On my long list of cars to own, at the very top is the 1970 Boss Mustang. Honestly, I’d love to have either a 302 or a 429. In my perfect dream world, I’d own both so I could experience the best of both worlds. From what I’ve heard, they are completely different animals. The 302 being the car to buy if you want to get through the turns and the 429 being all about the rush of acceleration and speed. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to afford a real Boss 429, even a massive project like this one. The engine is seized up and the body has some rust issues, yet it’s already bid up to over $105,000! You can find this crazy project here on eBay in Palmetto, Florida.
I know what you are thinking, the current bid doesn’t even make sense, but pristine examples can easily fetch over $350k! If you can keep the restoration under $100k, you could sell it and buy a nice Boss 302 and still have money left over. You could try building your own Boss 429, but cramming the 429 into the Mach 1 wasn’t a simple task, heck Ford had to outsource the job to Kar Kraft. There were lots of special tweaks that had to be made just to get it to fit, making it work and safe to drive is a completely different matter.
With most of the big block muscle cars we see, the original engine is long gone and was either destroyed or is sitting in someone’s garage. That isn’t the case with this one, which is likely the main reason bidding has already hit six figures. Finding all the correct parts to build a Boss 429 engine is both difficult and expensive, plus it won’t be numbers matching. For someone who just wants the 429 experience, the numbers probably don’t matter much, but it’s a big deal for collectors. Rebuilding a seized engine can be difficult, but isn’t impossible and in this case will be necessary if you plan on reselling it for top dollar.
When you consider they only built 499 of these, it really isn’t a surprise that they are worth so much. Between the rarity and the sheer power generated by the 429, these cars really are supercars. I would love to experience one, but even if I could afford it I would be scared to drive it on the street. With so much power and weight up front, it would be easy for it to get away from you. I will just have to keep dreaming and hope that one day I’ll get to experience someone else’s Boss 429!
Love the 1970 Mustang Body style. This car does have real patina.
Enough said! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlKkds2Lhx8
Warn me before I click on that, will ya? I just soiled my pants. What a beast.
as easy as it was for the back end to get squirrelly in this video I’m amazed that there are any boss 429s still on the road.
the nuclear plant in the background is a nice touch, as is the AMC pacer coming at you in the last few frames.
Pacer? Looks more like a Dodge Neon.
The next video after the one of the genius getting squirrily on the main street of the small town is much better, not only because they talk in detail about the car, but because they are both adults.
I agree. The second video with Leno is waaay more informative and real.
Wow, a ratty BOSS 429! You always see them minty original or restored. These cars were always in a class by themselves. Those musclecars that had very low production numbers that for most of us be only dream of owning. The closest we get is a Car Show or magazine. The current bid speaks for the desirability of these American supercars.
what does “minty” mean? Weird word, especially in describing condition of a car
This,,,,makes me want to cry. How in God’s green earth, unless you were living under it, could someone allow a car like this, to get like THAT??? I mean, everybody on the planet ( except one person, obviously) knows, the Boss 429 Mustang was pure madness, one of the meanest, fastest, most coveted cars, to ever come out of Detroit. Piss poor it looks like this. The good news, it looks repairable, but ain’t gonna be cheap. The Boss motor was too much for this car, but it shows what car companies would do, before the bottom fell out. Like the GLH Shelby thread, someone said they got a Shelby for $1500. Well, this, I think, is more coveted than a Shelby, but like I said, there was a time, when you couldn’t give muscle cars away, even Shelby’s. A Boss 429 Mustang was the exception to that rule. Awesome car.
I’m having a hard time believing 100% of that story. Doesn’t make much sense if it only had a few thousand miles put on it then stuck in storage but it ended up looking like this?
Like I am sure I said here before, muscle cars were a dime a dozen after the oil crises of the late 1970s. I could have bought a new appearing less then 10K mile hemi orange six pack Plymouth Superbird for $5000. Turned it down! Add in the idea that most cars like this were bought by rich spoiled kids daddys and they treated them like crap, or were bought by impracticable people who also didn’t car for them. Most of us had to have a car that was practical on the street, to get us to work, one that the wife could safely drive, not just something for the drag strip on Saturday mornings. Hence, all the sixes and small V8s. Back in the day, invariably when seeing one of these in a dealers back lot, they were trashed, often full of JC Whitney peel off graphics. It wasn’t until the economic boom of the 1990s when the over restored trailer queens came into fashion. Amazing how many survived. Most must have been out in fields as eyesores, or were crushed on purpose just as I had my classic Road Runner.
