1971 FORD MUSTANG BOSS 351 CLEVELAND V8 MUSCLE CAR LITERATURE FACT SHEET 26

Description

Each "Collector Series" is shipped in a special mailer to prevent damage. You can combine your Super Ford "Collector Series" purchases and you will pay .95 S&H for the 1st one you buy, and there is absolutely no additional S&H charge for any additional "Collector Series" you buy at the same time !
This Super Ford Collector Series is on: "The 1971 BOSS 351 MUSTANGS". This 8 1/2" X 11" print is in black, and yellow, on a real nice white pebble finish paper. (These particular collector series sheets may exhibit a slight discoloration around the very edges).
It was October 7, 1962, when Ford Motor Company introduced a sporty little two-seater called the Mustang I. Anxious onlookers praised the sporty little car as professional race car driver Dan Gurney, hot shoed it around the Watkins Glen track in excess of 120 mph. Much to Ford's advantage, Chevrolet's mid-engine, Corvair based, Monza GT experimental sports car also showed up for public display at Watkins Glen.
The new Mustang I overshadowed the Monza GT so much that the Chevrolet display looked more like a wake than a new car showing. Things rolled quickly from that point, and by the year's end, Lee Iacocca's Ford Division people were hard at work designing the Mustang production car.
When Ford dealers opened their doors on the public introduction day of Friday April 17th, it was the beginning of "Mustang Madness".
An estimated four million people visited their local Ford dealers that first weekend to see the new Mustang. It was Lee Iacocca's intention to create three styles of the Mustang: an economy version, a luxury version, and a performance version... he had done it all.
In it's first twelve months, 418,812 Mustangs were sold, a new all-time record for a first year entry. The basic style of the first Mustangs ended with the 1967-68 models which emerged as a longer, wider, and higher version. The next major style change came in 1969 as the Mustang grew in length and width with the overall height decreasing only slightly.
For 1971, the Mustang made it's most radical metamorphosis. The clay designs for the 1971 Mustangs were being carved in the Spring of 1967 when the horsepower race was hot and heavy, and gathering speed by the minute. Planners developing the design for the design for the 1971 Mustang were making room for larger engines and more radical suspension components to keep Ford on top of the pony car performance market. Little did they know that the Federal Government's growing barrage of safety regulations and emissions restrictions, would quickly put an end to the fantasies of "Super Mustangs" flexing gobs of horsepower generated from 494 cubic inch Boss engines.
The "Collector Series" article goes on to provide the actual dimensions for the 1964 1/2 Mustangs, to the 1973 Mustangs, along with the curb weights. Also listed for the 1971-73 Mustangs are: the engine options, the different models, and the options that were available for each year, along with the body changes, and a complete breakdown for the production numbers.
The 1971-73 Mustang generation will be remembered for a number of firsts, as well as lasts.
The "firsts" include: the first time the Mustang ran three consecutive years in the same basic style, the first year for the Boss 351, the first year for the 429 CJ and SCJ engines in the Mustangs, and they were the largest Mustangs ever built. Under the category of "lasts": the 1971s were the last years for 429 CJ and SCJ Mustangs, the last generation available with 9" rearends, the last generation with engines over 302 cubic engines, and the last of the true Boss 351 Mustangs (1971).The 1971 Boss 351 Mustang stands significant in history as being the last of the real "Muscle Mustangs" of the Muscle Car Era.
This article covers the new engine, the special suspension package, the production figures, and more.
With increasingly stiff governmental regulations hastening the demise of performance engines, Ford chose to end the Boss Mustang line with a real "Muscle Mustang", instead of watering down the breed to accommodate the regulations. A good move, The Boss 351... was still number one !