went missing. What was supposed to take two weeks ended up taking a year. I got the car back from the bailiff after the landlord changed the locks. The car was in primer and was missing engine parts.

"After months of searching across North America, I replaced the stolen parts and found a paint shop that would finish it in time for the Greater Vancouver Mustang Association show.

"Since then, it has won three First Place awards (one at the Mustang Round-Up in Bellevue in 2003), a Best Ford, a Second, and a Third Place award. I also participated in the 2002 and 2003 Pony Trail events with Mustangs Northwest and Mustang Monthly. It's a great car to have for the summer months here in Canada."

Motivated by its original 302 two-barrel engine, FMX transmission, and 2.79:1-geared rearend, the car has only 72,000 miles on it. Also worthy of mention is its pristine white Comfort Weave interior with the original seat upholstery, deluxe two-spoke steering wheel, and factory AM/FM radio. All in all, it's a classic convertible-in red, of course-ideal for summer cruising anywhere you'd like to go, including the environs of beautiful British Columbia.

The explosion took place from 1964 to 1971, right in the Mustang's prime time. Although 427 Galaxies and Hemi Chryslers had previously roamed the streets, it was Pontiac that took the initiative to drop a performance big-block into an intermediate-sized car. The resulting GTO, with a 389, four-speed, and available Tri-power, launched a youthful revolution for fast cars. The Mustang, with sporty lines and seats for at least four, and often five, provided an ideal platform for performance cruising on the Woodward Avenues of America. For eight years, the Mustang ran fender to fender with the best of the American musclecars. Starting with the 289 High Performance option in 1964, the Mustang quickly evolved into Shelbys, Cobra Jets, Bosses, and Mach 1s. Bench-racing lore, no doubt fueled by hot rodders at the dragstrips popping up in nearly every town, created legends about 12-second--even 11-second--Mustangs straight from the dealership.

But how fast were they really? Our most reliable source of information comes from the road tests of the day. Granted, some of the cars were, shall we say, tweaked from Ford, and others fell into the hands of inexperienced magazine road testers. Still, the road-test times, along with the information in the articles, provide our best glimpse into the past.

For our research, we scoured our back-issue library and relied heavily on How Fast Were They? This book, from GaS Publishing (3 Meadowood Dr., Washington, MO 63090), is a compilation of road-test times and data from 1948 to 1973. Thanks also to our senior editor, Jim Smart, who searched the vast Primedia (formerly Petersen Publishing) photo archives for many of the accompanying photos, some of which are seen here for the first time.

'65-'66 289 Hi-Po

Obviously, the Mustang's introduction in 1964 generated a lot of coverage in automotive enthusiast magazines. Most reported on the basic Mustang--after all, it was a fresh design in a new era of baby-boomer car buying. However, several magazine staffs managed to get their hands on the top performance model with the 271hp 289 High Performance engine, all with four-speeds.

We're still trying to figure out how Car & Driver squeezed a 14-flat at 100 mph out of a '65 Hi-Po fastback in its October '64 comparison to the Plymouth Barracuda. The only explanation offered was, "We got acceleration figures almost in the Cobra class with the 4.11 ratio. . . . " Yet, that doesn't fully explain why the Car & Driver fastback was nearly 2 seconds quicker than other 289 Hi-Po road tests.

The high 15-second times from Motor Trend and Sports Car Graphic are more in line with the actual performance potential of the factory-stock 289 Hi-Po Mustangs. Judging from the photos and the same "014" manufacturer's license plate, the hardtop tested by Motor Trend and Sports Car Graphic for late-'64 issues was likely the same press car. Indeed, based on the identical 15.7/89-mph time and the fact that both magazines were published by Petersen Publishing, we can assume the magazines shared the same test results. Strangely, Motor Trend said the car was equipped with 3.89 gears, while Sports Car Graphic reported 4.11s.

'65 Fastback - 14.0/100 - 4-spd. - 4.11 - Car & Driver, Oct. 1964
'65 Hardtop - 15.7/89 - 4-spd. 4.11 - Sports Car Graphic, Sept. 1964
'65 Hardtop - 15.7/89 - 4-spd. 3.89 - Motor Trend, Aug. 1964
'65 Fastback - 15.9/89 - 4-spd. 3.89 - Motor Trend, Jan. 1965

'65-'66 Shelby GT350

When the Shelby GT350 hit the scene in 1965, the enthusiast press jumped all over it. Powered by a 306hp Cobra version of the 289 High Performance and equipped with suspension modifications for improved handling, the GT350 was more race car than road car, especially in 1965, when it had side exhaust and no rear seat.

