3 of a Kind

A Trio of Boss 351 Mustangs.

- Tom Shaw

Boss 302's are Trans-Am champions. Boss 429's are the most exotic, and giants in the marketplace. So where does that leave the Boss 351? It was the last Boss Mustang in the magnificent Boss Mustang trilogy, probably the fastest in stock configuration, and it was the only Boss built on the new 1971 body style. The other two Boss Mustangs seem to capture more of the headlines, leaving the Boss 351 the least known among muscle car rank and file.

If you’re a little fuzzy on what the Boss 351 was all about, it was about street and strip performance. The Trans-Am road racing effort was over, and the Boss 429 super car thing had played out, too. Both were canceled, and a new Boss Mustang took center stage for 1971. It had more cubes than the Boss 302, less complexity than the Boss 429, and in some important ways it hit the sweet spot of Mustang’s true performance potential. It was easy to live with in daily traffic, but if you wanted to kick it, the Boss 351 had a strong midrange punch that could put you through the quarter-mile in mid to high 13's, or less if you really worked it.

The Boss 351 showed up in November 1970, two months after the model year began. As the sales year closed, the Boss 351 turned out to be the final chapter in the tale of Ford’s extraordinary Boss Mustangs. Sales amounted to less than 2,000, thanks to a changing marketplace and a list price of $4,101, highest of any 1971 Mustang.

Though the Boss 351's are rare today, we had the pleasure of gathering a tasty trio of them packing a collective 990 horsepower. Not bad for engines of modest displacement. One car is a detailed show winner; one is in as-found, unrestored condition; and one has one of the earliest production VIN's known to exist. If you like your Mustangs powerful and rare, these cars are for you.

Resto Boss