Best Boss That Never Was
Although very little information exists about the car or exactly why it never made it to production, Ford nearly produced a Boss 302 for 1971, as evidenced by PR photos of a '71 fastback with "Boss 302" decals. The photos even appeared in some of the "new car" magazines in the fall of 1970.
Apparently, Ford initially planned to continue the Boss 302 model for 1971, then switched to the Boss 351 at the last minute when factory support for the Trans-Am series was discontinued. Without Trans-Am, there was no need to build a unique small-displacement engine for homologation.
The decals for the '71 Boss 302 appear to be identical to the Boss 351 versions that made it to production. In fact, for a number of years, the '71-style Boss 302 decals were listed in Ford's parts manuals. That shows how close Ford came to offering the '71 Boss 302.
It would be interesting to learn more about the '71 Boss 302 used in Ford's publicity photos. Based on a fuzzy photo that turned up recently in the old Petersen Publishing (Hot Rod, Car Craft, etc.) photo archives, the prototype car was actually equipped with a Boss 302 engine.
Most Illegal Speeding Ticket
At the Shelby American Automobile Club's SAAC-6 convention in Dearborn in 1980, Joey Flowers, the owner of a wild, supercharged '70 Boss 429, received a City of Dearborn speeding ticket for going 150 mph in a 45-mph zone at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Evergreen. That's 105 mph over the limit. His fine? Only $25 for a "civil infraction."
The Last Boss
According to the Boss 351 Registry (www.boss351registry.com), the last Boss 351 built was assembled on July 27, 1971. That also makes it the last Boss Mustang ever produced. To date, serial number 1F02R230227 has not been located.
The Few and the Proud
For such a revered performance car, Ford produced a relatively small number of Boss Mustangs: only 11,796 over a three-year period. That's less than two percent of all Mustangs built during 1969-1971.
'69 Boss 302: 1,628
'69 Boss 429: 849
'70 Boss 302: 7,014
'70 Boss 429: 500
'71 Boss 351: 1,805