In describing the 1971-73 Ford Mustang, Lee Iacocca, the man who had been instrumental in bringing the original car to life barely a decade prior couldn’t hide his displeasure in what his car had become. “The Mustang market never left us, we left it.” What did that mean? Iacocca was not completely on-board with the performance trends, but what really irked him was how Mustang had grown from it’s initial 1965 size. In explaining why the Mustang II was as small as it wound up becoming, understand that Iacocca’s biggest complaint with the big Mustangs was size alone. The 1971 Mustang had become bigger to fit larger engines in the bay, but that was a badly timed move, as 1971 was pretty much the endgame for performance for quite some time…and now you had huge Mustangs that had packed on 800 pounds in weight. Not good. Not all bad, though. Another aspect of the 1971-73 Mustang was luxury…buyers were getting older and they wanted more than just a couple of seats and an engine. And at least for 1971, two of those engines hadn’t been neutered. The Boss 351 was a small-block that could punch well above it’s weight, and the 429 Cobra Jet was still on the menu as well. Hot small block or wicked big-block…how did you like your horse to run?
This 1971 is an original Boss 351 car that, when found, was missing so much of the Boss 351 parts that it didn’t make sense to try to fix it. Instead, this has been tweaked into a semi-phantom Boss 429 build, complete with an Super Cobra Jet block, Kaase Boss 429 heads and intake, and over 600 horsepower on tap. Barking through a Tremec five-speed and putting the twist to the original 31-spline 9-inch with 3.91 gears, no amount of size is going to hinder what this pony can do. 
Alright, I’ll level with you, readers: I know this is a lot of money for a modded Mustang. But if this isn’t the pinnacle for what one of the big cars can be, I don’t know what is. I love the Shelby-inspired big cars and outside of restored Boss 351 and Mach 1 cars, they usually don’t give me a muscle vibe…more like a personal coupe vibe. This is an inspiration build that I’d donate body parts to science for. Appreciate it for what it is…a thought of what could have been if 1971 hadn’t been the sunset year on fun.
A plain Jane version would be a total sleeper …no stripes , hood scoops ,etc
My favorite body style of Mustang. 80K though is a bit too spicy for my wallet.
Interestingly, 35-40 years ago, the was a 71 Mustang in my neck of the woods (central Alberta) that packed a 500 inch Boss 429. Same color, too. Obviously not the same car, though.
The Boss 351 was quicker than the 429 that year, and quicker than any Mustang stocker prior. I guess I’d take the Cleveland.
I realize this one is far from stock with all the 385-sexiness, but screw-in stud 351s are rare and neat enough to deserve preservation, I warrant.