Article: The Dennis Leech Boss 429 Mustang

[Steve Holmes]

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If only championships could be won purely on ambition and big thinking. Then surely Dennis Leech would be 1972 British Saloon Car Champion. Leech’s slightly unorthodox approach to trying to topple the established heavy hitters in the BSCC, was ambitious, and ultimately a failure. But as a young team owner, with a tight budget, Leech’s efforts should be remembered for what they were, for purely trying to out-muscle the opposition, with what is likely the worlds only 429 Boss powered road race Mustang.

For teams competing for outright race wins in the 1969 BSCC, the last under Group 5 rules, there were really only two options, the Ford Escort Twin-Cam, or the American Ford Falcon Sprint. The Falcon had been granted an impossible homologation weight limit in 1964 of just 980kg, when a brace of these machines were entered for the Monte Carlo Rally, prepared by Hollman-Moody, and that same weight limit carried over to touring car racing. To help reach this limit, the Falcon had been granted the use of fibreglass doors, front mudguards, hood, and trunk lid.

For the 1969 BSCC, Falcon Sprints were entered for Brian Muir, Roy Pierpoint, Terry Sanger, Martin Birrane, Mike Moore, and Dennis Leech. Pierpoint got his campaign off to a good start, winning four of the first five races, with Frank Gardner claiming Round 2 at Silverstone in his Alan Mann Racing Escort TC. In Round 6, at Crystal Palace, Bill Shaw Racing entered a new Chevrolet Camaro for Pierpoint, but the Camaro was struck down by a spate of mechanical issues until gaining its breakthrough win in Round 8, at Croft, followed by victory in the next round at Silverstone. When the Camaro was destroyed in a shunt at Round 9’s Oulton Park, Pierpoint reverted back to the Falcon for the final two races.

As a late arrival to the ’69 season, Leech came on strong towards the end, winning Round 9, at Oulton Park, Round 10, at Brands Hatch, and placing 2nd to Gardners victorious Escort in the final race, held once again at Brands Hatch.

For 1970, and the introduction of Group 2 rules, several teams again went in search of American V8 power. Bill Shaw Racing built a new Camaro for Pierpoint, while Malcolm Gartlan Racing, who ran a Falcon Sprint for Brian Muir in 1969, imported a 1968 Penske Racing Camaro, with backing from Wiggins-Teape. Pierre de Plessis entered another Camaro, to be driven by David Piper, David Hobbs, and David Prophet at various times. Meanwhile, with Alan Mann Racing closing its doors at the conclusion of the 1969 season, Ford Advanced Vehicles sent one of the 1969 Bud Moore Racing, Kar-Kraft built Trans-Am Mustangs to England for Frank Gardner, whose team updated the car with 1970 bodywork.

Meanwhile, Dennis Leech had set about building a new Boss 302 Mustang, which made its BSCC debut in Round 5 at Crystal Palace, where the car retired after qualifying 3rd. Leech also entered the car in a support event to the Spa Francorchamps 1000km race, with Jackie Ickx driving, but again it retired, while leading. The best result recorded by Leech in the 1970 BSCC was 2nd, in both Round 6 at Silverstone Round 8 at Croft. But outright race wins in 1970 were shared between the Australian drivers Gardner and Muir, although John Fitzpatrick impressively drove his Team Broadspeed Escort TC to victory in the final race at Brands Hatch. Fitzpatrick, along with team mate Chris Craft, and John Willment Racing’s Mike Crabtree were often snapping at the heels of the big cars.

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For the 1971 season, Leech fitted the Mustang with a larger 351 motor topped with quad-Webers, to take on increased opposition. Team Broadspeed were now equipped with their new BDA Escorts, with fuel-injection and 5-speed gearboxes. Gardners Mustang was heavily damaged when being unloaded in an Australian shipping yard late in 1970, and he moved to Adrian Chambers’ SCA Freight team part-way through the 1971 season, to run a Camaro. Martin Thomas, who’d raced an earlier Mustang in 1970, purchased the Pierpoint Camaro for the ’71 season. A new RS2600 Capri was entered for Gerry Birrell. Meanwhile, Martin Birrane, who’d been racing a ’68 Mustang notch back throughout 1970, imported a 1970 Boss 302 Mustang which had been the development car for Kar-Kraft. Malcolm Gartlan Racing had now fitted Brian Muirs Camaro with a larger 350ci motor.

