The upcoming Shelby GT500 for 2013 may be this year’s fastest production muscle car, but the racing heritage behind Mustang as a marquee is one that is long-lived and was reinforced during the horsepower wars by the tuning tactics of late race driver, Carroll Shelby.
What may be taken for granted, however is that Mustang was the Trans Am car that instigated Chevy’s production of the Camaro, which GM first introduced as a 1967 and radically revamped by ’69. But by the very last part of the ’60s, the pony car war was specifically between the 302-powered Z28 and the equally-equipped Boss 302 ‘Stang, opening a remarkable market for small-block performance on the road race circuit.
Given this, our eBay Find Of The Day just may be one of our most historically-significant thus far, as this ’70 Boss 302 from Romeo, Michigan was bought new and three years into its life was converted into a successful road and drag racer using a number of modifications and components from former Ford racing contractor, Holman Moody.
Though not directly affiliated with Holman Moody, our featured Boss uses a set of ported and polished heads from HM, along with an HM solid-lift cam that measures 0.585″ lift with 304 degrees of duration. The ‘Stang’s valvetrain also consists of Crane roller rockers and pushrods forcing open a set of stainless steel valves.
Most of the decals are original from the ’70s, and though the number “70” on the driver and passenger doors were not intact when the car was recovered, photos of the ‘Stang during the decade reveal that the car did have the numerical decals as part of its original race conversion.
Our original Boss Mustang from Michigan is a cool piece of ’70s racetrack history, and it stands as a stark reminder that there was a time when American auto was about power and not flash. How do you think the drag and road racing scenes have changed since the ’70s?!