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Boss 429

The Rest of the Story

Rick Stanton’s Talladega with a Boss 429 installed.

We all know that the Boss 429 was the engine that powered the Talladega and Spoiler II on the NASCAR tracks but was not available in either car for the street. I am often asked why didn’t Ford put it in the Talladega instead of the Mustang. My response is always the same, I do not know. I have a few thoughts on the subject but they are not worth muddying the water with here.

The Boss 9 also earned a rather poor reputation on the street. I have talked to more than one original owner who traded in a 428 CJ Mustang for a Boss 429 and was initially disappointed in the Boss 429’s performance.

Below is a video I found that explains some of what was going on at that time.

Richard

Some of my first and strongest memories from my childhood relate to cars. I still remember when things happened based on what car I was driving at the time. I grew up and lived in Iowa for nearly 40 years before moving to Southern California and now live in Tennessee. I was a Corvette fanatic for years but then re-discovered vintage American Muscle. My wife, Katrina, and I decided we wanted to focus on unique and rare muscle cars. After a lot of research we fell in love with the Ford Blue Oval Aero Cars. These were only built in 1969 and and aerodynamics became an important part of winning races. The only purpose of these limited production cars was to win NASCAR races using the Boss 429 and 427 power plants complimented with a special, wind cheating, aerodynamic body. The Ford Talladega and Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II are terrific and historic cars. This site is devoted to these car and their owners past and present. We provide an Online Registry for recording the long term history and ownership of every remaining Talladega, Spoiler and Spoiler II.

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