The battle for outright race wins during the early races in 1971 was between Muir and the flying Fitzpatrick, while Gardner appeared for the first time in the SCA Freight Camaro in Round 5. This was too late for him to mount a challenge for the championship, but he immediately challenged Muir for race wins, taking his first victory in Round 7 at Silverstone. For Leech, it was not a good season. The Mustang was struck by mechanical issues in several races, the only real positive being a second place in Round 10 to Fitzpatrick, although the Escort driver was well up the road at the finish.

Of course, with class victories counting for the overall championship, Bill McGovern took the title in his incredible Hillman Imp, following on from his 1970 victory.

[Steve Holmes]

For 1972, Malcolm Gartlan Racing elected to run an RS2600 Capri for Muir. Gardner was back for a full campaign with the Adrian Chambers team, who’d now built a new ’70 shape Camaro. Dave Mathews was entered in a Broadspeed built BDA Escort run by Melton Racing, Dave Brodie was in another BDA Escort, and David Howes was armed with an AMC Javelin. Terry Sanger returned to the series, taking over the former Wiggins-Teape Camaro of Muir, while Martin Thomas was back with his similar car.

Meanwhile, Leech decided more power was needed, and through Hollman-Moody, imported a sledgehammer 429 Boss motor for the Mustang. To fit the big 429 into the engine bay, the suspension turrets had to be modified. Initially, Leech ran the motor still fitted with a single 4-barrel Holley, but then fit it with alloy Gurney-Weslake heads, with four valves per cylinder. Leech then manufactured a slide throttle fuel-injection system for it.

The Mustang, now sporting a crisp new metallic turquoise paint scheme, looked a million bucks, but this ambitious project would make for a very frustrating season. Having missed the opening round, Leech qualified 8th for Round 2, at Oulton Park, some 7sec off Muirs pole time in the Capri. But he worked his way through the field to be 3rd at the finish, behind Muir and Gardner. At Thruxton, for Round 3, the Mustang again lined up in 8th on the grid, and was still running at the finish, behind Gardner, Mathews, and Sanger. At Silverstone, Round 4, Leech finished a lap down, in 9th place, but at least he finished. He didn’t make the start in Round 5, at Crystal Palace.

For Round 6, at Brands Hatch, the Mustang qualified 9th, and finished one lap down, in 7th. A dnf at Oulton Park ended a good run that began with a 3rd place on the grid, while more disappointment followed at the Silverstone TT, after he qualified 6th in a quality field which doubled as Round 8 of the European Touring Car Championship. He didn’t enter the next round at Mallory Park, and another dnf rounded out what had been a difficult season for Leech and his ambitious Mustang project.

After the frustrations of the 1972 season, Leech ran only a limited campaign in 1973, the last year in which the BSCC was run under Group 2 rules. Muir had switched to a BMW GB backed 3.0 CSL, although this car struggled against Gardners SCA Freight Camaro, which for 1973 was fitted with the alloy 7.0 litre motor used by fellow countryman Bob Jane to win the 1971 Australian Touring Car Championship, in another Camaro. Leech made his first appearance in Round 5 at Silverstone, finishing 14th, two laps down, after engine issues.

The last BSCC race for the Mustang was at the penultimate round, at Silverstone, for the Tourist Trophy, where Leech was involved in an accident in the first heat, and unable to start the second heat.

With nowhere for the Mustang to race other than in the Special Saloons category for heavily modified sedans, the Mustang took the usual nose-dive in desirability as old race cars tend to do, and ended up doing a bit of ASCAR club racing, driven by Roy Pierpoint.

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In the mid-1980s, Eric Walker purchased the Leech Mustang, complete with 429 motor and a spare 429 in bits (but missing the Leech built fuel-injection system) and added it to his growing collection of ‘60s and ‘70s American sedans to have competed in the BSCC, including the Terry Sanger Falcon Sprint, and Martin Birrane ’70 Mustang. All three vehicles were in original condition, as last raced, and showing the stresses brought about by years of being pounded upon. With nowhere to race them, Erics plan was to hold on to the cars until their values rose once again, then sell one of the Mustangs to pay for the restoration of the other. Unfortunately a divorce in 1987 forced him to sell the cars. The Falcon went to Sweden, while the two Mustangs eventually ended up back in the US.