By 1966, the GT350 was a bit more refined, but it was also available with an optional Paxton supercharger, a package that boosted the Shelby's performance to 14-flat, as evidenced by the test reports in both Motor Trend and Car Life in the summer of 1966.

Most naturally aspirated GT350s performed in the high-14, low-15-second range, including a Hertz rental car version with the automatic transmission. Oddly, the '65 tested by Motor Trend was a full second slower than the one tested by Car Life.

'66 GT350S - 14.0/102 - auto - 3.89 - Motor Trend, Aug. 1966
'66 GT350S - 14.0/92 - auto - 3.89 - Car Life, July 1966
'65 GT350 - 14.7/90 - 4-spd. - 3.89 - Car Life, June 1965
'65 GT350 - 14.9/95 - 4-spd. - 3.89 - Car & Driver, May 1965
'66 GT350H - 15.2/93 - auto - 3.89 - Car & Driver, May 1966
'66 GT350 - 15.6/94 - 4-spd. - 3.89 - Motor Trend, Aug. 1966
'65 GT350 - 15.7/91 - 4-spd. - 3.89 - Motor Trend, May 1965

'67-'68 390

Car Life called it the "Super Double Deluxeburger Mustang" because Ford decided to add the 390 big-block to the Mustang's engine lineup. With 320 hp and 427 lb-ft of torque, the pony-sized Mustang finally had some beef to compete against big-block GTOs and Barracudas, not to mention the new 396 Camaro. In stock form, the 390 Mustang was a low-to-mid-15-second performer, as evidenced by most of the road tests. Car & Driver reported a 14.8-second e.t. and even complained that the car was not in optimum tune, but failed to provide the transmission type or how they managed to obtain a quicker time than anyone else. Hi-Performance Cars magazine, however, explained that it took a set of slicks and traction bars to register their 14.95-second e.t., stating, "Normally, the 390 engine cannot be considered hot by today's standards. However, when packed into a light Mustang, you have a pretty impressive machine."

'68 GT Fastback - 14.8/94.6 - N/A - 3.25 - Car & Driver, March 1968
'67 GTA Fastback* - 14.95/97.60 - auto - 3.25 - Cars, Sept. 1967
'68 Fastback - 15.2/94 - auto - 3.25 - Motor Trend, Jan. 1968
'67 GTA Fastback - 15.2/91 - auto - 3.00 - Car & Driver, Nov. 1966
'67 GTA Fastback - 15.31/93.45 - auto - 3.25 - Hot Rod, March 1967
'67 Fastback - 15.5/91.4 - auto - 3.25 - Car Life, Jan. 1967
'67 N/A - 15.6/94 - 4-spd. - N/A - Motor Trend, May 1967

*Slicks and traction bars

'67 Shelby

We grouped the '67 Shelby GT350 and GT500 together because they are truly one-of-a-kinds. The 306hp version of the 289 High Performance still powered the GT350, but the restyled '67 was heavier than its '65-'66 counterparts, and in 1968, Shelby went with the 302 4V. For the new GT500, Shelby utilized a 355hp 428 with twin Holley four-barrels, a setup that disappeared for 1968.

Sports Car Graphic, with Shelby-American team driver and Sports Car Graphic Editor Jerry Titus handling the testing and writing duties, squeezed the best times out of the GT350 and GT500, 15.3 and 14.3 respectively. Car & Driver was disappointed with its 15-flat e.t., but noted, "What the old Shelby Mustang (earlier GT350) does with difficulty, the GT500 does easily."

Motor Trend pitted the GT350 and GT500 against small-block and big-block Corvettes. Even though the GT350 posted only a 15.9, it beat out the small-block Corvette's 16.1 e.t. However, the GT500, with a 14.5 time, stood little chance against a 435hp Tri-power Corvette, which ran a 13.8.

