Mason Jones has a thing for '70 Mustangs with white interiors, having put together quite a collection of '70 Boss 429s. All four have white interiors, making his Grabber Green, Grabber Orange, Calypso Coral, and Pastel Blue Bosses among the rarest of the Boss 429 Mustangs. So it comes as no surprise that Mason took special notice of the pair of Quarter Horse prototypes built by Kar Kraft in 1969 as a possible replacement for both the Shelby and Boss 429. Both Quarter Horses, one in Candyapple Red and the other in Grabber Blue, had white interiors.
"I learned about the Quarter Horses through magazine articles back when I was in high school and college," Mason says. "I've always thought they were such neat cars and it was a shame Ford never built them. I started thinking about them again when Steve Strange devoted a page to them in his Boss 429 book. But when I saw one of the original cars on display at the Carlisle All-Ford Nationals in 2005, I decided it was time to build my own version."
Although both of the original Quarter Horses survive today in the hands of collectors, Mason wanted something even more unique. In addition to his infatuation with the white-interior, Shelby-look Quarter Horses, he's always wanted a car powered by one of the legendary 427 Single-Overhead Cam engines. "I've always wanted to put a 427 Cammer into a cool car," Mason explains. "So why not build a Cammer Quarter Horse?"
The project came together from two separate angles-one for the car and the other for the rare 427 SOHC engine. The body, a rust-free '70 fastback (with white interior, of course) that Mason acquired as part of a Boss 429 trade, was put in the capable hands of Martin Euler, who handles Mason's Boss 429 restorations at his Euler Restorations shop in Midland, Michigan. That was the easy part. Finding a 427 Cammer, preferably one of the newer all-aluminum versions, would prove more challenging.
"Somehow, Martin found out about Rick Toombs," says Mason. "Rick built engines at Holman-Moody when he was younger. When Martin contacted Rick, he was already trying to locate some aluminum Cammer motors for a couple of drag race engines. So I sent him a bunch of money and he started finding and buying the parts, sometimes from as far away as California or Australia."
Those parts included an aluminum 427 block from Robert Pond Motorsport, aluminum SOHC heads, Eagle crank with Diamond forged pistons, and a pair of custom Holley carburetors. With high-rpm, high-horsepower capabilities, Mason had to decide how much power he wanted Toombs to build into the special engine. "He was building two race Cammers with 1,200 hp," Mason told us. "I didn't want to go down that road for a street car. So he calmed it down to around 825-850 hp. The rev limiter was originally set for 8,000 rpm, but I think we're going to settle in at around 7,000. We're trying to keep this thing where it won't tear the Mustang apart."
Keeping the Mustang together was Martin Euler's responsibility as he constructed the chassis and body. First, he replicated Boss 429 shock towers to make room for the massive Cammer, which measures an inch wider than a Boss 429. Then he added a 2x4 steel tube brace inside the rocker panels, similar to convertible braces but stronger, and welded the '69-'70 Shelby roll bar to them. A Total Control X-style connector ties the front and rear subframes together.
The suspension is also from Total Control, including the upper and lower front control arms, rack-and-pinion steering, and G-Link rear suspension that replaces the factory leaf springs with coilover shocks. Brakes are discs all around utilizing 13-inch rotors and three-piston calipers from Stainless Steel Brakes Corporation.