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Although not a genuine Boss 429, the Dennis Leech Mustang is perhaps the only road race Mustang to have competed with a Boss 429 motor. Ultimately, the concept failed, but anyone fortunate enough to have seen this car race, will never forget it.

The Dennis Leech Mustang is currently undergoing restoration in the US.

My thanks to:

Wolfgang Kohrn at www.ponysite.de (http://www.ponysite.de/)

Frank de Jong at www.touringcarracing.net (http://www.touringcarracing.net/)

Mike Hayward at www.mikehaywardcollection.com (http://www.mikehaywardcollection.com/)

Eric Walker

The original race photos in this article were kindly Mike Hayward. The later photos were supplied by Eric Walker.

[zombie289]

Great write up steve, did not know anything about 4 valve GW heads for a lima block...wow! Thing musta been a weapon in a straight line! I believe there was a bud moore built BOSS 429 built to race in A/P in the US... don't know too much about it, although the car still exists I believe, will try digging through my archives for a pic...

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Pauly, yeah it seems its straight line speed was its biggest asset.

I'd love to know more about that Boss 429 for A/P.

[PonysiteEd]

Nice new shots from Eric, Steve and thanks for mentioning.
Got new pics of it recently from the owner.
(Sorry, had to remove those, they will be replace with new ones soon - March 2nd 2013)

[PonysiteEd]

Thanks Pauly, yeah it seems its straight line speed was its biggest asset.

I'd love to know more about that Boss 429 for A/P.
This one or KK1408?
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Picture credit to Hans Laschet

[Steve Holmes]

WOW! Do you have more info on this car Wolfgang? It looks incredible.

[Steve Holmes]

Nice new shots from Eric, Steve and thanks for mentioning.
Got new pics of it recently from the owner.
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Thanks for adding these photos Wolfgang. Do you know to what guise the Leech car is being restored? Would it be to 1970, 1971, or 1972 spec?

[Steve Holmes]

The Martin Birrane Kar-Kraft development car which is mentioned above and appears in the photo above from Eric Walker, is in this excellent race footage from Crystal Palace, 1971, which features the epic battle between Martin Thomas in the Camaro, plus Mike Crabtree in the Escort RS1600, and Gerry Marshall in the Viva GT. If you have a spare 20 minutes, I guarantee you'll enjoy this footage, with Murray Walker commentating. Martin Birrane starts off the back, and quickly works his way through the field.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY5zdnGvT0c&feature=player_embedded

[Steve Holmes]

Here is Part 2:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDAK4jBKmow&feature=player_embedded

[PonysiteEd]

WOW! Do you have more info on this car Wolfgang? It looks incredible.

I am not sure about it being the same original car... but this one appeared at Ft. Worth in 1989.
Picture courtesy Dave Petersen
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[PonysiteEd]

Thanks for adding these photos Wolfgang. Do you know to what guise the Leech car is being restored? Would it be to 1970, 1971, or 1972 spec?
This is still open. Several people were interested to buy it, also from the UK, they or the current owner may later decide the final dress.

[Steve Holmes]

I am not sure about it being the same original car... but this one appeared at Ft. Worth in 1989.
Picture courtesy Dave Petersen
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This is a really nice looking car. It does look very similar to the car in the black and white photo you posted above, in particular the way the wheel openings have been reshaped to allow for the tyres.

Is there any information about how successful this car was in racing? Also, I see it has #15 on the door. #15 was a number Bud Moore always liked to use in Nascar and Trans-Am etc. So could this be the car Pauly (zombie289) was referring to above?

[PonysiteEd]

Is there any information about how successful this car was in racing?
So could this be the car Pauly (zombie289) was referring to above?
1. I don't remember exactly, will ask my friend Hans, he collects anything B/M.
2. He might think of KK1408 below? He knows better....

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Picture - if I am right - was from the B302 forum, B429 section.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks again Wolfgang.

[zombie289]

Yeah the white car was the one i knew of, have seen a pic of the blue car, but I honestly thought it was the white car, repainted, so its pretty cool too know that there were two of them built,..

[PonysiteEd]

Yeah the white car was the one i knew of, have seen a pic of the blue car, but I honestly thought it was the white car, repainted, so its pretty cool too know that there were two of them built,..

