This 1971 Ford Mustang Boss 351 comes from the home of the longtime original owner and is only available for sale due to his passing. The Mustang has clearly been loved since new, with beautiful original bodywork, paint, and matching numbers drivetrain. The seller notes it even comes with the California title and financing paperwork reflecting the lienholder releasing the car to the owner once paid off. Find it here on eBay with bids over $26K and the reserve unmet.
The Boss 351 was produced for just one year and slotted in nicely between the Boss 302 and 429 cars. While the 429 may be considered the most desirable, the 351 is still a rare car, and incredibly difficult to find in survivor-grade condition like this. The car retains its old-school California blue plates, and the black body graphics and spoiler treatment all appear to be incredibly well preserved. Even though California cars tend to survive quite well, I have to believe it’s been garaged since new given it doesn’t appear to have much in the way of sun damage.
The four-speed manual transmission is what you want to see here, and the three pedals will undoubtedly make this Mustang even more desirable. The carpets aren’t perfect but still look reasonably sound; I can’t quite tell what’s going on along the passenger side floor, as the discoloration appears fairly consistent. The dash looks clean but still sports a few cracks, and the Mustang appears to retain original gauges and its factory radio. Bucket seats are quite nice for their age and can be used as-is with no pressing needs for a visit to the upholstery shop.
Under the hood, some maintenance updates have been made for drivability purposes, but the Mustang otherwise remains bone stock. The seller notes the original owner’s son-in-law installed a new water pump and had the radiator rebuilt, and that new hoses were also installed. All of the original parts that were removed come with the car, and the Mustang shockingly even still has its factory Autolite carb. Survivor Mustangs are always in demand, but especially so when it’s a Boss 351 like this. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Patrick S. for the find.
Good looking original car. A four-speed manual transmission is the only thing you’ll see in a BOSS 351, or BOSS 302, or BOSS 429. An automatic was never available in any of them.
Does anybody know the story behind that hose (secured to the coil tower/firewall brace) on the right side of the engine photo?
Looks like the power steering cooler installed in wrong place, should be ran to the front r side of engine compartment. And the hose on left side of engine looks like a heater core “bypass hose” prob why the carpet stain on the passanger side lol. Bas ass car! Those engines are way under rated.. rev like a small block w torque like a big block not too many of them were made.
P/S cooler is where it belongs. That hose, though I’ve seen it before, is a mystery to me.
Hard to tell in the pic but very often there would be a knocking sound in the power steering on these old Ford’s and sometimes a longer hose would take care of it. A rube Goldberg type of fix, but it would work. Like tin foil on the fuel lines to prevent vapor lock.
This picture looks exactly like my boss with power steering…hose, cooler etc.
Power steering cooler?
Looks like the heater core hose. Possibly the heater core has a hole in it?
Its the power steering hose. Some 71’s have the long hose, others did not. in 72 it was tucked under the shock tower. It may of been related to the performance package that incl. the finned power steering cooler. The longer path would keep the fluid cooler, and increase volume. Also, from what I said earlier it may also prevent thumping or jerking in the steering at low speed sharp turns, like parking. Sometimes a cheap fix to a inherent problem
Beautiful car, and great find, I enjoy seeing any of the ‘71-‘73 “Clydesdales” on the site. HOWEVER, to nit-pick- I would question the all original paint claim- the passenger fender Side stripe portion is definitely not an OEM stripe- the radius of the downward corner just above the side marker is way off- it’s a poor recreation of the factory stripe. Also- the location of the “BOSS 351 MUSTANG” fender decal, passenger side seems too low on the fender, and it’s tough to tell in the pics, but the pass. fender paint doesn’t look like a perfect match. Interesting that there are no pics of the Drivers side??? If the Deluxe door panels are original to the car, that’s a plus- I read a guesstimate that only about 10% of the Boss 1’s came with Deluxe interior. Also super cool if it does indeed retain the pricey-to-replace original Autolite carb. Cool find, thanks for posting.
Good eye Tom71mustangs. Also, just for fun after reading your post and searching around a bit, looks like the inside narrow stripe by the side marker should have a break in it as the stripe approaches the marker. Overall solid looking car. Not sure why it was pulled from EBAY.
