Phildaupho Posted April 13, 2011 Posted April 13, 2011 I tried to get this model of Dan Gurney's '69 Trans-Am Mustang completed in time for Dan's 80th birthday [April 13] but I still have things to do in the engine compartment and a bit of touch up. I was fortunate to discover the live birthday interview with Dan on Peter Windsor's on-line talk show called The Flying Lap at http://smibs.tv/the-flying-lap. Dan sure has some great stories to tell from his illustrious career. Below the photos I have included a brief history of the Boss 302 Trans-Am Mustangs. Dan Gurney 69 Trans-Am Mustang A BRIEF HISTORY of the BOSS 302 TRANS-AM MUSTANGS Ford won the Trans-Am Series in 1966 and 1967 with Mustangs built by Shelby American. Things changed in ’68. The Penske Camaros became the benchmark of the series while the tunnel-port Mustang was a disaster. Ford’s strategy of taking engine development in-house backfired. As a result, the championship went to Chevrolet. Ford wanted the Trans-Am championship back so got very serious in 1969. To replace the tunnel-port, two engines were evaluated. The Gurney Westlake with its sophisticated aluminum heads was the quickest but would have been very expensive to homologate. What would become the Boss 302 race engine was essentially a combination of the tunnel-port short block with heads based on the 351 Cleveland. For ’69 Ford gave engine preparation back to the teams. “Bodies in White†initially from the 428 Cobra Jet assembly line were sent to the shops of Kar Kraft, a Ford subcontractor. The resulting prototypes were aid dipped to reduce weight, the front fenders were wedge sectioned to improve aerodynamics and the bodies were channeled to get them as low as possible. There were two factory Mustang teams for ’69. Team Shelby was back for its third and final year in Trans-Am. The Bud Moore Team, which was racing Cougars in the NASCAR Grand American “Pony†series during 1968 returned to Trans-Am as Ford’s seemly, favored team. Privateer teams had to build their own Boss 302 racecars unlike previous years when Shelby produced Trans-Am Mustangs for anyone who wanted one. Another interesting aspect of Ford’s Trans-Am campaign in 1969 was the fact that the Bud Moore cars were on Firestones while Team Shelby used Goodyears. The Firestones were better qualifiers but the Goodyears help up longer. Furthermore the Firstones had the superior rain tires. Both teams stated the season on American Racing “Daisy†mag wheels but due to some problems attributed to these wheels later switched to the Minilite wheels used by virtually all the other teams. Even with four cars and a bevy of tremendous drivers, Ford could not take the championship back from Penske in 1969. All that changed back in Ford’s favor for 1970. The Boss 302 Trans-AM Mustang in 1970 was probably the ultimate evolution of the first generation Trans-Am racecar plus Penske had moved over to AMC and the new Camaros run by Chaparral were not as competitive.
stewart Posted April 13, 2011 Posted April 13, 2011 Nice mustang. Can you post more pics of the engine compartment and interior? STewart
Phildaupho Posted April 13, 2011 Author Posted April 13, 2011 Nice mustang. Can you post more pics of the engine compartment and interior? STewart Please check http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=42593&st=0&p=446392&fromsearch=1&#entry446392 Once finished I will post UNDER GLASS
MODELFREAK2112 Posted April 16, 2011 Posted April 16, 2011 That is one great looking Mustang, love the paint and decal treatment. Someone did there homework I give it an A+.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now