'67 GT500 - 14.3/92 - auto - 3.25 - Sports Car Graphic, March 1967
'67 GT500 - 14.5/101 - 4-spd. - 3.89 - Motor Trend, May 1967
'67 GT500 - 15.0/95 - auto - 3.25 - Car & Driver, Feb. 1967
'67 GT350 - 15.3/91 - 4-spd. - 3.89 - Sports Car Graphic, March 1967
'67 GT350 - 15.50/92.90 - 4-spd. - 3.89 - Popular Hot Rodding, Feb. 1967
'67 GT350 - 15.9/90 - 4-spd. - 3.89 - Motor Trend, May 1967

'68 Shelby

Apparently, there wasn't much to talk about when the '68 Shelbys debuted. With a 250hp, 302 four-barrel replacing the 306hp, solid-lifter 289 Cobra in the GT350, and a single-four 428 taking the place of the previous year's dual-quad big-block, the magazines of the day basically ignored the '68 Shelbys.

Regardless, the GT500 turned in respectable mid-14-second e.t.'s, while the GT350 posted high 14s, which were, surprisingly, quicker than the tests of the '67 GT350s. At mid-year, however, the GT500 became the GT500KR with the 428 Cobra Jet engine, which is listed below with all the CJ Mustangs.

'68 GT500 - 14.56/99.77 - auto - 3.50 - Super Stock, Aug. 1968
'68 GT500 - 14.75/98 - auto - 3.50 - Motor Trend, March 1968
'68 GT350 - 14.9/96 - 4-spd. - N/A - Hi-Performance Cars, Sept. 1968
'68 GT350 - 14.9/94 - 4-spd. - N/A - Road & Track, June 1968

'68 ?-'70 428 CJ

In the first-ever test of a factory 428 Cobra Jet Mustang, Hot Rod magazine called it "the fastest running pure stock in the history of man." Granted, the test fastback, which ran a 13.56 at 106.6 mph, was a prototype of the 50 cars that would be provided to Super Stock racers, but the hype from a respected magazine like Hot Rod was the perfect introduction to the engine designed to save Ford's performance reputation.

For nearly three years, magazine staffers pounded on Cobra Jet Mustangs. The GT500KR received most of the '68 glory, as the magazines clamored after the Shelby instead of the GT Mustang version. Hot Rod managed a 14.01 from a four-speed, 3.50-geared KR fastback, while in the same test, a heavier convertible with automatic and 3.25s ran a 14.58.

When the Cobra Jet-powered '69-'70 Mach 1s with the new Shaker hoodscoop arrived in 1969, right in the middle of the frenzied musclecar action, the automotive press praised the car with comments like, "A blend of dragster and Trans Am sedan," "Best Mustang yet," and "The new success car." With the Mach 1, the 428 Cobra Jet big-block finally had a total performance package.

The numbers backed up the image. The '69-'70 CJ Mach 1 tests all fell within the high-13-, low-14-second range. Surprisingly, the 13-second timeslips came from automatics, while the four-speed cars were in the low-14s.

'68 ? Fastback - 13.56/106.6 - 4-spd. - 3.89 - Hot Rod, March 1968
'69 Mach 1 - 13.86/102 - auto - 3.91 - Car Life, March 1969
'69 Mach 1 - 13.89/101.50 - auto - 3.91 - Car Craft, March 1969
'69 Mach 1 - 13.94/103 - auto - 3.91 - Super Stock, Feb. 1969
'68 ? GT500KR - 14.01/102/73 - 4-spd. - 3.50 - Hot Rod, Nov. 1968
'70 Mach 1 - 14.03/98.89 - 4-spd. - 3.91 - Popular Hot Rodding, March 1970
'69 GT500 - 14.07/103.56 - 4-spd. - 3.91 - Super Stock, Sept. 1969
'70 Mach 1 - 14.11/101.12 - 4-spd. - 3.91 - Super Stock, Nov. 1969
'69 Mach 1 - 14.3/100 - auto - 3.91 - Car & Driver, Nov. 1968
'70 Mach 1 - 14.31/100.22 - 4-spd. - 3.91 - Road Test, Feb. 1970
68 ? GT500KR - 14.57/99.55 - 4-spd. - 3.50 - Car Life, Oct. 1968
'68 ? GT500KR Convertible - 14.58/97.71 - auto - 3.25 - Hot Rod, Nov. 1968

'69-'70 Boss 302

Like the 428 Cobra Jet, the Boss 302 arrived just in time. Designed to compete with Chevrolet's Z/28 Camaro both on and off the track, the Boss 302 revived Ford's small-block performance image after nearly a year-and-a-half lapse since the 289 High Performance went away after 1967.

