1968 ½ MUSTANG GT FASTBACK 428 COBRA JET

HISTORY: The '68-1/2 Mustang Cobra Jet Was One April Fool's Joke That Didn't Backfire

In 1968 Ford's secret weapon-"THE HEMI HUNTER" with a 335hp 428 Cobra Jet Big-Block--made its debut in the Mustang at Pomona, eclipsing the competition.
The 428 Cobra Jet was born of Bob Tasca's desire to win. Bob Tasca needs little introduction with longtime Ford buffs. Bob Tasca's Ford dealership in Providence (now Tasca Lincoln-Mercury) was quite active in drag racing back in the '60s.

The 428 had one main feature going for it: stroke--a long stroke good for outstanding low- and midrange torque. But it was not a high revver like the big-bore, short-stroke 427. Because the 428 wasn't a high-rpm powerplant, it would prove a reliable drag-racing engine capable of excellent quarter-mile times in the lightweight Mustang. It would be able to deliver run after run and come back for more.

DESCRIPTION: This is an original Numbers Matching rust free Nebraska car with the Ram Air Hood that has had a Rotisserie Restoration, right down to the Goodyear Polyglas bias-belted tires. It is Wimbleton White--the original color--as well as the striking black graphics. Inside, it's all business with a black standard interior, a 120-mph speedometer with a trip odometer, a console, fog lamp switch and a Philco AM radio. Underneath is a C6 3 Speed Automatic and a 9-inch Traction-Lok differential with the correct 3.50 gears. Beneath the bonnet is the mill that made this Mustang famous: the twisty 428 Cobra Jet engine, yielding a 4.13-inch bore and a long 3.98-inch stroke. That's nearly 4 inches of stroke, which means boatloads of torque where it counts at a traffic light or down at the dragstrip. All of this quickly gets momentum going.

Summing up the Cobra Jet is simple. It's a fiercely reliable high-performance V-8 a person could live with on a daily basis, because it has a stable idle and crisp performance. Yet it can crack healthy quarter-mile times in the 14-second range. Not bad for a '60s musclecar.

When you wrap a powerplant, such as this one, inside a slippery fastback like this--that has been restored to near perfection--it makes a person want to saddle up and be seen behind the wheel on a Saturday night. Not to make trouble on Main Street, you understand, but to leave people fondly remembering an era of brute muscle and the no-holds-barred thinking that Detroit was famous for in the fabulous '60s.

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