The Mach 1
429
Super Cobra Jet
Project

We all hear of those rare barn cars found after sitting for years. Well I found this car less than five miles from my home.  The owner bought it in 1980 however it has spent most of this time in his barn.  I feel honoured to be the one returning her back to her former glory..

This is a photo of a 71 Mach 1 429 owned by Fredrik Strøm of Norway.   I will be restoring this car back to all of the original factory specs as well as its original factory colour as shown here in this photo.  Click this link for more photos of Fredriks car.

The History of this Mach 1 429 Super Cobra Jet

One of the challenges I enjoy with each of these projects is tracing the history of each vehicle which includes talking with each owner to gain some insight into the cars life.   As I proceeded through the list of former owners I found that the then new Waterloo Region Police Service in Div 1A was VERY familiar with this Yellow Mach 1 as you will read below.

1971 - 1973

Originally sold by Ridgehill Ford Sales in Galt (Cambridge),  the actual original owner at this time remains a mystery as Ridgehill did not retain records back that far.

Jim Mansfield Jr.  1973 - 1975

The 2nd owner was Jim Mansfield of Waterloo who spotted the car sitting on the used car lot of George Weiland Motors on King Street East.

When I located Jim he shared with me that this Mach 1 was his all-time favourite car.  It all started one day when Jim was driving down King East and saw an Orange 71 GTO and this Yellow 71 Mach 1 sitting side by side on the Weiland lot. Jim said it was toss-up deciding which one to buy but eventually went for the Mach 1 as he did not like the Orange colour of the GTO.   Jim and Weiland Motors were both unaware at the time that the car was a J code Super Cobra Jet. In those days people were not as conscious of VIN codes as we are today. Jim said all he was told was that it had a 429 engine.

Jim purchased the car and during our conversation related the one story that sticks vividly in his mind.  This involved in a High Speed chase ending up in him looking down the barrel of a Police officer pistol as he was hauled from the car.

It all started one evening when Jim was cruising King Street and spotted a 350 Camero travelling in the opposite direction also looking for a little street racing.    Jim recalled that he turned around and tried to catch up to him so they could hopefully both catch a red light together.   Jim said that finally occurred at King North and Weber Street and on green away they went, tires screeching a blue smoke billowing from the tires.   Neither racer saw the cop parked beside the then A&W who immediately took off after them. Jim said he blew the doors off the Camero and made a hard right onto Conestoga Road leaving the cop still chasing the Camero.  Jim stopped down Conestoga Rd and killed his lights but then quickly regretted that as the cop made a U turn leaving the Camero and taking off after him.  He recalls travelling at a very high rate of speed as he came quickly upon three cars travelling much slower in the same direction on  Conestoga Rd.  As he was approaching the village of Conestoga, he moved into the left lane to pass when he was dismayed to see the second car back decide to pull out to pass the lead car. Jim knew if that guy did not spot him he would either take to the ditch or be forced to ram him. Luckily the second car saw Jim's fast approaching headlights and pulled back into his lane. Jim said he shot by the three cars like they were standing still with the cop still in hot pursuit.

Approaching the T intersection in Conestoga he was still travelling too fast for the turn. Jim said he recalls drifting through the turn at about 45 mile per hour when he floored it heading for St. Jacobs. With three cruisers now corralling him in and hot on his tail, Jim turned off the main road which shortly turned into fresh gravel. Unable to maintain control he figured it was time to shut it down and admit defeat.

The first cop to pull up did not have any background and only new that car was wanted and was involved in a high speed chase so as trained and taking no chances he approached the car with gun drawn and ordered Jim out of the car.  By then other cruisers started arriving and when they were finished lecturing Jim he was charged with speeding in excess of 30 miles over the posted limit which caries an automatic Dangerous Driving charge. Jim said he was also charged for unnecessary noise as a result of the squealing of tires and exhaust noise at the start of the road race back in Waterloo.

Jim rapidly hired a lawyer and in consultation with the Crown Attorney pleaded guilty to speeding 29 over and the unnecessary noise charge. If that was not bad enough luck, shortly after that Jim also lost his job and was forced to sell the car.

David Calma   1975-1977
Unfortunately David has since passed away however I was able to track down his brother Mark who had many recollections of the car. Mark related that many of David's friends from the New Hamburg area all hung around Rudy Helds Performance Center and were continually upgrading their cars. It is believed that David repainted the car from the original Ford Grabber Yellow to the current Blue colour.

In 1977, David ended up selling the car to an 18 year old neighbour, Peter Hammer of New Hamburg.

Peter Hammer  1977 - 1980
Peter bought the car just after leaving high school.  He told me he was always in love with the 71 Mustang from when it first came out.  When his neighbour David put the car up for sale Peter was able to pull together the $2,500 asking price and finally became the proud owner of a 71 Mustang Mach 1.  Photo shows Peter with his new acquisition.

As you san see from the stories above related by previous owners, the ole 429 engine by now had seen better days.   After running the car for about a year, and wanting to bring life back to the engine, Peter enrolled the help of his former auto shop teacher at Waterloo Oxford High School in Baden. The school would rebuild the engine with Peter supplying the parts.

Peter relates that after getting the engine back in the car he picked up his then Girlfriend and another couple and took the car out for a test drive.   Peter and his girlfriend liked fast cars however the other couple were not very impressed. The couple would soon be even less enthralled with fast cars as Peter said he was in 3rd gear hard acceleration near Phillipsburg and well over 6,000 RPM when there was a huge BANG and loud clanking from the engine. When the smoke cleared he could see, sadly, that a rod had let loose and came right through the side of the block.   The photo to the left is Peter in 2007 showing me his keep sake - the piston and broken rod that let loose thus ending the 429 engine so Peter put the car up for sale in 1980.

Joe Weikman    1980 - 2006
Joe was recovering from a very serious accident he had had earlier with his Mustang which was a total write-off.   Joe bought the engine-less car from Peter and sourced a 429 Thunderjet engine from a Ford T-bird.   The Thunderjet used the same DOV-E block as the Cobra Jet however the heads sported slightly smaller valves and a passenger car intake and exhaust manifolds rather than the higher performance manifolds and carburetor which were downsized on the Thunderjet. Joe did upgrade the Thunderjet engine when he rebuilt it adding the same cam used by the CJ. Joe also replaced the 3:91 gears in the Traction-Lok differential for a more street pleasing and gas pump passing 3:25 ratio.

Joe did enjoy some time with the car however it spend most of its life in Joe's nice dry barn which minimized any more corrosion. Whether plated or not each year Joe did start the car up and give it a bit of a run to keep the engine well lubed. I did notice plugs in the door posts showing evidence that the car had also been rust proofed at one time.

I found out about Joe and his Mach 1 from Joe's employer. It took some coaxing for Joe to let go of the car but as you can see I was finally successful although it was a tough day for Joe when it left on the flatbed.

THANK YOU
Thank you to everyone above who helped contribute to the history of this car. I promise each of you will be notified when she is back on the road in her former self and let you take her for a drive once again. Oh - but no street racing will be allowed.

So now the disassembly and cataloguing of the car has started which will be followed with a total rotisserie restoration.  Click the links below to follow the restoration of this piece of Ford's racing history.

Paul Cassel
email: paul@ve3sy.com