I reread some stuff on the B302 forum, it seems indeed, the white is the same as the blue one. It was owned by Rick Nagel once during that Yellow Rose Show in Ft. Worth, later sold to Juan Gonzales, if I read it correctly, taken apart and painted in that blue. Hmmm....
Ed Ludtke from the Mustang Road Racing Registry has two more B429 road racers in his registry. One should be the french one from Moga and/or Heuzet.

[alfettafan]

I see the Leech Mustang is due to be released in 1/43 scale by SMTS :

http://www.grandprixmodels.com/searchdetail.php?ref=BOS001E&view=9&page=1&back=2&cat=DATABASE%20SEARCH&back2=1

I remember first reading about this car back in the early 70's when it was featured in a UK magazine called either "Auto Enthusiast" or it's replacement, "Fast Car". Wish i still had a copy of that, anyone on here got a copy by any chance ?

Great article Steve !!

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Alistair! Awesome model. I'm impressed the Leech Mustang made it to 'model status', it wasn't as well known as some other competition Mustangs.

[zombie289]

Finally got off my ass and scanned this, Super Ford 1989
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa26/zombie289/BOSS429KK.jpg

[Steve Holmes]

Man, that is just awesome. Thanks heaps for posting that Pauly.

[Kiwiboss]

Hi Pauly, can you e-mail that article direct to me at dmathers@xtra.co.nz im sure this Boss 429 is owned by Wuan Gonzales in Texas, a very unique race Boss Mustang, don't think is has any USA Trans Am History?

Dale M

[zombie289]

Lemme know if it came thru Dale

[Kiwiboss]

Lemme know if it came thru Dale

Yes, got it Pauly, great article and as you know, stuff that i like!!!

Dale M

[Steve Holmes]

Received this really great message from Les Moyle regarding the Dennis Leech Moss 429 Mustang:

My name is Les Moyle and I live in Exeter, Devon, England.

In the early 1970's I worked for Dennis Leech, as a mechanic, and had the
pleasure of working on the Boss 429 Mustang. I was involved in the
installation of the 429 motor and fabricated various mountings and the
stainless steel headers. These went into a 4 into 1 collector on each side
and exited under the doors in a 4" diameter steel pipe. The noise was
tremendous when fired up in the workshop. We always worked on the car at
night as we had to make money on customers cars during the day time. When
preparing to go to a weekend race we would usually fire the engine up just
before we loaded it into the transporter. This was usually about midnight.
Our main police station was about half a mile away and within about 5
minutes of firing up the engine at least two police cars would arrive. Not
to tell us to stop but to marvel at this thing throwing flames into the
night sky and enjoy the spectacle.

At one race at Silverstone the 429 threw a rod right through the side of the
block. I remember a photographer, from Autosport magazine, managed to
capture this and the caption was "The Biggest Banger in The World". Funny
the things you remember from your early years. I was 22 years old then and
now I am 64 this year.

I also remember the 4 valve per cylinder heads going on along with the
Dennis Leech made slide throttles and fuel injection. We put it together and
loaded the engine into the trunk of an S Type Jaguar and Dennis took it to
Weslake to put it on the Dyno. Seem to recall 600Bhp at the flywheel. First
time out it was enough power to sheer off the first motion shaft of the
gearbox. This was a very thick shaft, about 1 1/4 inch's as I remember.

Sadly I do not have any photos so it is nice to see the ones on the web.

[zombie289]

Wow thats awsome Steve, it's stuff like this that makes this site one of the best....Whats known about these 4 valve Boss 429 Heads, or am I reading this wrong??

[Steve Holmes]

Some more info here from Les, regarding questions I asked about whether he was involved with any of Dennis' other race cars:

I was involved with another car of Dennis's but this was a Chevron Formula 5000. I remember we raced against the likes of Alan Jones, before he moved into Formula 1. In fact I remember some races that dennis entered had both Formula 5000 and Formula 1 in them.

The Chevron was not the fastest and struggled against the Lola's that mostly filled the grids.

I think dennis was much happier in saloon cars and returned to that, eventually, with a Rover. I had left his employ by this time.

Dennis raced a Ford Falcon, very successfully, before the Mustang, but this was before I worked for him.

I have been looking through my stuff as somewhere I have a few Polaroid photo's of the Mustang. I have to keep looking now. One of these was taken after a particularly hard shunt, that took the front left hand corner off the car. It happened at Silverstone, at Stow Corner. The rear drive sheared on one side just as Dennis floored the throttle and turned the car sharp left into the bank at a very quick pace. A new corner from another car was sourced from the USA and grafted on. Once done you wouldn't know it had ever happened.