According to the drag tests of the day, the '69-'70 Boss 302 Mustang was a steady high-14-second performer. Super Stock magazine, which was known for tweaking its test cars to get the best times possible, managed a 14.03 with experienced drag racers behind the wheel of a 4.30-geared '70 model. With slicks and the Shaker air-cleaner assembly removed, the Super Stock crew dropped the e.t. to 13.43 at 102.70 mph.

'70 Boss 302 - 14.03/100.55 - 4-spd. - 4.30 - Super Stock, Jan. 1970
'69 Boss 302 - 14.57/97.57 - 4-spd. - 3.50 - Car & Driver, June 1969
'70 Boss 302 - 14.62/97.50 - 4-spd. - 3.91 - Hot Rod, Jan. 1970
'69 Boss 302 - 14.75/98 - 4-spd. - 3.50 - Super Stock, Sept. 1969
'69 Boss 302 - 14.85/96.15 - 4-spd. - 3.91 - Car Life, Sept. 1969
'70 Boss 302 - 14.93/93.45 - 4-spd. - 3.91 - Car & Driver, Feb. 1970
'70 Boss 302 - 14.98/96.87 - 4-spd. - 3.91 - Car Life, June 1970
'69 Boss 302 - 15.0/96 - 4-spd. - 3.50 - Sports Car Graphic, June 1969
'70 Boss 302 - 15.8/90 - 4-spd. - 3.50 - Motor Trend, April 1970

'69-'70 Boss 429

With all the praise heaped on the Mach 1 and Boss 302, the Boss 429 Mustang must have raised the expectations of the magazine road testers. Even though Super Stock and Hi-Performance Cars posted solid 13-second times for the '69 Boss 429 (apparently with the same car obtained from a Ford dealership), they were less than flattering with their headlines of "Ford's Not-So-Boss 429" and "Boss Loss." It almost sounds as if they were expecting a 12-second factory musclecar right out of the box, and they were disappointed when the big hemi-headed 429 mustered only 13s. However, Car Life came away impressed, even with a 14.09 e.t., as they tagged the Boss 429 as the "best enthusiast car Ford has ever built."

'69 Boss 429 - 13.34/112 - 4-spd. - 3.91 - Cars, Sept. 1969
'69 Boss 429 - 13.64/104.65 - 4-spd. - 3.91 - Super Stock, June 1969
'69 Boss 429 - 14.09/102.85 - 4-spd. - 3.91 - Car Life, July 1969

'71 429 CJ

Apparently, the debut of the 429 Cobra Jet in the '71 Mustang was overshadowed by the new-for-'71 Boss 351. Thanks to GaS Publishing's How Fast Were They? we know that at least three major magazines tested the 429 CJ Mach 1.

Unfortunately, none of the magazines could be found in our magazine library, so we were unable to verify the times and information about the cars.

'71 Mach 1 CJ - 13.40/105 - auto - N/A - Sport Car, 1971
'71 Mach 1 SCJ - 13.97/100.22 - auto - N/A - Super Stock, Feb. 1971
'71 Mach 1 SCJ - 14.61/96.8 - auto - N/A - Motor Trend, Jan. 1971

'71 Boss 351

The amazing thing about the '71 Boss 351 road tests is the middle-block-powered fastback ran as quick as the earlier 428 Cobra Jet Mustangs. Of course, with news already out about the upcoming compression drop for all cars in 1972, the Boss 351's impressive performance was overshadowed by doom and gloom.

It appears the three magazines from Petersen Publishing--Hot Rod, Car Craft, and Sports Car Graphic--were supplied with the same Boss 351 press demonstrator, because the car had been equipped with headers, traction devices, and other tweaks by Bill Stroppe. Sports Car Graphic, which admitted, "We don't push our cars to the precipice for record e.t.'s," reported a 14.7 e.t., while Car Craft thrashed the car to a 13.74. Although we couldn't locate a published Hot Rod test of the Boss 351, Sports Car Graphic reported that its sister magazine "maybe even speed-shifted" the same Boss to a 13.9 quarter-mile.

