More "Area 51" cars that don't exist....

These people are like rabbits or noxious weeds. No matter how you try to get rid of them, they keep popping up. After the post on the cars that don't exist-a bunch of people challenged me with some more. Ugh!!  So here's some more that don't exist-that idiots of all ages insist they do!!  # 1. Boss 429 Cougar. Boss 429 Mustangs started life as 428 CJ models and were shipped to Kar Kraft for the Boss-Nine conversion. Ford lost money on every one. The cars were only built to homologate the engine for NASCAR racing. Further, since Ford drivers like Cale Yarborough and David Pearson were running Torinos and Mercury Cyclone bodies-which would have swallowed the huge engine easily without the extensive modifications the Mustangs needed- that certainly would have been the path of least resistance. Since no one was racing Mustangs outside of the Trans-Am series where the displacement limit was 305 ci-thus the little brother "Boss 302"-why did they choose a Mustang to make the Boss 429 legal?  We may never know. Anyhow their were two Boss 429 Cougars built for drag racers "Fast Eddie" Schartmann and "Dyno" Don Nicholsen. Neither had much success. They just weren't that fast. Schartmann wrecked his; Nicholsen pulled the Boss-Nine and put an older side-oiler 427 FE in his Cougar and won a few races. As far as I know, Schartmann's car was crushed. Nicholsens's may be in a drag racing museum. No one is quite sure what exactly happened to the car after that racing season. The point is-there were never any Boss 429 Cougars sold to the public. Not one, not ever. # 2. Ram Air V GTO. Since 1968 Herb Adams and other Pontiac engineers had been toying with "Tunnel-Port" cylinder heads for the Trans-Am racing effort. They found that the big heads were too much for the 5 liter engines. The 303 ci engines ran much better with production RAIV heads. However drag racers like Arnie Beswick and Doug Nash found out that the big 400 and 428 engines could make incredible power with them. Like 426 Chrysler Hemi and 427 Chevy power levels. So Adams and some other engineers pitched the idea to make the "Ram Air V" a production option. With a hot General Kinetics solid-lifter cam, the engineers were blown away by the results. However John DeLorean-then president of Pontiac and the GM brass wouldn't warranty a solid-lifter Pontiac engine. Adams argued that Chevrolet had several solid-lifter small and big-block engines that had a full warranty. No deal. He then suggested that they sell the option with no warranty and a disclaimer. Ford had done that with the Thunderbolt Fairlanes and Chrysler had done it with the Hemi Darts. DeLorean and the brass refused to budge-they wouldn't sell a car without a warranty, and they wouldn't warranty the engine the way it was. The problem now was they had enough parts to build about 600 engines. Adams suggested they sell them over the counter through dealership parts departments to racers and DeLorean agreed to that. Arnie Beswick ran one in his "Super Judge" and Royal Pontiac technichian Milt Schornack had great success racing an RA V '70 GTO. Royal Pontiac also swapped an RA V into a '69 Judge for a customer that made the cover of Hot Rod magazine. Nunzi Romano and some other Pontiac builders built a few for racing use and for their customers as hot rods. As late as 1972 some engineers were still trying to get it into production. ( DeLorean was long gone ) Rumor has it that that a 455 inch Ram Air V GTO was built, as was a "Stage 2" ( Buick's 455 performance package had been called "Stage 1" ) Buick Skylark., and the Pontiac and Buick engineers had a drag race. Rumor is that both cars were ungodly fast-running 1/4 mile times in the low 11s and high 10s; Rumor also has it that the Buick won by a car length and a half. The Buick was destroyed in a fire at the Buick proving grounds; no one knows what happened to the Pontiac. Some of what they'd learned-especially the round exhaust ports-were incorporated into the SD-455 program in '73-74. Adams and company also developed a 366 ci tunnel-port engine for Nascar and campaigned it a '73 Grand Am. Adams wanted this engine to replace the 400 and 455s which were based on a 1955 design. That idea was nixed by the brass as well. The point being-there was never a factory built RA V Pontiac sold to the public. # 3. 1972 Boss 351 Mustang. The 1971 Boss 351 Mustang was the last "Bad to the Bone" engine built by Ford for sale to the public. They had 11.3:1 compression, a hot solid-lifter cam, an aluminum intake and were grossly under-rated at 330 hp. They were only available with a 4-speed and 3.91:1 or 4.30:1 gears. Only 1,806 were built.  In 1972 most Mach 1 Mustangs had a hydraulic-cammed 351C with 8.0:1 compression and were rated at 266 hp. A little-known and not advertised option was called the "351HO" package. This engine had 8.8:1 compression and a solid-lifter cam and Ram Air and was only available with a 4-speed and 3.91:1 gears. It was under-rated at 285 hp. The buff magazines called it a "De-tuned" Boss 351. However-the package was officially called "351HO" and the emblems on the blacked-out hood clearly said "351HO". I remember my dad doing a PDI ( Pre-delivery inspection ) on one at Serramonte Ford where he worked. Nowhere on the car or the window sticker or in the owner's manual was the word "Boss" ever mentioned. You can say I'm splitting hairs-but the "Boss 351" was made for one year only-1971.  # 4. 1971 Challenger T/A / 'Cuda AAR. The  Chrysler Trans-Am package was only offered for one-year-1970. It included a 340 V8 with 3-2bbls, a blacked-out, scooped hood,special body striping,front and rear sway bars, a loud exhaust that exited in front of the rear wheels and E60-15 front and G60-15 rear tires that gave the cars a mean rake. Transmissions were a 4-speed or a Torqueflite.  The confusion comes from an advertisement which ran in Motor Trend in December 1970. It advertised the '71 Challenger T/A. Or did it? The car was a 1970 model with a '71 grille airbrushed in. Chrysler had intended to offer the package. Some 1971 Chilton  and Motor service manuals list tune-up specs for the 340 / Six-Pack.  However-Ford  pulled out of Trans-Am racing after the 1970 season. That's why there wasn't a '71 Boss 302. Roger Penske and Mark Donohue-who had won championships for Chevrolet switched to AMC. GM still gave some back-door support to guys like Milt Minter and Tiny Lund-but there was no real GM effort. Without the racing tie-in needed to sell the cars-and the race cars had de-stroked 305 ci engines not production 340s-Chrysler decided it wasn't worth the effort, and the option was scrapped. Further adding to the confusion-the '71 R/T stripe package closely resembled the '70 T/A design. And some dealers like Mr. Norm's Grand Spaulding Dodge would install the "Six-Pack" setup if you paid extra. Edelbrock sold the manifold up until 2012. I've seen quite a few '71-74 models that are done up like a T/A-a few with 318s and 360s with the 3-2bbl induction. But that's gearheads playing grab-ass. 1970 was the only factory built version. # 5. 1975 455HO Trans-Am. This car technically exists, but not the way idiots say it does. Let me explain. The "Real" 455HO was available in Trans-Am and Formula Firebirds, GTOs, and T-37 Tempests and LeMans GT models in 1971-72. It featured 4-bolt mains and forged pistons instead of cast; it had RAIV heads and round-port exhaust manifolds and the RAIV's aluminum high-rise intake, coupled with the famed "068" cam. This made one beautiful street engine. Even with only 8.4:1 compression they were rated at 335 hp and 480 lbs of torque. With 480 lbs of torque at 2,700 rpm-you don't need to rev to 6,000 or 7,000. And they were under-rated at that. One of the buff magazines dyno'd a stock 455HO and it produced 429 hp and 544 lbs of torque. In '73-74 the more fearsome SD-455 was the darling of the media. Then Catalytic Converters and stiffer 1975 emission standards hit and everything went to hell. The 454 was dropped from the Corvette leaving a small-block the only engine for the first time since 1964. The Z/28 option was dropped from the Camaro. The Challenger and 'Cuda were no more, and the Javelin / AMX was dead. The Charger was now a re-badged Cordoba ( Yuk! ) and the Mustang was more Pinto than Mustang. The Trans-Am was the last man standing. Pontiac not only killed the SD-455, they dropped the "regular" 455 from the T/A's option list. The L78 400 which had a respectable 225 hp in '74-now wheezed out 185 hp and was shackled with single-exhaust and salt-flats gearing-2.56:1 with the automatic and 3.08:1 with a 4-speed. The buff magazines howled to the high heavens. Pontiac quickly came out with a "455HO" package-shamelessly desecrating a legend. The engine was a "station wagon" 455 with 7.6:1 compression that wheezed out 200 hp, backed by Muncie 4-speed and a 3.23:1 axle ratio. Even though they weren't bad performers-Cars magazine's test car ran a 15.62 in the 1/4. Not bad considering the power-killing emission controls and the state of tune. However it was nowhere near the high low 14s and high 13s the SD-455 ran just a year before, and the magazines derided the car and said the name 455HO shouldn't have been used. Of the roughly 23,000 T/A's sold that year-( Ironically the most ever in a single year ) only 857 had this package. Pontiac offered the option again in 1976, but now they simply called it the "455 Performance Package " and the magazines stopped griping, and agreed that the T/A was the only true performance car left-it even eclipsed the Corvette in performance and handling. T/A sales doubled and hit almost 50,000 that year. "Smokey and the Bandit" wasn't released until April 1977-so that sales bump wouldn't be felt until the '78 model year. Anyhow-idiots insist that these are "real" 455HO's. The only thing these cars share with the earlier 455HO's is the displacement and the lettering on the shaker scoop!! Like I said-their a garden-variety "station wagon" 455. Now if you want to add some Edelbrock heads and intake and a hot cam and headers you'll be like Jules' wallet-but stock their pretty much a dog and nothing special. Hope this clears some things up. But it probably won't. Mastermind