 KK 2417 residing now in Australia
|
The Mystery story of a Boss 429 with a race history - KK 2417 Denise and Craig MacGregor from Australia are the proud owners of this grabber blue 1970 BOSS 429 that seems to have some race history. Here is what they have as of now on the history.
We tracked the invoice down and a lovely lady
Lois Eminger, who sent them to us.
The car was originally sold at Jim Whalen Ford Elgin
Illinois where our grabber blue BOSS 429 started life. Dont know if it
was registered at all untill 1975,however.
The earliest owner we tracked down so far was in
1975, Mr Delmer Vails Jr, a milk truck operator in Oklahoma.
Delmer said it was probably raced prior to him owning it, at
the famous Union Grove strip that was close.
Delmer purchase the car from a little car yard
in Oklahoma. The white interior was painted black, and stored in the
back of the car but he said the exterior paint was great and the
mileage very very low even for 1975.
He told me "it was the nicest car Ive ever
driven and could lightem up any gear any speed". I dont street
race all THAT often but I never loose. My friends said I was crazy at
the time for buying her, but I new what I had.
From there a guy called Robert Bulter bought
the car, and then Cecil Yother (Paul "Racer" Browns
apprentice orig) owned the car. Both guys have performance shops
and are famous corporate funny car pilots in the early days. Racer
Brown is known as the father of the camshaft and developed much of the
understanding of how internal combustion works in relation to camshaft
profiles we have today.
He developed all the TRD and Ford Racing cam grinds
and there is a good chance many of us are using one of his original
grinds in our cars. Cecil asked "Racer" for a camshaft favor
and there you have it. Cecil's quote was "well it wouldnt
fall out of a tree under 5 grand you understand, but over that it
gets real nasty"
In anycase a gentleman, who was the fastest man on
water, Jim Broadley bought the BOSS 429 in 1979 and shipped it
to Australia. Prior to Jim when Cecil got it, it spent many
years on a Texas border barn (yep a barn car). The motor
disassembled and in the dirt virtually. Built in 1924 this barn has
more air than timber and in pure oil rigger country. That is
not a good thing apparently.
Well Cecil grabbed the bits and put them on a car
trailer before he got shot. The original valve covers were missing
and another original set were purchased for $400US in 1978 from Steve
Strange of Boss Performance. The motor was unbelievably all stock
and mileage still low. Stored reasonably well, the engine was
cleaned and new rings and bearing installed and amazingly all
standard. The original engine and gearbox is back in the car
as on these cars the VIN number is also stamped on the chassis,
motor and gearbox unlike any other mustang.
Stored in Australia in a museum for 23 years, it
is now in a good home. The car is in good condition, but the sitting
meant that brakes and suspension rubbers needed some love.
In that 23 years the owner
never drove the car but once at the
Hot Rod Nationals at Valla
where a competition exists for any car there to do the best burnout.
Well over 1000 cars attend the show but at the end it all happens.
The rules are you must do a one pass, no brake burnout, the crowd
votes and their choice gets $1000. Well off the trailer the old
girl went and on the road. After winning $1000 they
stuffed the old original clutch.
So the saga continues with Denise and myself. We
found a rats nest (with rat) in the dash, and this little guy
collected alot of the owner contacts we have today. However he
did decide that the roof lining looked tasty at one point. The
interior is exception except for the attack of hunger by the
little gal."
Some famous racing can am quotes about the BOSS
429
Mario Andretti reporting to the crew chief:
"It accelerates so hard I cant shift gears"
Carl Yarborough "The BOSS 429 is the best engine I
have driven and the best race engine of all time, what ever I
ask...when I call it, it comes".........."the Boss 429 to
racing is like the invention of axle grease to the wheel."
|