[Steve Holmes]

And reply to my questions about that very special Boss 429 motor and 4 valve heads:

The 4 valve heads were aluminium and one pushrod operated a duplex rocker which opened two valves. There were no head gaskets as such, just a lot of O rings for each oil way and waterway. The seal on each cylinder was made with a gas filled steel ring that sat in a groove machined into the block. Probably telling you something you already know.

After the pushrod through the side of the block incident, at Silverstone, a new block was ordered from the USA. It turned up but one bank was machined about half an inch short and had no recesses for the O rings and cylinder seals. I remember Dennis having a heated discussion, on the telephone, with someone in the States, trying to get them to understand the problem. Today it would be easy with digital photo's and the internet. Nothing like that in the early 70's. I think they thought he was pulling a fast one and trying to get another free block. It got sorted but I think we missed some race meetings.

After one engine rebuild, we did them in house, one of the heads cracked around one of the studs holding the head to the block. We did not discover this until late into the night before going to a race meeting the next day. It was discovered after a run up of the motor and when turned off we could here a noise like water running. In the dead of night the garage was eerily quite so any noise was easily heard. Removed the rocker cover to see water coming from around one of the studs. The engine was allowed to cool for a while and the water was drained. A large amount of Araldite Epoxy was mixed and applied to the offending bolt and the car loaded into the transporter. Off we went to the race meeting and avoided putting any water into the car until just before practice. I think it all held together for the race meet and fixed properly on our return. Memory a bit scat on whether a new head was sourced or it was welded.

Yes, the rear wheels were very wide and were probably off a single seater formula. I think Formula 1. To accommodate such wide wheels the rear axle was shortened by about 6 inches on both sides. Specially machined half shafts were required for this modification. Right next door to Dennis's garage was a machine engineering company and they had the equipment and knowledge to carry out this work. It was very convenient. This company (Phoenix Engineering) also machined all the components for the slide throttles designed by Dennis. Sadly this company is no longer in existence.

I remember the 429 being shoehorned into the Mustang as it was not a true 429. The suspension turrets had to be extensively modified to get the much larger engine in. It originally had a 351 and this was shoehorned into an AC Cobra owned by a guy called Channing. He had a garage in a place called Dorchester, about 50 miles from Exeter. He used to hill climb the Cobra for his recreation. It had a 302 in it and I remember we put the 302 heads onto the 351 block. Not an easy job as water and oil ways did not line up. Into the machine shop next door and weld up some of the waterways and machine heads as required. Worked a treat.

[zombie289]

Wow, again awsome info Steve, The concept of a 4 valve Boss 9 is mind boggling, that thing musta been a monster!

[Steve Holmes]

Yeah, it was a pretty ambitious project Pauly, don't you just love people who think outside the box! The car appears to still be for sale, I really hope it goes to someone who restores it to its Boss 429 guise.

[Steve Holmes]

In the mid-1980s, Eric Walker purchased the Leech Mustang, complete with 429 motor and a spare 429 in bits (but missing the Leech built fuel-injection system) and added it to his growing collection of ‘60s and ‘70s American sedans to have competed in the BSCC, including the Terry Sanger Falcon Sprint, and Martin Birrane ’70 Mustang. All three vehicles were in original condition, as last raced, and showing the stresses brought about by years of being pounded upon. With nowhere to race them, Erics plan was to hold on to the cars until their values rose once again, then sell one of the Mustangs to pay for the restoration of the other. Unfortunately a divorce in 1987 forced him to sell the cars. The Falcon went to Sweden, while the two Mustangs eventually ended up back in the US.

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Interesting to see the Kar-Kraft built 1970 Mustang prototype that was raced by Martin Birrane in the UK and Europe in the early 1970s, as pictured above when owned by Eric Walker in the 1980s, was up for sale at Mecum Auctions recently:

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[Jac Mac]

21414213864valve per cylinder Boss 429? never seen a pic of that animal, sure your not getting that mixed with whats known as the 'Boss9' recently reproduced by John Kaase & crew?
After a bit of research I would suggest that it might have been a 'Calliope' motor that was fitted, these shared the 429 bore stroke etc, were 3 valve per cyl with a forked rocker for each pair of intakes, Two camshafts in block, one above other with top cam servicing exhaust rockers.
HP ex HM was in the order of 630, same engine spent time in the G7A sports cars , calliope pic on left, boss9 on right.

