"HERE I AM . . . ROCK YOU LIKE A . . . BOSS?

"Hurricane" is out and and the Boss is back . . . for now.

According to the Detroit News, Ford Motor Company's on-again Hemi and LSx fighting V8 is now referred to as the "Boss." http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060912/AUTO01/609120382/1148

Originally nicknamed internally as the "Hurricane," FoMoCo's sensitivity police have concluded that in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Huricane moniker is just too insensitive.

R-i-g-h-t.

Of course, "Boss" has a short, brilliant FoMoCo history which has nothing to do with trucks. Back in 1968, when GM-ex Bunkie Knudsen was rampaging through the Glass House "like a hurricane," someone on Bunkie's team decided that the new Chevrolet Z/28-fighting Mustang model loosely based on FoMoCo's latest 5-liter SCCA Trans-Am competition coupe should have a hip, catchy name. Another ex-GMer at FoMoCo--designer Larry Shinoda (who incidentally has his hand in such milestones as the 1963 Corvette Sting Ray and the original Z/28) was charged with cooking up a unique look for the new "Trans-Am" Mustang. Shinoda pitched the model name "Boss" in homage to his Boss--Knudsen. Shinoda explained he already called Knudsen "the Boss" and that the name seemed to fit the competition pedigree of the new Mustang.

The Boss 302 became a FoMoCo legend, based on its "boss" looks and its nearly bulletproof canted-valve five-liter engine (which featured numerous other upgrades over the ordinary 302, such as four-bolt main caps and a forged crank, in addition to the generous "Cleveland-style" heads).

The Boss 302 soon had a big brother: Boss 429. Before the Boss 429, FoMoCo raced NASCAR stock car competion with somewhat exotic variations of the FE 427 engine (although NASCAR said no to the most exotic variant, the Single Overhead Cam (SOHC) 427). But Knudsen and others wanted a more competitive "Hemi-style" NASCAR V8 to battle with Chrysler's second generation 426 Hemi. FoMoCo engineers developed a new semi-hemi head to fit on an upgraded version of the new 385-series engines which had debuted in Lincolns. To homologate the new "Ford Hemi," Ford had to build at least 500 street-going units and install them in something. Although logic might have suggested installing them in Ford's NASCAR racer of the time (the Torino Talladega), Knudsen chose to have outside contractor Kar Kraft Engineering squeeze them into modified 428 CJ Mustangs. In line with the "Boss" competition theme already established by the Boss 302, FoMoCo appled the name "Boss429" to its new homologation hybrid.

The last real "Boss" of the first generation was the 1971 "Boss 351" Mustang. After the SCCA loosened its homologation requirements to permit destroking, Ford decided to take advantage of the new 351 Cleveland architecture in the somewhat larger 1971 Mustangs (developed under Knudsen's watch to his tastes). Although the 1971 Boss 351 arrived around the time of the disasterous November 1970 decision to kill all FoMoCo factory-backed racing and performance part development in the U.S.A. market (and after Knudsen's firing), the Boss 351 engine was arguably the best developed and most streetable of the original Bosses.

The "Boss" term didn't exist in a vacuum. Nor was it a FoMoCo creation. Legendary NHRA drag racer "Mr. Four Speed" Ronnie Sox was also known as "The Boss" See http://www.ronniesox.com/dianesox.php

"Boss" was a slang adjective of the time for things which were of exemplary strength, power, beauty or "coolness." "Boss Radio" was a popular Top-40 programming format on influential AM stations across the country. See http://www.93khj.com/ and http://www.bossradioforever.com/index.html Southern domino players in the 1960s often referred to a high trump in the game "42" as "The Boss." In later times, folk-rock star Bruce Springsteen was nicknamed "the Boss." In other words, "Boss" already resonated in the American vernacular of the time.

Ford even briefly referrenced its own "Boss" heritage during the genesis of the second musclecar era. In a magazine ad for the 157-horsepower 5.0 H.O.-powered 1982 Mustang GT, FoMoCo proclaimed "The Boss is Back" (notwithstanding that the 5.0 didn't feature Cleveland-style canted-valve heads or any of the heavy-duty short block features of the REAL Boss 302, much less the power output of the original). See http://www.mustanggt.org/82gt.htm ; http://www.mustanggt.org/fun/lg19821.jpg ; and http://www.mustanggt.org/fun/82ad.jpg

The real question is just what sort of "Boss" is the "new Boss?"

Rumors suggest that it won't be an OHC/DOHC "Boss," in the mold of the current Modular engines (the bore centers on the Modular V8 are too narrow for building V8s larger than about 360 cubic inches--curiously, narrow bore centers doomed the FE engine and, in part, lead to the ascendency of the 385-series big blocks). OHC/DOHC V8s also tend to be bulkier than pushrod OHV engines due to the overhead placement of the camshafts and related hardware, which could play into FoMoCo's decision to step back in technological time. Moreover, FoMoCo really hasn't taken advantage of the high-r.p.m. advantages of OHC engines, even as the practical r.p.m. ceiling on production and racing pushrod OHV V8s has continued to climb.

Except for racing, development of pushrod V8s at FoMoCo ceased in the 1990s. But the aftermarket has kept developing the Windsor/Cleveland small blocks at an even more aggressive pace than even before FoMoCo discontinued them. In fact, racers and hot rodders can build a completely aftermarket small block Ford, containing no OEM or FRPP "factory" parts (except for perhaps the front timing housing). Aftermarket small block Fords now routinely crest the "classic" 427, 428, 429 and even 460 cubic inch displacements, as well as the output levels of the engines which made these designations famous.

Obviously, if FoMoCo wanted to cut costs, maximize efficiencies and get the new "Boss" to market sooner, it would revive the basics of the Windsor/Clevelant architecture (block dimensions, bore center spacing, bolt patterns, etc. ) and retrofit new technologies to aftermarket variants of this venerable engine. Ford could even develop a deep-skirt "Y-block" version of the Windsor/Cleveland to take advantage of the "noise, harshness, vibration" advances developed in the Modular program. And even if the rumors are wrong about pushrods in the new Boss, history showes the basic small block Ford architecture can be successfully adapted to DOHC 4V duty (See any number of histories of Ford's Indianapolis experiences during the 1960s Total Performance era).

If FoMoCo followed this action plan, the new "Boss" would have a much more rapid acceptance in the aftermarket and a huge "installed base" of compatable vehicles and performance equipment. It would also have a "spiritual" tie to the the original Boss 302/Boss 351 of years before which would not escape those who concern themselves with the nuts and bolts of high performance engines.

Such a logical course, however, is doubtful. FoMoCo has a bad tradition of "reinventing the wheel" each time it engineers a new powerplant. Even in the original Boss era, Ford installed a staggering number of different engine types in Mustang (Falcon 6, 302/Boss 302, 351 Windsor, 351 Cleveland, 390/428 FE, Boss 429, 385-series 429) In contrast, Chevrolet and Chrysler had signficantly fewer engine families in their pony cars of the era.

Given that GM and DCX both used "clean sheet" designs for the engines which the new Boss seeks to compete with, the temptation for FoMoCo engineers to completely start over will be overwhelming.

Still, the boldest, "Bossest" move for FoMoCo would be to evolve the Cleveland/Windsor into a new Boss for the 21st Century.