I didn’t realize that they were so rare. I saw one for the first time at a local car show in 1970 and coveted one ever since. Realistically though, I knew the likelihood of my ever having one in my garage would be like winning the lottery twice in a row with the same set of numbers. Like the previous comments it’s hard to fathom one of these left to the elements but it can happen. Full restoration is in store for this one. I wish the buyer luck….
For aesthetic appeal under the hood nothing beats a Boss 429. To bad they detuned it to the point a 428CJ is a faster car. Do most people realize it just wasn’t a street monster with that tiny carb and mild cam?
no, most people are sheep
this was not a killer car, it WAS an unusual car though
plenty of “faster” Mustangs made, this just has the “wow” from the engine appearance … kind of like a SOHC in anything
Not true. A Boss 429 Super Cobra Jet with (I think it was called) “track pack” would develop an honest 500 h.p. It also had a Holley and headers to go with the working hood scoop. Complete with the battery on the passenger side in the trunk. I don’t know what Mustang from the early days that would’ve been faster.
No such animal as a Boss 429 Super Cobra Jet, it was either a Boss 429 or a 429 Cobra Jet or Super Cobra Jet, two different engines.
Even more distinctly different are the 428 Cobra Jet and Super Cobra Jet engines which are FE’s and have a rich history in racing that Enzo stills feels the burn from while resting in his tomb.
Ford didn’t detune the Boss 429 by choice. The Mustang wasn’t the best engine bay for this motor. As a result super restrictive cast iron exhaust manifolds were all that would fit. They had to match that with a tiny carb. Also, a low rise intake was needed to fit under the hood. They just could not take advantage of those huge ports. This all doesn’t make the Boss any less awesome.
It’s too bad Ford never got a chance to develop this motor before NASCAR outlawed it. Could you image a race-tuned Boss 429 spinning at 8000 rpm?
those 429’s really changed the handling dynamics on these due to the weight. I mean look at that massive piece of iron crammed in their! IMHO prefer the lighter Boss 302 as a more pleasing car to live with.
agreed!!!
The Jay Leno’s Garage video on these cars talks about the front end weight bias and the fact that they had anti-roll bars on both front & back to help the handling.
The BOSS 302’s had front and rear anti sway bars also. The BOSS 429 had a little bit larger one in the rear, and it was mounted differently.
The parts on Boss 429 cars are SO expensive and most people don’t realize that they are unique to just this car. Examples; The magnum 500 wheels are B9 specific. I have seen those special aircleaners alone sell for over $25,000 and that one appears to be missing it’s $10,000 intake snorkel. The fenders have factory rolled lips for the wider wheels/tires. There is a rev limiter that will set you back at least a grand. There is either no shifter or no trans. A correct B9 4spd will cost you another $7,500. It does have the ultra rare oil cooler though.
Well, I’m out,,,crooks.
A surprise 2 me was learning the BOSS302 actually had a bigger (780cfm) carb on it than the BOSS429 (650cfm) from the factory, talk about de-tuning!???
Greetings All,
I grew up with someone who was well heeled. When the first Boss 302’s came out, he had one.
The one thing that sticks out is the car could barely idle. It had the lumpiest tick over I’d ever experienced, to the point of occasionally stalling. Being that his Dad owned the Ford dealership, the car was always tuned well, especially early on as it was thought this was a defect.
About the third time the car was brought in, the service manager, a Wilferd Brimley type of character came out to explain the issue with the idle.
Byron was about sixty, but the best wrench twister I’ve known. At the time we just knew him as the manager of the shop, we didn’t know he wrenched.
He had us pile into the car while he slid behind the wheel. We wondered down to the local piece of semi deserted highway.
He explained the need to blip the throttle with more rpm before dropping the clutch.
The launch was scary but pretty straight.
The demo went on fourcabout 10 minutes before driving back to the dealership, but not before dusting off a local GM powered hot shoe.
I don’t know that we remembered many of his instructions.
After we arrived at the dealership and he left, the next half hour was spent wondering where exactly this guy spent his spare time because he had no issues putting the car through its paces.
I had a teacher with a 429, he bought it new, he still has it. I thought there were some other letters attached to the 429, but I’m not a Ford guy, like ’em athough.
People always confuse the Boss 429 69/70 with the 429 CJ/SCJ of 71. Two completely different engines of which not a single bolt interchanges.
The B9 had a 735cfm Holley carb. Just info.
Could use more with, in rough figures, 400cfm intake and 300cfm exhaust with other help of course.
