[Lee Stewart]

Every story has a beginning. This is Chapter 2: the birth of the Boss 429 Mustang. This is the prototype of the Boss 429 Mustang before the moniker "Boss 429" came about. But let's start at Chapter 1; Once upon a time . . .

Ford was enjoying it's dominance of both NASCAR and NHRA with it's 427 Cobra engine. Everything was coming up roses until an elephant showed up; Chrysler's 426 Hemi and literally took it all away from Ford. Needless to say, Ford was pissed, so new marching orders were given; beat the Hemi. This resulted in an unbelievably short gestation period; just 90 days after the 1964 Daytona 500 when Chrysler came in 1,2 & 3 . . . the birth of the 427 SOHC engine. If there was ever a result of the old adage "you can solve any business problem by simply throwing money at it" the SOHC motor definitely comes to mind.

Unfortunately Big Bill France didn't like custom made engines running in his Stock Car Racing series. He wanted production engines. But he did cut Ford a break . . . sort of. They could run the 427 SOHC, but they would have to run under a weight penalty of 10% which defeated the extra horsepower the engine made. In the 427 day thread you saw a SOHC 427 Chevy engine. Chrysler also had one based on the Hemi, just in case Ford got their way. Ford learned a valuable but expensive lesson; proper planning prevents piss poor performance when it comes to introducing a new engine into NASCAR.