'71 Boss 351* - 13.74/104.28 - 4-spd. - 3.91 - Car Craft, March 1971
'71 Boss 351 - 13.80/104 - 4-spd - 3.91 - Hot Car, May 1971
'71 Boss 351* - 13.9/104 - 4-spd. - 3.91 - Hot Rod, N/A
'71 Boss 351 - 13.93/100.55 - 4-spd. - 3.91 - Super Stock, March 1971
'71 Boss 351* - 14.7/96.2 - 4-spd. - 3.91 - Sports Car Graphic, March 1971

*Headers

For Bob Tasca, enough was enough. As the owner of performance-oriented Tasca Ford in Providence, Rhode Island, Bob was tired of trying to sell 390 Mustangs and Fairlanes as "performance" cars when down the street the competition's showrooms were loaded with SS396 Chevelles and Camaros, Hemi Mopars, and Ram Air GTOs. Even staid old Buick offered a Gran Sport with a 400ci engine rated at 340 hp.

"Do you know how many high-performance (over 300 hp) vehicles were sold in this country in 1966?" Bob Tasca asked Hot Rod in a November '67 article. He answered, "634,434," and followed with a second question: "Do you know how much Ford Motor Company had of this market? Seven and a half percent," he revealed. "That's shameful for a 'Total Performance' company." So Tasca, never one to hold back opinions or delay action, decided to show Ford how to do it.

Tasca Ford was already enhancing customer 390 Mustangs and Fairlanes with '631/2 427 heads, GTA 390 camshafts, adjustable 1.76:1 427 rocker arms, 427 distributors, higher-flow fuel pumps, and more aggressive tuning. For his KR-8 (for King of the Road 1968) package, as it was called, Tasca applied those components to a 428 Police Interceptor block, along with a Police Interceptor aluminum intake with a 652-cfm Holley. Assembled by Tasca's staff, including Performance Manager Dean Gregson and Assistant Parts Manager Glenn Tiberiis, the engine was transplanted into '67 Mustang 390 GTs, which ran low 13-second quarter-miles with street tires and an efficient street exhaust.

Tasca knew he had the solution to Ford's performance dilemma, and as the second largest Ford dealer in the world at the time, he had a direct pipeline to Henry Ford II. "I told him I believed our cars were competitive in price, more than competitive in style and interior appointment, but hopelessly inadequate under the hood," Tasca was reported as saying. "We haven't been the hottest since the flathead V-8, and that was his father's idea, so I couldn't congratulate him for that."

Bob Tasca also pulled off a major coup by getting Hot Rod to run a story about his KR-8, with plenty of references to Ford's lack of performance. To top it off, Tasca convinced Hot Rod to provide an address for Henry Ford II so readers could "vote" in favor of Ford producing a production version of the KR-8. At some point, Tasca's gold '67 Mustang KR-8 prototype ended up in the hands of Ford engineering.

The Tasca ploy worked. By late-1967, the word was out that Ford was putting together a number of 428-powered Mustang fastbacks for Ford drag racers. Hot Rod again got the scoop when they tested one of the cars for the March '68 issue. Then, at the '68 Winternationals, eight of the "rumored" drag cars appeared to compete for the Super Stock championship with name Ford drivers like Dyno Don Nicholson, Gas Ronda, Al Joniec, Jerry Harvey, and Hubert Platt. Joniec defeated Platt in an all-Cobra Jet SS/E final, then went on to claim the overall Super Stock crown by defeating Mopar driver Dave Wren.

On April 15, 1968, Ford made it official with a press release: "The lively image of Ford Division's Mustang and Fairlane takes on added luster with the release of two '681/2 high-performance engine packages. Both cars have Ford's recently-announced 428ci Cobra Jet engine as part of a performance package that places them at the top of the supercar category."

It's interesting that Ford elected to rename the engine as opposed to using Tasca's KR nomenclature. Reportedly, Ford had spent a considerable amount of money to retain the rights to the Cobra name and needed to use it in performance applications. Using "Jet" also provided a jab at Chevrolet's Turbo Jet family of engines.

Offered as an option for the Mustang GT, the '681/2 Cobra Jet package added the 335hp 428, utilized in much the same way as Tasca's KR-8 with a 428 short-block, 427 "low-riser"-style heads, unique high-flow intake and exhaust manifolds, and a 735-cfm Holley four-barrel. Also part of the deal was a black hood stripe and a functional hoodscoop for the unique "flapper" air cleaner that allowed cooler outside air to flow into the Holley four-barrel. The '681/2 Cobra Jet Mustangs also received an 80-amp/hr battery, competition handling suspension, F70-14 white-letter Goodyear Polyglas tires, power disc brakes, a heavy-duty Top Loader four-speed or C6 automatic, a 9-inch nodular iron rearend, and specially reinforced front shock towers. Four-speed versions also got staggered rear shocks and a tachometer, which was optional on C6 automatic cars.

