The Ford curse. Ford engineers would make something good, then the bean counters and leadership found a way to make it into a bland, forgettable car. The engine specs are good, 429's had a lot of grunt and spun up better than a 460. I am sure Ford put a rev limiter on it, choked it through a 2" single exhaust with the worst designed manifolds possible, or purposefully changed the intake manifold so it wouldn;t be faster than the Mustang or Torino. Ford loved to detune engines to make their hot rod segment cars look faster. They were doing that all the way into the 1990's. One of their favorite tricks was to put final drive gear ratios in that would make the car do 60mph in first gear and a torque converter that didn;t fit the weight or power level of the car and engine. Bean counters win again! Sales guys like to sell MPG! That 2.45 rear end gear is really thrifty! Luxury, power, and economy! yeah, I am sure it can do all three really well!
The right color and the right set of wheels makes those cars look tough. Lower classman in high school had a red one and put some aftermarket chrome wheels on with wider rubber and whiteletters. He had a 5.0 in his. Was not the fastest car on the lot but it was one of the nicer cars in our little town high school. If I remember right that is a modified Fox platform and had rack and pinion and a few other more modern suspension bits and brakes then the big boats that came before.