.Wow, don’t see these all that much! Like that four speed shifter sitting there, just egging you on a little. Maybe the best street machine Ford came up with…has the look, stance, aggressive machoism about it with a very high compression 351 Cleveland matched to a 4 gear transmission.
I remember a mustang shootout back in the nineties where the owner removed the rubber seal on the air cleaner and picked up nearly seven tenths in the quarter mile. That kind of surprised me.
Dang they had a killer score with this one
Don’t have near the knowledge of the guys commenting above. I was born July 1971, Fox body cars were the thing in my day. Not very far removed though as there were plenty of Clydesdales still rolling in 1987. I lived with and loved my ’72 Comet “GT” 302-2V as my first car. Looks like 1970 was the peak in performance, then downhill. The cleveland motor, 4V seemed good for the year. Nice car, appears pretty hard to fault.
R code checks out as a Boss 351. V code rear end is 3.91 locking. She was born with standard interior, the door panels are an add on.
There was/is a daily driver original owner green w/black hood in Oakland. Old man owner takes/took care of like a first born child. Last time I saw it feb. 2013 parked on street, took a pic.. Then again sometime 2015/2016 was last time I saw it driving. Wonder if he’s still around. Kept in great condition. These Original owner cars are not too common as owners are now in 70/80’s age wise. Cool and 13sec. fast for big car/small block motor.
Wonder if that’s the passed on owners wife or significant other. she seems sort of sad in the photo. RIP to the car lover.
Bummed that seller pulled it off of EBay. Would have liked to have seen what it could have sold for.
Yes, same here, friend has a rotisserie restored boss 351 that he’s looking to sell, was wondering what the market is for these. Good luck to the new owner. BTW, IIRC, the 71 boss 351 was considered the fastest mustang ever.!
Cheers
GPC
GPC – maybe this guy got a local offer too good to pass up. Ordered and bought my silver with black stripe package & sport interior around June ’71. Would love to have it now ! I’ve seen some very low mileage ones auctioned for over 100K, but have no idea what your friends would be worth.
Hard to tell in the pic but very often there would be a knocking sound in the power steering on these old Ford’s and sometimes a longer hose would take care of it. A rube Goldberg type of fix, but it would work. Like tin foil on the fuel lines to prevent vapor lock.
Sure is plenty of nitpicking here from so called car guys. This is the next Boss 429 car price wise. One year only. You never see them and it is a far better engine than the boat anchor 429. Coulda bought a perfect black Boss 351 at Hershey in about 1987 for $7,500. Shoulda.
From the looks under the hood, door jams and the rust along the seam where the door skin attaches to the door frame IMO looks like that thing has been ass deep in muddy water. Gotta go !
Thanks Bog!!! Happy new year!!
Cheers
GPC
To you as well, GPC !
I’m going to look at Hemmings and a few other places to see what BOSS’ are going for now.
ps – Mine would eat Vettes in “stop light Grand Prix”… Never took it to the local drag strip though, just enough fear of voiding warranty and insurance policy.
bog
Ok I literally stopped chewing my popcorn for a minute. 351?? thats GREAT!!!
I always liked these and once the mini mustangs came out they were a lot more desirable to me!! A 4 speed makes it that much cooler!!!
I dont usually respond in a negative way but calling 429 boss engine a boat anchor ,while calling others out as not being car guys lol.429 consisted of the best parts ford had,their total commitment. The engine was made for nascar, rev all day ,almost unbreakable for the race.best fords engineers ,decades of making engines, and this is what ford had to offer for its purpose. Built to compete with the 426 hemi because it dominated , 429 had forged crank, rods, dry aluminium fords version of hemi heads for extra block strength, O rings for oil and water,plus a head gasket so if 1 cylinder blew you still have 7 to win the race. 351 is a great engine but no match for a 429,thats crazy talk. 429 was so detuned for street it barely ran,they only sold them in order to use them for racing,ford lost big money on every boss429 sold to the public,thats how committed they were to beating chrysler and they didnt pick the 351 to go head to head with the 426. Gotta keep things in perspective.