Edwards blue Stallion
The other seven
Evidence of the 427 Stallion from Paul Paterson
(mechanic of John Petrie)
STALLION from the GHMA
(Golden Horseshoe Mustang Association)
VIN 7..........
The 1967 Stallion was a special promotion Mustang from the Toronto based Mainway Ford dealer. Back in mid of 1967 Mainway placed some advertisements in canadian car magazines, at least the one pictured above in July in the Canada Track and Traffic mag.
The Stallion was initiated, custom-designed and sold exclusively by Mainway Ford, Toronto (Canada), although the ad was asking for franchise partners. The Stallion could be ordered with the 320HP 390cui engine in GT-version. Optional were a 410HP 390ci and a 550HP 427 engine. We have yet no information on the specific engine mods on the two optional engines. But acc. to Kevin Marti research, there were some of them produced with a 289 Hi-Po engine.
4-speed manual trans or a C6 auto trans could be choosen acc. to the advertisement. Performance was "realised" on the outside with a special paint, Stallion emblems, rear Cougar taillights, a very unique vynil side treatment.
On the inside a tachometer, console with radio, Deluxe steering wheel and seat belts and a rear fold-down seat plus wooven seat covers didn't left the driver thinking he was having a serial Mustang.
Everything indicated that this was a Horse of a Special Breed -
A real STALLION.
Kevin Marti (www.martiauto.com) checked his Ford files upon our request in 2002 and found out, that probably only 8 Stallions were produced by Mainway Ford, 4 of them had a 289 Hi-Po installed and the other 4 received a 390 from the factory. So indeed their project did not came to much off the ground.
As of 2020 we got more inside knowledge from Paul Paterson, John Petries mechanic back then at Mainway Ford. Thanks to Robin McQueen for making that contact.
See his memories further down this page.
What options were there on the Stallions?
- 390 or 390HiPo or 427cui engine
- GT equipment - special HD suspension
- 4-speed manual trans or C6 Select Shift Cruise-o-matic
- Special side vynil treatment
- Limited slip rear axle
- console
- Power Steering
- Power Disc brakes
- DeLuxe Steering Wheel
- DeLuxe Seat belts
- F70x14 wide oval belted tires
- radio
- Fold-down rear set
- STALLION emblems
- Cougar taillights
- Special steel wheels
Edward Faultless tells us about his brothers Stallion
"My brother is (now was) the 4th owner of the car, having purchased it in 1993 from a close friend of ours. He purchased the car in 1979. We were also acquainted with the 2nd owner as well. We have just tracked down the original owner, but he has no pictures from its past. We are missing a few key pieces of badging. The car does not have a Mustang grill, but we assume the current unit is as installed by Mainway.
The car was a limited edition dealer option from Mainway Ford in Toronto, Ontario, CANADA. The cars came from the factory with the 390, 4 bbl and 4 gear tranny. Mainway then replaced the rear tail-light panel and tail-lights with 1967 Cougar units, chromed the side vents, and added the chrome trimmed, vinyl along the fastback. The interior features the brushed aluminum panels that were a Mustang option.
Stallion badges were added to the fenders and the trunk lid, unfortunately these pieces have been missing since at least 1976. The car still has the pop open gas cap with the Stallion graphic and a similar badge on the passenger side dash. The graphic is a rearing Stallion, a mirror of the Ferrari's, but a much tougher looking horse!
Mainway apparently offered a number of engine upgrades from the standard 320 horse-power S-code 390. Listed were the 410 horse-power 390 and a 550 hp 427. This car has a Mercury 410 ci engine (390 block) with a lot of work done to it. 12.5:1 compression, Holley 850 cfm and 5.13 gears. 450 horse-power and 11.3 et quarter miles.
The advertisement picture is from Ford of Canada historical archives featured in Rare Finds section by Jerry Heasley Mustang & Fords (August 2000),pg 94.
The car on our website was featured in Rare Finds by Jerry Heasley Mustang & Fords (March 2001), pg 86.
We have not seen another one, but apparently there is one other known to exist. We have done some research on this with Peter Klutt of Legendary Motor Cars, who also hosts "Dream Car Garage" on Speedvision television in North America."
Update July 2010:
New pictures have surfaced of Edwards car on the web from a neighbour
Update November 2014:
We have also found evidence of a series of 1968 Mainway Specials that were called MUSTANG GTS. A lime green Fastback and a yellow convertible are known to exist, both with 390 engines.