[Steve Holmes]

Jac, I'm pretty sure they either had them made or made them themselves, specifically for this engine.

[Terry S]

21414213864valve per cylinder Boss 429? never seen a pic of that animal, sure your not getting that mixed with whats known as the 'Boss9' recently reproduced by John Kaase & crew?
After a bit of research I would suggest that it might have been a 'Calliope' motor that was fitted, these shared the 429 bore stroke etc, were 3 valve per cyl with a forked rocker for each pair of intakes, Two camshafts in block, one above other with top cam servicing exhaust rockers.
HP ex HM was in the order of 630, same engine spent time in the G7A sports cars , calliope pic on left, boss9 on right.

I always thought the Gurney-Weslake heads were still 2 valve but had a very much better breathing design and were lighter.
Also thought only for 302 and 351 Fords. Have I been wrong?

[Jac Mac]

Terry, first you have to differentiate between Gurney-Weslake & Weslake alone.
G/W built three versions of the 2 valve heads to suit the 289/302/351 blocks with 4.38" bore spacing, also built a 3 valve head with outboard inlet ports/center of vee exhausts for single seaters based on same motors.
Weslake alone have built many cylinder heads for many different makes thru the years, many of these being 4valve per cyl & pushrod operated. Thats where the head for the engine in question may have originated from

[Terry S]

Terry, first you have to differentiate between Gurney-Weslake & Weslake alone.
G/W built three versions of the 2 valve heads to suit the 289/302/351 blocks with 4.38" bore spacing, also built a 3 valve head with outboard inlet ports/center of vee exhausts for single seaters based on same motors.
Weslake alone have built many cylinder heads for many different makes thru the years, many of these being 4valve per cyl & pushrod operated. Thats where the head for the engine in question may have originated from

Thanks Jac. What you are saying is in line with my understanding.
What confused me was Steve in post #2 saying they were "Gurney-Weslake heads with 4 valves per cylinder".

[psychospence]

Where did you get the engine pic from? Just curious, it happens to be my hand in the photo!!

[Jac Mac]

Where did you get the engine pic from? Just curious, it happens to be my hand in the photo!!
Pic was among a few emailed to me by one of the previous UK owners, now if you can remember where & when it might have been taken & any story behind how/why the carb is removed & the somewhat unkempt engine bay appearance ( possibly carb fire/extinguisher residue?) I will pass that on to him. I dont think the pic was taken during his ownership.

[Limezed]

The Kar-Kraft Mustang appears to still be for sale
http://www.rkmotorscharlotte.com/sales/inventory/active#!/1970-Ford-Mustang-Boss-302/134505/247555
Would be nice for Dale's series, now where did I leave that spare US$280k

[alfettafan]

Finally, after literally years of searching i managed to find the copy of Auto Enthusiast magazine from May 1973 which featured the Dennis Leech Mustang. Attached below are the 3 pages scanned from the mag:-http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g257/alfettafan/dennis%20Leech%20Mustang%20pt1_zpspduwpmyw.jpg (http://s58.photobucket.com/user/alfettafan/media/dennis%20Leech%20Mustang%20pt1_zpspduwpmyw.jpg.html)http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g257/alfettafan/Dennis%20Leech%20Mustang%20pt2_zpsurz3qxwj.jpg (http://s58.photobucket.com/user/alfettafan/media/Dennis%20Leech%20Mustang%20pt2_zpsurz3qxwj.jpg.html)http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g257/alfettafan/Dennis%20Leech%20Mustang%20pt3_zpsckmlnoza.jpg (http://s58.photobucket.com/user/alfettafan/media/Dennis%20Leech%20Mustang%20pt3_zpsckmlnoza.jpg.html)

Hope it is ok to post here, cheers, Alistair

[khyndart in CA]

Here is another photo of the Dennis Leech Mustang. Silverstone. July 1973.

