He says, “I had just wrecked two C/Production Sunbeam Tigers-I was not what you would call a highly competitive driver-and needed a car. Jim Walters purchased the car in early 1973.
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Other than what we already knew, researching the early history of the car turned out to be a cold-case investigation.
GRABBER GREEN MUSTANG DRIVER
That included former Ford Engineer Jack Roush, veteran Penske T/A scorekeeper and Trans-Am historian Judy Stropus, race car driver Chad Raynal, Kevin Marti from the Marti Report, former car owner “Bahama Jim” Walters, and Joe Cali and Josh Ashby from the International Motor Racing Research Center. Trail Runs ColdĪt this juncture, we started contacting everyone we knew who was in the trenches back in the day and is still on the right side of the dirt in hopes that one of them might remember the car.
![grabber green mustang grabber green mustang](https://www.mustangspecs.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/96b98c899dca5db5c5eeb0eb3858b065.jpg)
There may be more racing history floating around the cosmos, but we sure weren’t able to find it. It logged two 20th Place finishes at the 1972 Watkins Glen and Sanair, Canada, Trans-Am races. It would DNS at the Lime Rock, Connecticut, event and DNF in Bryar, New Hampshire. In 19, Folsom raced the Mustang with little success. Mike finished it up as best as he could with the money he had.” The engine wasn’t supplied, maybe not even the transmission, but I can’t clearly recall. Various brackets and other items that you would normally find on a car like this weren’t there, either. For instance, one of the rear disc brakes was missing. “As with many unfinished race car projects, parts tend to walk. “The car was half completed,” says Buffum. Later he regretted the trade because that car in today’s exotic collector car marketplace would be worth a king’s ransom.) (However, he does remember that he traded away his 1968 Monte Carlo Porsche 911. Buffum does not remember whom he acquired the Boss from, other than the party was from Michigan or Minnesota. The rally star intended to enter the Mustang as a team car with his championship-winning English Ford Escort, with University of Vermont engineering graduate/weekend racer Mike Folsom driving.
![grabber green mustang grabber green mustang](https://www.mustangspecs.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/1970-Ford-Mustang-Boss-429-Grabber-Green.jpg)
Buffum was more than happy to share with us what he knew about the car. Ownership records indicate a sizeable gap between September 22, 1969, and the acquisition of the Boss in early 1971 by Libra International Racing CEO John Buffum.
![grabber green mustang grabber green mustang](https://maxtondesign.com/eng_pl_Street-Pro-Front-Splitter-V-1-Ford-Mustang-GT-MK6-Facelift-12824_2.jpg)
It seemed that everybody at Ford’s Big Glass House had Trans-Am fever, so it’s a reasonable assumption that this car was an interdepartmental project or, at best, a backup car for one of Ford’s sponsored Trans-Am racing teams. Ford’s highly successful Trans-Am Mustang program, championed by the Bud Moore Engineering organization, was at the pinnacle of success in 1970, ultimately wrestling away the Trans-Am championship that year from Team Penske and Chevrolet. O’Leary had this Grabber Green Boss 302 pulled off the Dearborn, Michigan, assembly line and sent to Ford’s Central Office Building Garage (better known as the X-Garage) to be converted into an A/Sedan race car. On September 22, 1969, Ford Motor Company Vice President of Personnel and Organization Edwin D. We believe Conley is the ninth owner of this Boss 302, but we can’t say with certainty because the car’s earliest history is somewhat cloudy.
GRABBER GREEN MUSTANG SERIES
with the express purpose of racing in the SCCA’s Trans-Am series or potentially even NASCAR’s Baby Grand American racing series. To our knowledge, it is the only Grabber Green 1970 Boss 302 Trans-Am Mustang built by Ford Motor Company and Kar Kraft Inc. Ah, there’s nothing like a good mystery to get the investigative juices flowing.Ĭraig Conley, owner of Paradise Wheels in San Marcos, California, campaigns this Grabber Green 1970 Boss 302 Mustang in Historic Trans-Am vintage racing classes as well as at Shelby American Automobile Club open-track events.