If you have more on Mainway Ford Specials, send us a line.
Most other webpages have copied and pasted this content over the years since 2002, so you will have a hard time to find out more on these, but anyway keep us in the loop.
Editors note: I personally regret that this exclusive Mustang is more or less lost as a unique heritage showpiece.
We learned from Edward that the car was sold already in 2011/2012 back to the 3rd owner, a friend of the family. It was initially planned to restore it, but finally the PO thought it would be a better idea for his planned usage to go restomod with this car.
Unfortunately the currently sole survivor lost its oustanding Stallion dress except for the gascap emblem, which is now installed on the middle consolde of it.
Robin McQueen contacted us in 2020 to provide more insight into the operation at Mainway Ford.
Paul Paterson remembers his time with John Petrie. He was the main mechanic during the performance period at Mainway Ford.
In
1967-68, John Petrie raced a 1967 Mercury Cyclone fibreglass bodied funny
car, with an injected 427 SOHC engine (1967), and a 6/71 Blown 427 SOHC in
1968.
Robin narrates:
A couple of friends of mine were principal people behind the building of the
Stallion Mustang at Mainway Ford back in 1967. They were John Petrie
(Performance advisor) and his assistant, Paul Paterson.
Recently, I got an email from Paul with this information I think you'll
appreciate.
"John Petrie headed up Mainway’s vision of offering high performance tune
ups to full out modifications depending on how much $$ a customer had to
spend. Mainway wanted to offer anything and everything that Carroll Shelby
did for the Mustang and some of those requests were really ‘out there.’ Most
of the clients were youngsters with more dollars than cents from North
York.
But Mainway under John’s direction did come up with a Mustang uniquely
theirs called, "the Stallion". It came complete with Stallion medallions
replacing the Mustang medallions and all were painted a steel metallic grey.
There was a wide variety available from 390 autos to 427 four speeds and
anything in between. One weekend after we had finished the latest Stallion
we decided to take it on a road test where we found ourselves on the Don
Valley Parkway heading west. I suggested to John that we keep going to my
neighbourhood and my local hangout which was a Harvey’s drive-in located in
Lakeview. This way we could drum up new business as this Harvey’s was a
local gathering place for the coolest cars of the day.
John agreed and soon we were on the Lakeshore Boulevard heading toward Harvey’s when we were stopped at an intersection by a red light. Suddenly a car slid up beside us racing its engine... I looked over and recognized the car and driver.
It was Ron Cole in his 396 4 speed Chevelle who was quite the legend in
local street racing. John looked over and Ron looked back then both heads
swivelled toward the traffic light... The light turned green and both took
off. Side by each they hit second gear and the Stallion lifted its front
wheels and was gone. I turned back watching Ron pounding through the
gears... We were parking in the Harvey’s lot as Ron Cole slid to a stop
jumping out demanding that he see under the hood. We pulled the pins and
lifted the hood revealing the 427 wedge with it’s 8 barrels. Ron always wore
a base ball cap and as he shoved it back on his head he muttered, “Oh crap!”
Asked about 1968 and continuation of the program with a possible GTS
Paul Paterson added:
John and I joined Mainway Ford after the 1967 season ended, he as the High
Performance Advisor and me on the bench. It
was a win win situation since up until then the only place we had to work on
the car was in my parents garage when we were back in town.
The ceiling in that garage was too low to lift the body so we would either
have to squeeze in under the body to work or take the body off entirely.
Mainway Ford was a two story structure and we would gain the second floor
via a ramp by towing the car up with an electric golf cart.
The ceiling on that second floor was a good 12 feet complete with tall
windows on three sides which opened out and that was a good thing...
I say it was a good thing because it was there in 1968 where we installed
Scott Wilson’s super charged engine and fired it up for the 1st time. Not
only was it deafening it was also suffocating and eye tearing. Gasping,
coughing and rubbing our eyes, we ran from window to window cranking them
open for relief. But back to the point. Yes I recall that Stallion as a
metallic steel grey 427 wedge on Webbers and now that I think on it, I think
it was built as a flag ship dealership promo car. It seems that the
knowledge of a 68 Mustang with a 427 wedge produced by Ford is dubious and
so far has not been proven... But I’m here to tell you that there was one,
not from the factory, but by Mainway Ford on the Danforth.
Thanks to Robin and Paul for that insight.