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(Ken Hyndman

[Steve Holmes]

Finally, after literally years of searching i managed to find the copy of Auto Enthusiast magazine from May 1973 which featured the Dennis Leech Mustang. Attached below are the 3 pages scanned from the mag:-http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g257/alfettafan/dennis%20Leech%20Mustang%20pt1_zpspduwpmyw.jpg (http://s58.photobucket.com/user/alfettafan/media/dennis%20Leech%20Mustang%20pt1_zpspduwpmyw.jpg.html)http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g257/alfettafan/Dennis%20Leech%20Mustang%20pt2_zpsurz3qxwj.jpg (http://s58.photobucket.com/user/alfettafan/media/Dennis%20Leech%20Mustang%20pt2_zpsurz3qxwj.jpg.html)http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g257/alfettafan/Dennis%20Leech%20Mustang%20pt3_zpsckmlnoza.jpg (http://s58.photobucket.com/user/alfettafan/media/Dennis%20Leech%20Mustang%20pt3_zpsckmlnoza.jpg.html)

Hope it is ok to post here, cheers, Alistair

Wow! Nice find, thanks so much for sharing.

[alfettafan]

Just spotted this on the Mustang GB Owners forum, looks like the Big Hemi Boss is on its way back to the UK...

https://www.mocgb.net/forums/showthread.php?78154-Dennis-Leach-ex-BOSS-429-car-coming-back-to-the-UK&p=726942#post726942

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks alfettafan, thats great news. The Dennis Leech Mustang is returning home. For years its been in a 'restored' state in the US which, while the car looks great, bares no resemblance to the way it was when Leech raced it: http://www.ponysite.de/dennis_leech.htm

But I see on your link it shows that Bill Shepherd recently purchased it. Shepherd is a long time Ford historic racer, having raced a Cobra and Mustangs throughout the UK and Europe for many years. He also owns a large Mustang dealership. I've no doubt the Leech Mustang will be correctly returned to its period Group 2 guise.

[Fred Shepherd]

But I see on your link it shows that Bill Shepherd recently purchased it. Shepherd is a long time Ford historic racer, having raced a Cobra and Mustangs throughout the UK and Europe for many years. He also owns a large Mustang dealership. I've no doubt the Leech Mustang will be correctly returned to its period Group 2 guise.

Seeing the interest displayed here, I thought I'd drop this thread an update on the whereabouts and the plans that we have for the car. The Boss is now back in the UK and restoration has begun as of December 2018. We will, of course, be restoring it to the spec that it ran in for the 72/73 season sporting the 429 and fetching rootes turquoise livery. Bill has been in contact with Dennis regarding the car and amazingly he even had a bunch of spare bits for it! Hopefully, the Boss will be eligible to run in a couple of events once completed, but almost certainly It'll thunder up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, although maybe not this year.

A big thanks goes to you Steve and also to Alistair (alfettafan). Your research posted here has been massively helpful for us in restoring the car. Thanks to everyone else too, It's great seeing that there are others out there that are just as excited/enthused about the Boss as we are!

Cheers
Fred Shepherd

[khyndart in CA]

Thanks Fred for the update. I saw the car race at Silverstone in 1973 and the turquoise livery is stunning.
I hope you don't mind me sharing this site;

http://www.ponysite.de/dennis_leech.htm

(Ken Hyndman)

[Fred Shepherd]

Thanks Fred for the update. I saw the car race at Silverstone in 1973 and the turquoise livery is stunning.

Hi Ken
Interestingly the Silverstone 73 race is one of the rare occasions I managed to find/buy a picture of the car in 429 spec, although the Javelin gets more of the spotlight here. This might bring back some memories?

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[khyndart in CA]

Fred,
I took this one photo of the first lap at Silverstone. It looks like all these photos are at the same corner.
I tried to crop my photo down and it is not clear but it is in colour and gives a wide view of the Becketts Corner at Silverstone in 1973.
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(Ken Hyndman photo)

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A moment later at Beckett's Corner.

(Ken H )

[Fred Shepherd]

Ken,

Thanks for sending those across, much appreciated.
Personally, I find that a fantastic photo as it shows a great deal of the atmosphere of the racing back in the 70s (something I unfortunately never got to experience). Great to see the marshall in a stripey jumper and bell-bottoms!

[khyndart in CA]

OK Fred,
I recently found the original slide from that day.
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(Silverstone. British GP day. July 1973. )

( Ken H photo..)

