A rare Mustang has been found in a barn after sitting for 46 years, and it’s a model that not a lot of people would recognize.
The Boss 351 was only available for the year 1971 and was slotted under the Boss 429. As the name suggests, it features a 351 cubic inch V8 engine, mated to a 4-speed manual transmission sending around 330 horsepower and 370 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels.
The Boss set itself apart from the standard Mustang by featuring a high-nodular iron cast crankshaft, high-flowing heads taken from the earlier Boss 302, and an Autolite 4300-D carburetor built specifically for the model. The pistons were upgraded to forged aluminum units, and the block featured four-bolt main bearing caps instead of the usual two.
In addition to the engine upgrades, the Mustang also received power front disc brakes as well as a competition suspension package. You had to be a real boss to wrestle this muscle car as manual steering was the only available option, but the fold-down rear seat and rear window defroster made it slightly more comfortable.
Only 1,806 examples of the Boss 351 were produced, slightly more than the Boss 429.
Read More: The Ford Mustang Concepts that Never Made It to Production
According to a video by Auto Archeologist, this particular Boss 351 was purchased new by the owner but has been sitting in a barn since 1976. The first owner originally ordered the vehicle in red, but when it was delivered it was obviously yellow. As he was color-blind, it was only when his wife told him that it was yellow that he found out.
In order to try and get slightly better gas mileage, the owner attempted to install a two-barrel carb on the engine in place of the four-barrel unit, but the project was abandoned halfway through completion, and the car was pushed into a barn.
The condition is remarkably good but would require a lot of cleaning and removing of animal droppings before actually taking it for a spin. With just 46,175 miles (74,311 km) on the odometer, it’s likely that the engine is still in quite good shape if nothing climbed down a cylinder and died as a result of the open intake.
The Boss 351 is now heading to a new owner, who will hopefully bring the car back to running condition.