The S-code was the first Boss 429 in 1969. It features a hydraulic camshaft, along with heavy-duty crank, rods, and pistons. The T-code, introduced mid-way through the '69 model year, is still a hydraulic-lifter engine. Ford lightened the rotating mass to make the engine a quicker-revving street fighter.
At the beginning of the '70 model year, Ford introduced the mechanical cam to the Boss 429. Collectors aren't sure if every 820-A Boss 429 was a solid-lifter engine, but every A-motor had the lighter crank, rods, and pistons.
Bob sees no value difference from one engine to the next. Some collectors tout the S-motors as being more desirable. Others favor the quicker-revving T-motor with hydraulic lifters. Others prefer the A-motor with its mechanical cam.
Restoring a Boss 429 with N.O.S. parts has become a hobby for rich men who compete to have the better Boss. The players must begin with a righteous car. Low mileage doesn't always count as with an old drag car that has been cut and butchered. Original carpet, seats, and door panels are a prerequisite-reproduction parts for the Boss 429 deluxe interior aren't high quality.Original and perfect sheetmetal is another must.
The second requirement is original parts. N.O.S. battery caps, for example, fetch $3,500. An original battery, minus the caps, goes for $7,500. Correct F60 Polyglas tires, without the size designation-called "no-size tires"-bring 10 grand. An N.O.S. exhaust system, if one can be found, brings $25,000. Bob recently sold a set for $20,000-without the H-pipe, tail pipe, hangers, and clamps.
Boss 429 production continued for '70 with what most enthusiasts consider minor changes. The body style looked similar. The '70 no longer utilized those 300 unique parts: spindles, rotors, strut rods and bushings, upper control arm spring seats, front springs, shocks, and so forth. For '70, Boss 429s used the Boss 302 suspension.
Because they were so unique, the '69 Boss 429 may turn out to be the more valuable of the two model years. Today, people paying the big bucks haven't differentiated a great deal between the two model years as far as price. The $605,000 on one of the first 50 built in 1969 may be a sign of what the future holds.
One Day In BrightonFord thought enough of the Boss 429 program to send a photo-grapher to the Kar Kraft facility in Brighton, Michigan, to document the first cars coming down the assembly line. These photos, apparently taken on the first day of production, January 15, 1969, document the building of the first Boss 429s at Kar Kraft.
Shocking Shock TowersFor years, books and magazine articles have stated that Kar Kraft reworked and widened the shock towers of production Mustang fastbacks on the assembly line to fit the Boss 429 engines because they were wider than the shock towers of the regular production Mustang. Bob Perkins says, "Kar Kraft, in its old location on Merriman Road in Livonia, Michigan, might have cut and beat on the shock towers of the preproduction Boss 429 Mustangs to figure out if it could fit the engine to begin with. Job 1 (KK1215) has the same shock towers as the last '69 built."
Similar to the Cobra Jet and Boss 302 shock towers, Boss 429 shock towers were also reinforced compared to a regular small-block V-8 or six-cylinder. Ford sold complete Boss 429 shock towers left and right. Kar Kraft didn't pull the front fenders off the Boss 429 on the assembly line. The engines were installed, but the shock towers weren't widened for engine clearance. Boss 429 shock towers are OEM and have Ford part numbers, D0ZZ-16055-B for the left side and D0ZZ-16054-C for the right.