[Andy wilson]

For 1972, Malcolm Gartlan Racing elected to run an RS2600 Capri for Muir. Gardner was back for a full campaign with the Adrian Chambers team, who’d now built a new ’70 shape Camaro. Dave Mathews was entered in a Broadspeed built BDA Escort run by Melton Racing, Dave Brodie was in another BDA Escort, and David Howes was armed with an AMC Javelin. Terry Sanger returned to the series, taking over the former Wiggins-Teape Camaro of Muir, while Martin Thomas was back with his similar car.

Meanwhile, Leech decided more power was needed, and through Hollman-Moody, imported a sledgehammer 429 Boss motor for the Mustang. To fit the big 429 into the engine bay, the suspension turrets had to be modified. Initially, Leech ran the motor still fitted with a single 4-barrel Holley, but then fit it with alloy Gurney-Weslake heads, with four valves per cylinder. Leech then manufactured a slide throttle fuel-injection system for it.

The Mustang, now sporting a crisp new metallic turquoise paint scheme, looked a million bucks, but this ambitious project would make for a very frustrating season. Having missed the opening round, Leech qualified 8th for Round 2, at Oulton Park, some 7sec off Muirs pole time in the Capri. But he worked his way through the field to be 3rd at the finish, behind Muir and Gardner. At Thruxton, for Round 3, the Mustang again lined up in 8th on the grid, and was still running at the finish, behind Gardner, Mathews, and Sanger. At Silverstone, Round 4, Leech finished a lap down, in 9th place, but at least he finished. He didn’t make the start in Round 5, at Crystal Palace.

For Round 6, at Brands Hatch, the Mustang qualified 9th, and finished one lap down, in 7th. A dnf at Oulton Park ended a good run that began with a 3rd place on the grid, while more disappointment followed at the Silverstone TT, after he qualified 6th in a quality field which doubled as Round 8 of the European Touring Car Championship. He didn’t enter the next round at Mallory Park, and another dnf rounded out what had been a difficult season for Leech and his ambitious Mustang project.

After the frustrations of the 1972 season, Leech ran only a limited campaign in 1973, the last year in which the BSCC was run under Group 2 rules. Muir had switched to a BMW GB backed 3.0 CSL, although this car struggled against Gardners SCA Freight Camaro, which for 1973 was fitted with the alloy 7.0 litre motor used by fellow countryman Bob Jane to win the 1971 Australian Touring Car Championship, in another Camaro. Leech made his first appearance in Round 5 at Silverstone, finishing 14th, two laps down, after engine issues.

The last BSCC race for the Mustang was at the penultimate round, at Silverstone, for the Tourist Trophy, where Leech was involved in an accident in the first heat, and unable to start the second heat.

With nowhere for the Mustang to race other than in the Special Saloons category for heavily modified sedans, the Mustang took the usual nose-dive in desirability as old race cars tend to do, and ended up doing a bit of ASCAR club racing, driven by Roy Pierpoint.

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In the mid-1980s, Eric Walker purchased the Leech Mustang, complete with 429 motor and a spare 429 in bits (but missing the Leech built fuel-injection system) and added it to his growing collection of ‘60s and ‘70s American sedans to have competed in the BSCC, including the Terry Sanger Falcon Sprint, and Martin Birrane ’70 Mustang. All three vehicles were in original condition, as last raced, and showing the stresses brought about by years of being pounded upon. With nowhere to race them, Erics plan was to hold on to the cars until their values rose once again, then sell one of the Mustangs to pay for the restoration of the other. Unfortunately a divorce in 1987 forced him to sell the cars. The Falcon went to Sweden, while the two Mustangs eventually ended up back in the US.

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Although not a genuine Boss 429, the Dennis Leech Mustang is perhaps the only road race Mustang to have competed with a Boss 429 motor. Ultimately, the concept failed, but anyone fortunate enough to have seen this car race, will never forget it.

The Dennis Leech Mustang is currently undergoing restoration in the US.

My thanks to:

Wolfgang Kohrn at www.ponysite.de (http://www.ponysite.de/)

Frank de Jong at www.touringcarracing.net (http://www.touringcarracing.net/)

Mike Hayward at www.mikehaywardcollection.com (http://www.mikehaywardcollection.com/)

Eric Walker

The original race photos in this article were kindly Mike Hayward. The later photos were supplied by Eric Walker.

The falcon talked about here was returned to uk in early 90s . Then going through a full rebuild by fosstec engineering. Made a return to racing with myself in 2018 .