Growing up in West London in the early ’70s, American car owners were the outlaws of the road and with few military locations in the area there were more than a handful of Mustangs, Corvettes, Camaros and Firebirds around. Watching films like Vanishing Point and Two Lane Blacktop sealed the deal for me.

As soon as I could save up enough money, I was out looking for something unusual, even among the relatively rare bunch of American cars available. 

In 1986 I went searching for a ’70-71 GTO Judge or a Challenger R/T but found the Boss 351 first. I knew about Shelby Mustangs but hadn’t heard about Boss Mustangs. In my defense this was pre-internet. 

This actual car had been featured in a UK car magazine the previous year and I some how missed it. I was living with my parents at the time and they were less than overjoyed at the prospect of me “wasting my money on some old gas guzzler and waking the neighbors up at all hours.” 

Money handed over, my dad drove the car 15 miles or so home in a couple of inches of snow. I couldn’t get the insurance arranged that quickly. Now my dad was and still is the best driver in the world….Aren’t they all? He owned trucking companies his whole working life and I’ve seen him reverse a semi-trailer up a 15% gravel hill incline and drop that thing in a space most mortals would struggle to park a VW Bug in! 

My dad has owned and driven everything from Minis to Jags and when he got out of that left hand drive, Hurst 4 speed manual, solid lifter V8 powered piece of American muscle, he tossed the keys over the hood at me and said, “You’re gonna kill yourself in that bloody thing son. It’s a wild animal!” Yes dad, that’s what Mustang means! 

The history of the car is not completely known, however the Mustang was repainted close to the original color and the “hockey stick” side stripes where painted along with the hood in non-original black without the Boss 351 decals. Originally, Grabber Blue Boss 351s had silver as the contrast color instead of black for the hood, side stripes and rear light panel. 

The original Autolite carb was replaced by a Holly 750 cfm double pumper and a slightly more aggressive Crane camshaft had also been installed to orchestrate the solid lifters. 

Currently the car is in the process of being relocated and registered in San Diego. It isn’t running and restoration is in the plan. As the saying goes, “life gets in the way sometimes.” Having spent many years since owning this car living and working all over the world, it’s now time to breathe some new life back into the London Boss.