Shelby also got into the act when the 428 CJ became available. Interestingly, to differentiate the Cobra Jet versions from the earlier base 428-powered GT500s, the CJ Shelbys were called GT500KR, a semi-direct pickup from Tasca's KR-8 nomenclature.

If ever an engine and car were tailor-made for each other, it was the Cobra Jet and the new-for-1969 Mach 1. Based on the freshly-styled SportsRoof, the Mach 1 gushed performance with its hoodscoop, side stripes, and unique interior. When powered by the optional 428 Cobra Jet, the Mach 1 soared into the musclecar stratosphere with cars like the SS396 Camaro, Ram Air GTO, and 440 Road Runners. The Cobra Jet was offered as either the non-ram-air "Q" version or the "R," which added a functional Shaker ram-air scoop.

Sometime during the '69 model year, Ford addressed durability concerns by beefing the Cobra Jet's reciprocating assembly with 427 LeMans-type connecting rods, a modified crankshaft, and an oil cooler. These engines, which became known as Super Cobra Jets, were installed whenever the 3.91 or 4.30 rearend gear ratios were ordered. By February 1969, Ford was marketing the package as the "Drag Pack."

Unlike 1968, when the 428 Cobra Jet was available only with the GT package, the '69 CJ was offered in all Mustang body styles and models, including the GT, which was in its last year, no doubt as a result of the better equipped Mach 1. This availability led to some interesting and rare combinations, like plain coupes, Shaker-scooped convertibles, and California Specials. Even a handful of luxury Grandes were equipped with the CJ engine, although none with ram-air. For Shelby, all '69 GT500s were CJ equipped.

The 428 Cobra Jet rolled over into 1970 basically unchanged, although the Mustang itself received a minor facelift. Once again, the CJ was available in the various body styles and models, including the Mach 1 and Grande, along with standard coupes, convertibles, and fastbacks. For warranty reasons, an electronic rev limiter was added to four-speed CJs in 1970 to prevent the engine from revving over 5,800 rpm.

There is some Ford prototype photography that shows 429 hood striping on a '70 Mach 1 with a Cobra Jet Shaker scoop. That indicates that Ford considered making the change to the 429 Cobra Jet in 1970, which makes sense, because the 428 CJ was replaced by the 429 in '70 Fairlanes and Torinos. With the introduction of the '71 models, the 428 Cobra Jet was finally replaced in the Mustang by the 429 Cobra Jet with its canted-valve heads.

In its 21/2-year run as the Mustang's workhorse big-block performance engine, the 428 Cobra Jet redefined Ford's Total Performance image with victories on the dragstrip and muscle on the street. By simply taking existing parts off the shelf and applying them to a passenger-car big-block, Ford created one of the best musclecar engines of all time. Bob Tasca must have been proud.

Most of us have a passionate desire to tour the Mustang assembly plant at Dearborn, Michigan. But wanting it and getting it are two different things these days. Call Ford today for a tour, and the best you'll get is the occasional Wayne assembly-plant tour where it builds the world-beater Focus four-door sedan and wagon. Because Wayne is a state-of-the-art assembly plant, Ford is happy to show it off to tour-seekers and potential stockholders. Wayne combines the stamping and assembly processes into one facility for great efficiency and quality control.

It's virtually impossible to tour the Dearborn assembly plant today, where Ford has been building the Mustang since March 1964. So we're going to give you the next best thing: our imaginations and terrific photos from April 4, 1964. A Ford photographer walked the Dearborn line and captured different phases of assembly ranging from bucking the steel platform to quality control.

What these images from Dearborn long ago tell us is simple. Mustangs were assembled in busy factories where the human factor determined outcome. In 1964, the only automated phase of assembly was the automatic welder that fused the platform together at the beginning of the assembly. From then on, Mustang bodies were hand-assembled by humans. What's more, Mustangs weren't dipped in an electrostatic bonding process (called E-coat today) for corrosion protection. They were hand-primed with guns in a spray booth, then painted, which is why cowl vent assemblies leaked and rotted out floor pans in great numbers.

