1971 Match Race ~ 'Duster 340' vs. 'Boss 351 Mustang'

Not all 351Cs were created equal. There were 4 different engine codes over the production life of the engine. The R code Boss 351 was a 1 and done deal due to pending emissions regs. It got all the goodies Ford could throw at it, plus high compression. The 1972 R code had open chamber heads (the 71 Boss had quenched) but still had a mechanical camshaft. Later Q code motors had hydraulic cams and less power.

One of the good things about the 351C was that all blocks had meaty webbing for 4-bolt mains. All of the factory 4V cars had 4-bolt mains.

Even though the 351C was available to us back in my roundy-round days, we didn't run it because it was too expensive (like Mopars back in the day). The other Ford we raced against, Red Farmer, IIRC won the 1971 LMS (now Nationwide series) championship using a 351C. FWIW, Farmer still races on a dirt track, sometimes against his grandson. Try that, Childress!