NASCAR Boss dyno run with 1050 Dominator.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bp1tjQA69M
The “Holy Grail” of Mustangs. I’m so surprised to see such a rare car left to get in such a poor state.
I think the holy grail of mustangs is a 65 Shelby GT350 or a 69/70 GT500 SCJ 4 speed. I would put the Boss 429 somwhere in 3rd or 4th. Like I said before, the engine bay looks fantastic but people don’t get the level of de-tuning between the S and T engined cars and the NASCAR engines.
These were built to make the engine NASCAR legal. There was supposed 500 Boss 429 engines in Ford bodies.
Anyone who thinks this was just a “wow” feature car is sadly mistaken and has never driven one. I have driven a few and can tell you, they are a beast, even in pure stock form and I routinely build/drive/own cars that produce 700+ HP/TQ. Make a couple tweaks and they are monsters that will swallow any Hemi whole. I’ve owned a couple B3 cars and the power-train is disappointing to say the least. I’ve also built a couple fairly hot boss 302 engines and was still dissapointed. Both 69/70 Mustang FB’s have beautiful lines/curves. This is the only Mustang I haven’t owned but plan to buy in the next couple years. I’ll be watching this one as the price point is descent, you just have to be careful of missing one off parts for the B9.
Amazing cars in their day and I will never afford one.
Seems like a lot of money but I guess that is where they are at. My parents paid 16,000 for there first house ! Sweet car but way out of my reach.
Back in 1998 I acquired a 1978 Chrysler New Yorker, a 1969 Ford Mustang and a 1981 Ford Mustang. All for the price of 45,000 Rand (South African Money). About $4500 in those days. I quickly sold the ’69 for R20,000 ($2000) as I already owned a ’67 Coupe, I kept the New Yorker for about 9 months as it was such a beautiful car, and had what was then known as “Indian leather” upholstery, before selling it also for $2000, but the ’81 Mustang proved to be such a brute that it was VERY difficult to control on gravel roads in the dry and impossible in the wet. I used to park it on the grass outside my dealership and if it rained during the day I would have to leave it outside as it wouldn’t move due to wheel spin, however lightly I applied the gas. I sold it a couple of months later to a member of the local hot rod club who knew exactly what it was and I didn’t. He paid me R25,000 ($2500) for it and it turned out it was a 429 Boss! Oh well, you can’t win them all!
A 1981 Mustang with a Boss 429 ??
Think you have the ’81 and ’69 mixed up, there’s no such animal as a ’81 Mustang with a By engine, however that would be one wild ride
Cool story.
Needs to be rescued by a caring mustang owner.
I owned a 429 Mustang when I was a kid. It was an incredible car that would put you in the backseat when you step on the gas. We used to run it on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena on New Year’s Eve. What a car. The one thing I do remember about it though was in order to give it a tuneup, you had to lift the engine out. The other thing that I remember was that it was constantly in the shop.
Love the color! Grabber blue, same color as my stang!
Boss Nines are like old Indian motorcycles – more people seem to have owned them (by far) than were ever produced. :)
This one is just….sad. It’s like a former supermodel who’s let herself go and is now sitting on the corner in dirty clothes begging for spare change.
Not for long, though, probably.
Forgive me but as much as I know this car is very rare and sought after…I am a GM guy and know very little about Fords so my question is (to an expert) what is with the hood? Pretty sure Ford would not have cut such a poor opening in a hood….perhaps not the original hood? I did not see a comment on it.
As for the body, there is some really interesting ROT, sorry not rust but rot, happening in the lower A Pillars which is odd to have holes rotted right in the middle of them. Doors, quarters in front of rear wheel on right side totally soft and rotted which would lead me to believe the rockers are probably mush. Odd that the under body seems to be fairly solid with all of the upper body rot issues. Based upon what I see, lots of structural integrity repairs ahead especially with the monster 429…that car could break in half at the firewall given its current condition and plenty of torque.
Definitely worth saving if savable. Hope that motor can be fixed.
The rust holes on the A pillars is not uncommon. This is an area where the upper and lower pieces of the pillar overlap. There was very little done by the factory to prevent this area from rusting. Perhaps if a car received some form of rust proofing before delivery to the first owner this area would hold up better. The rocker panels are probably fine as they generally do not have a big rust problem. The front extension of the rocker would be the one area that does sometimes have rust problems, but that is easily repaired with aftermarket parts.
and to think I could’ve bought a restored one a few years ago for $150k
Sold for $120,200.00 with 57 bids.