The Mustang assembly process at Dearborn is quite different today, yet the basic path from beginning to end is virtually the same. Today, robotics are used where there used to be the human touch. Engines and transmissions are installed from underneath, whereas in 1964, they were dropped in from above. In the months ahead, we will show you Mustang assembly at Dearborn in 1986 and 1994.

The stir the Shelby Mustangs have made in the hobby over the years has been huge. Of all Mustangs, these heady beasts have the greatest impact on the marketplace and the show field?even greater than the Boss cars we peeked at last month.

What drives this desire by most?if not all?Mustang enthusiasts to lust after these sometimes hairy-chested beasts that Carroll cranked out of his Los Angeles and finally the Ionia, Michigan, plants? The answer is as varied as it would be for any Mustang, but surely it just boils down to a couple of things: first, is value. The Shelby GT350 and GT500 hold their value well. Even when the old-car market goes soft, the Shelby does well. The second reason is jazz. The Shelby has that ?certain something? that stops people in their tracks at a show and makes them want to take a closer look. This is especially true where the average joe is concerned in regard to the ?67-and-up GT350 and GT500. To the typical car guy, these Shelbys are markedly different from the Mustang herd.

So we are going to delve into the things that make a Shelby ?Shelby,? and we?ll even give some values and tips on where to go if you are interested in these cars.

December 2002 Volume 25, Number 12

SHELBY
An overview of the legendary cars that Carroll built.

Hot Holiday Gift Guide
What do you get the enthusiast who has everything?

Pony Trails 2002

Looking Back
Growth is a good thing, right?

Fever
Bill Neely?s ?70 Mach 1.

Still in Good Hands
Jim Chism?s ?65 GT350.

High Country Original
John Howard ?66 High Country Special hardtop.

Clearwater Cool
Roy and Peggy Newman?s ?67 GTA hardtop.

The One That Started It All
Bob Richards? ?82 GT hatchback.

How-To: Replace a ?65-?66 Taillight Panel
A weekend project you can do yourself.

Tool Time
What you need to keep your Mustang galloping.

Pony Trails 2003

Head East
For the 25th Anniversary Trail, we will head to Daytona and a little rolling history.

T5 Tips, Tricks, and Troublespots
Five-speed expert Alan Shepley shows how to avoid the pitfalls of T5 swaps and rebuilds.

Five years have netted us some wild times and some neat shows. But we?ve never had such a showing as we did in the fifth year of Pony Trails. It?s still hard for us to believe that so many gave up their time and finances via missed work, gas, and food to spend a sometimes-eventful day with the likes of us.

What we?ve discovered is that folks in Washington state, Indiana, and Michigan like to drive their Mustangs (seemingly) more than those folks on the Eastern seaboard. All the people on our trails in the North Central and Western reaches just seem to be willing to go that extra mile to make a trail special?that, or they just don?t get out much. In any case, the top two trails are here to be talked about. Can anyone beat Mustangs Northwest, the Kings of Cruise based in Seattle? Well, there?s always next (err) this year.

November 2002 Volume 25, Number 11

BOSS!
The car that Shinoda built and Ford pushed is still a performance icon.

How Engines Work
Basic information for beginning enthusiasts and people who just plain want to learn about cars.

Carlisle Mustang Update
The Carlisle Mustang gets closer to completion.

Silver Mine
Jerry Goodman?s ?66 convertible.

Requiem for a Throughbred
Tom Mynes? ?68 GT fastback.

From Sea To Shining Sea
Fran Cosentino?s ?69 Mustang convertible.

Mach and Roll
Available on ?02-?03 Mustangs, the optional Mach 1000 stereo system takes original-equipment high-fidelity car audio to unprecedented heights in sound quality and output.

Green Meany
Marv Heath?s ?69 GT500 Shelby SportsRoof.

Snake Bite
Bob Shumaker?s ?94 Cobra.

How To: Diagnose Cowl Leaks
Sometimes a leak may not be what you think.

How To: Install a
Turn-Signal Switch in a ?65-?66 Mustang
Though not the most glamorous thing to think about, properly functioning turn signals are important on any car?vintage Mustangs included.

How To: Replace Fox-Body Door Lock Actuators
Eliminate the negative by replacing your door lock actuators to regain a sense of vehicle security.

