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Random Car Review: 1970 Ford Mustang “Composite Mustang” or Quarter Horse


Random Car Review: 1970 Ford Mustang “Composite Mustang” or Quarter Horse

Welcome to Dearborn, 1969. The party is still in full effect for the most part. The Mustang Mach 1, the Boss 302, Torino Cobra, Mercury Cougar and Cyclone…things look lovely in the land of the Blue Oval. Right? Well…for many, that’s true. When the only fight seems to be with the boys at Chrysler for dominance on the ovals of the southeast, it can’t be that bad. But for a few people in the upper offices, there was some writing on the wall that people didn’t like. For starters, Carroll Shelby had handed in his walking papers. Irked at seeing his modified Mustangs moving far away from the racetrack brawlers and more into the posh upper-crust type rides that rode upon his name with credit, Shelby had asked Ford to kill the program off that year. Ford was also hearing it from critics, who were pissed off that Ford had six performance models (GT, Mach 1, Boss 302, Boss 429, Shelby GT350 and Shelby GT500) that they never shut up about, but had little to nothing to say when it came to the new fluffed-up semi-lux model (Grande) and not a peep about the 200ci six-cylinder economy model (Mustang Model E). The final blow came at the end of 1969, when Ford realized that the Shelby didn’t sell worth a damn and had to get the Feds to approve putting 1970 VIN numbers on the leftover cars.

So, let’s look at what’s on the table: the public thinks you’re too focused on performance, your star power just up and left the building to go cook chili, and you’re starting to see the early flickers of flame over at General Motors that would become the raging fire of the 1970s, the personal luxury coupe. What do you do? In Ford’s case, they decided to mix all of the ingredients into two prototype cars and see what could possibly happen and the result was the two cars known as either the Composite Mustang or the Quarter Horse. Two Boss 429 Mustangs from Kar Kraft had their Mustang nosecones removed and were retrofitted with Shelby sheetmetal with the NACA ducts on the hoods closed up and a Mustang horse in the center of the grille. The instrument panel was swapped out for the Mercury Cougar unit. The plan was to replace the Shelby twins and the Boss 429 in one shot for mid-1970. One car was painted Candyapple Red, is rumored to have been fitted with a 429 Super Cobra Jet mill, and was sent off for tests, where it was good for high-13 second quarter miles. The Grabber Blue example had a Kar Kraft code (KK2061) and might have had a Boss’9 under the hood at one point, but eventually it too became 429SCJ powered. Both cars are in private hands.

The story of the Mustang around this time period is crystal-clear: for 1971, Mustang went into full-on “Fat Elvis” mode, even though the 429 and the genuinely wicked Boss 351 were on the options code. After more complaints from the press and the public, the move was made to shrink the Mustang back to it’s original “little jewel” (blech) form and in 1974, the Mustang II arrived just in time to meet the first gas crisis head-on, becoming an accidental hero. And that’s probably for the best, considering that if the Composite Mustang had won they day, the nameplate might not have lived on much longer, if the death of other pony cars around 1974 is any indication.


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3 thoughts on “Random Car Review: 1970 Ford Mustang “Composite Mustang” or Quarter Horse

  1. Matt Cramer

    I was hoping to hear this was some experiment in using aerospace materials to build a 2000 lb beast.

  2. duggie

    Was hoping for a more in depth article. Case in point – no mention that the Kar Kraft car was used in the TV show Dan August with Burt Reynolds.

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