The lost 1971 302 boss

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A very cool story and fortunate owner. Supposedly a total of 6 were built. There could be more out there. If I was a 71 4 speed owner with very low VIN I'd be checking for staggered shocks and an N case diff. Great Story!

 
amazing story. i had to repost it in my german forum. thanks for the link!!!!

abudi

 
Hi everybody. Yes, I'm the owner of the one and only 1971 Boss 302 Mustang ever built (so far, LOL !). Actually, according to Kevin Marti, in his interview with Mustang Monthly Magazine, my car is the only one leave the Dearborn plant.

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Mine was actually the "Pilot" Boss 302 car, built on the first day of regular production of the 1971 Mustangs. The others that were scheduled for build, were cancelled, some were even "bucked" and cancelled.

Are there others? Well, since the 1971 Mustang was not available with a combination of 351C-2V and Toploader 4 spd, (mine ended up the only one, and the Marti book, "Mustang By the Numbers" lists a total production of "1") I would say that anybody out there who has a sportsroof or Mach with that combination, should look for the staggered shocks (not available with that combo either) and look for other clues, like a "pasted-over door VIN tag, like mine. I had a thick looking door sticker, because the original was underneath.

Here's my car as it looks today (I have done nothing to it, other than maintain and polish it, rust spots and all! ):

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Here's my car as it looks today (I have done nothing to it, other than maintain and polish it, rust spots and all! ):
If you ever get the chance to get under the carpet it would be interesting to see if you find a build sheet (like Ole Pony said). That would be ultra cool if it had the build codes for the Boss equipment.

 
@SM3570, I did look for a build sheet, and did remove carpet, rear seat and door panels for a "look-see". None, but I wasn't surprised, since the prior owner had some interior work done. As far as the "codes," they are still on the underlying build tag, ie: the "G" Code Boss 302, "5" toploader, as well as the metal tags on the 9 inch "N" case, with Daytona pinion support.

There's a heck of a lot more to this story. I actually have 6 different Emminger sheets for this car, all different, and at least 3 different VIN's, all ending in "100053." If you saw that link I posted earlier to Emminger's notes on the first 100 Mustangs for 1971, you will see my number is circled with a note. At one point, Ford invoiced the car as 1F05R100053 (the earliest Boss 351.) But on it's birthday, it was built and tagged as 1F02G100053 (Boss 302)

The Mustang Monthly story is online, just Google "lost boss mustang" and it comes right up, including photos. The one thing that Donald Farr was unable to successfully photograph was the "OSS 3" lettering that still faintly shows under the Grabber Yellow as painted-over on the rear decklid. We speculate that the "02" lettering was painted over with a "51" when the car was later photographed as the new Boss 351. Here's a Ford publicity photo. Look at the trunk lettering and honeycomb and flip down gas cap, all still on the car today:

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@73VERTPROJECT: I don't know what it's worth. If I decide to sell it, I will probably put it up for bids, with a healthy reserve. I have been giving it some thought lately. I have also wondered if Ford has any interest in buying it, since they keep publishing those old photos, as recently as 2006 and 2007 in the Official Ford Dealer Calendars (which I did like seeing!) So, they obviously see it as a milestone car. I know I do !!! It's really the last production Boss 302 ever built by Ford for 40 years.

 
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Here's my car as it looks today (I have done nothing to it, other than maintain and polish it, rust spots and all! ):
Amazing story man..And thanks for commenting about it more...And what a car!! Just shows you never know what you got...Im still tring to figure out my car warranty vin...has a J code on it..lol..Its a 1 of 1 car on the report....But nothing quite as valueble as your boss 302..Here is the code..If anyone figures it out..i would love to know!!..lol

 
Here's a photo from September 1970 Super Stock Magazine, of the only other "71 Boss 302" I have ever seen. It's Medium Metallic Blue and Argent Silver. Notice the trunk is slightly different shade of blue than the rest of the car, as if it was added later. This car may never have been an actual Boss 302 car, and is believed to have been destroyed. I wonder.....?????

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