Pony Trails 2002

Surprise Trail!
Viva Las Vegas!
No, there won?t be an Elvis impersonator there, but you will get a southerner and some good ole-fashioned fun.

How To: Install an Auto Meter Gauge Cluster
Auto Meter?s new Lunar Series gauge cluster is virtually a plug-in and play affair for ?99 and newer Mustang GTs.

October 2002 Volume 25, Number 10

21 Building a True GT
They were good back in the day; you can make it better.

28 20 Stealth Mustang Mods
Improve performance without changing the looks.

34 How To: 8- and 9-Inch Rearend Spotters Guide
Looking to refurbish your Mustang?s 8- or 9-inch rearend, or do you just want to I.D. one? Here are some things you?ll want to know about.

40 The Un-Mustang
Gary Hanson?s ?66 T5 GT fastback.

42 Un-Solved Mysteries
Bill Taranto?s ?68 convertible.

44 Jaded
John Gyorok?s ?69 GT SportsRoof.

48 Go Green Go
Jerry Clement?s ?66 GT350.

50 The Real Deal? Sorta
Ben Moura?s ?89 Saleen.

52 How To: Install a Shaker Hoodscoop on a ?99-?02 Mustang GT
Classic Design Concepts offers this slick shaker scoop for square-edge 4.6 Mustang GTs.

62 How To: Detail a ?71 C6 Automatic Transmission
We clean and shine one of the stalwarts of the Ford transmission line for Concours show duty.

70 BONUS CATALOG SECTION
Check out these catalogs offered by manufacturers and suppliers of all things Mustang.

74 Rebuild Your Power Steering Control Valve
CJ Pony Parts has everything you need to get the job done.

Mustang Monthly
September 2002
Volume 25, Number 9

Buy It Now!
Top Buyer?s Tips

Pony Trails 2002
The Grand National, Fast Times at Lowes
Fast tracking around North Carolina and one of the big ovals? Way too cool.

All About Brakes
Building better binders boils down to understanding what brings you to a safe stop.

A Decade of Blue
Brock Berg?s ?66 fastback.

The Big Woah!
Judy and Steve Amoss? ?70 Mach 1.

THE LAST WORD ON OUR PROJECT ?72 MACH 1

Turnin? Yellow
Medium Bright Yellow and finally done, behold the Lazarus project.

19 (ish) and Holding
Paul Elliott?s ?66 GT350H.

Growing Up Mustang
Allyson Bruhn?s ?96 GT Convertible.

How To: Install a Tilt Steering Column
Flaming River?s tilt steering column adds to the driving pleasure of your vintage Mustang and works with the stock steering wheel, too.

Guide to Ram Air: 1968? to ?73
Helping you know your ram air and find the parts that are out there.

How To: Prep Your ?87-?93 Hatchback for Paint
All of us want to save money on our cars; here?s one way to do that where your paint job is concerned.

MUSTANG!!! 1999-2003
Ford goes back to the drawing board and makes the SN-95 Mustang even better.

Pony Trails 2002

5th Anniversary. The Grand National We Go to The Home of Speed.

It?s Back ?03 MACH 1 Is it all that the old cars are?or is it more? We look at the car, drive it, and let you know.

How To: Five Weekend Projects Here?s a look at five cool bits you can install on your vintage Mustang in the course of a weekend.

Six and The City Kevin Lohse?s ?66 convertible.

Road Trip! Bill Norman?s ?68 GT/CS.

Something...Different Alan and Donna Rye?s ?69 428 Cobra Jet Mach 1.

Long Time Coming Louie Mills? Boss 351.

Snake Charming George Batejan?s ?68 Shelby GT350 Fastback.

Guide to the 289 Hi-Po A closer look at ford?s high-revving 289 Hi-Po Small-Block.

Dream Saleen Ric Kolb?s ?88 Saleen convertible.

MUSTANG!!! 1994-?98 America?s favorite fun car is reborn as the SN95.

Guide To Five-Speed Transmissions There are several choices in the area of five-speed transmissions for Fox and SN-95 Mustangs. Here?s a look at the most popular.

How To: Really Wide Tires On A ?94-?95 In case you didn?t know, the modern-classic ?95 Cobra R wheel is available in a huge 17x10.5-inch size for the back of SN-95 Mustangs.