I have never seen a good picture of the two Quarterhorse Mustangs which appear to have been made with a '69 Shelby nose (though some of the vents may have been filled) and a Boss 429 from the windshield back. Were these Ford show cars or never finished up enough to show? Someone on some forum said they saw one at a car show so I am wondering if there whereabouts are known and they are regularly displayed? Do they have Boss 429 or Shelby id tags? I suspect Larry Shinoda might have thought them up when he was at Ford, I wonder if it was ever quoted what Shelby thought of the appropriation of his car's nose design?
Shinoda was a real maverick I knew Larry Shinoda and visited him at his office but we never talked about that car. He was a real maverick and made a lot of enemies at Ford by reporting directly to his patron Knudsen and bypassing the entire chain of command at Ford Design. He was a hot rodder right after the war, racing on the dry lakes beds. He spent a few years behind barbed wire at one of those internment camps but said he didn't mind it because he didn't realize the significance of it. I have a feeling that since he came from the Chevy camp (having designed much of the '63 and '68 Corvettes) he didn't have any particular loyalty to Shelby and thus glommed onto the Shelby nose, which by the way, doesn't look that distinctive without all the scoops, vents and all.
Re: Shinoda was a real maverick Having know Larry on a personal level, I can tell you that he was a man of his word. Never said a bad thing about anyone, and got along with everyone he touched. Business wise, personal wise, and everything in between. For you to say otherwise dishonors his memory and you should be ashamed of yourself.
The Quarter Horse was a Mustang Fastback Body, Shelby Front, BOSS 429 Drive Train and Cougar Interior. MUSTANG MONTHLY did an article on them several years back. As shown above....One is Graber Blue. David.
If memory serves me right one was a boss 9 and other was a 429 thunder-jet? Shelbys nose? that was Ford design studios nose,he was just rubber stamping his ok and cashing Fords checks by this time.If he had been really into it at gt-350 would of gone Trans Am racing and he would not of fielded a boss 302 team. I also could be wrong..but feel he saw the writing on the wall steele
Without rereading the MM article, Fran Hernandez was behind them and they were done at Kar Kraft. They were finished 8th. Nov. 1969 and 36 quartermile runs were done with lower 12s being clocked. One source for pics is Alex Gabbards "Fast Mustang" book. Others I think are in the Witzenburg documentation. And another source would be Stephen Strange for the VINs. Since Kar Kraft did the 69 to 70 Shelby conversion update, one could guess, they had some "nose pieces" there lying around to test them on the BOSS.
Dan August: will trade art for glossy pic of ol' Burt as Dan August with Quarterhorse I have seen many p[ictures of Burt Reynolds with the black Firebird Trans Am (I believe he was responsible for at least a quarter milion trans Am sales) but not a picture of him with the quarterhorse from that 1971 show. If anyone has a glossy publicity print, I'd be glad to trade a fine art print 11" x 17" of an original painting of a Cobra for it. The prints sold for $75 each at Pebble Beach in 2011. I vaguely remember the series, I thought he was driving a two seater '50s T-bird...but my memory fades after 40 years.