Sam Auxier Jr.’s 1969 Mustang Ultra Stock is one of his favorites. The paint scheme is professional and patriotic. The stance is pure 1960s drag race. The launches were glorious. The sounds remain music to the ears. These four phrases pretty well sum up Sam Auxier Jr.’s 1969 Mustang Ultra Stocker—other than to say that in its day, it was a top performer and won significant accolades.
For those unaware, Sam was an East Coast Ford racer during the glory days of the Total Performance era. He cut his teeth on a 1963½ 427 Galaxie before moving to a pair of A/FX Comets, an A/FX Mustang, the ’69 you see here, and several Pro Stocks in the early 1970s. Yet of them all, Sam says the ’69 was probably his favorite, perhaps because of the era that spawned it and the unique blend of successes it garnered. Likely the biggest win of all for this car was the CARS Magazine “Bash ’69” at Cecil County Drag-o-way. There, Sam ran through a field of match racers, beating the Sox & Martin Barracuda in the semis and Grumpy Jenkins’ Camaro in the final to win the Match Race Super/Stock Eliminator title.
Sam and his team received a 1969 fastback body-in-white from Ford in late-1968 and wasted no time preparing it for the upcoming season. The car was built to fit the rules of NASCAR, NAAR, and AHRA Ultra Stock, a full-bodied class that allowed a bit more modification than the NHRA Pro Stocks, which debuted the following year. As much as anything, though, Sam used this car on the rough-and-tumble East Coast match-racing circuit. “We’d typically have four to eight cars at any of our match-race dates and made more money doing that than we would have doing class racing,” Sam says. The ’69 was built with a ’glass tilt front end, ’glass doors, Plexiglas windows, a solid-axle front suspension, and a 427 Tunnel Port engine. While Sam ran 427 SOHCs after this car, Ford had none available at the time of the ’69’s construction, and thus supplied the team with Tunnel Ports. Sam himself was the drivetrain guru, while teammate Chick DeNinno handled fabrication duties.
When Sam and Chick both moved on to Pro Stock Mavericks in 1970, the Mustang was sold to a racer from New York and soon disappeared into obscurity. It was located in a garage in Pennsylvania in the early 2000s sans drivetrain, now tubbed, and in general disrepair. The fellow who found and bought the old Ultra Stocker soon ran out of steam and funds for the restoration and put the car up for sale on the internet. There, Bob Leenstra took notice of the ex-racer and made a deal for the car. “Bob contacted me to authenticate the car, and I could tell he’d be committed to doing it right,” Sam says. Bob also recognized that Sam was an indispensable resource in restoring the car correctly, so he arranged to have Sam oversee the project on his home turf in Maryland. There, Sam could check in on the progress weekly and participate by building the drivetrain, as he’d done so many times in the past.
After a false start with one local shop that burned up a bunch of time, Sam turned to Russ and Matt Rutchins of R&M Performance. There was just one problem: A commitment had been made to debut the restoration at the 2008 Carlisle Ford Nationals, which loomed just two months out. R&M agreed to the challenge and dove in with both hands to complete the job in 45 days. Of course, Sam had already been doing extensive legwork to acquire critical parts for the resto, including a correct 427 Tunnel Port, the original set of Gebler headers, proper Cure Ride drag shocks, Air Lift airbags for the rear suspension, and much more.
Sam describes performance of the 427 Tunnel Port as somewhere between a 427 High Riser and SOHC—both of which Sam had considerable experience with. The Mercury valve covers are correct for the build, having been used in 1969 since the team had leftover parts from their earlier A/FX Comets.
Today, the Sam Auxier Jr. ’69 is a spitting image of its former self and features a considerable amount of original components, including the very same tilt front end. When first finished in 2008, Sam even made some wheels-up launches at South Mountain Dragway near Carlisle to the delight of onlookers. Admittedly, it was somewhat short of the 8,000-rpm holeshots, speed shifts, and 10-second e.t.’s the car was known for in its day, but it sure beats sitting on static display!
Tech Notes
Who: Bob Leenstra
What: 1969 Mustang Ultra Stock
Where: Kent, WA
Engine:
As in 1969, the foundation for the engine is a Sam Auxier Jr.–built cross-bolted 1965 427 side-oiler, now filled with a stock stroke Crower crank and aluminum rods. Pistons are Ross forgings with a net compression ratio of nearly 14:1. A Crane solid-roller with 0.739-inch lift and 276/286 degrees duration at 0.050-inch lifts 2.25-/1.72-inch Manley valves in Larry Ladd–prepared iron Tunnel Port heads. Induction consists of a factory single-plane intake with 780-cfm Holleys. Performance in the day was “10-teens” at nearly 140 mph.
Exhaust:
The original set of Gebler headers used in 1969 were located in the possession of a prior owner and restored for use again.
Transmission:
Then and now, a close-ratio Toploader is the four-speed of choice, prepped by Sam himself with Doug Nash straight-cut gears and shifted by a Hurst Super Shifter. Connection to the rest of the drivetrain is via a McLeod flywheel and hydraulic clutch assembly, and a Lakewood scattershield.
Fuel System:
Moon 3-gallon fuel tank, twin Stewart-Warner electric pumps, ½-inch line
Rearend:
Sam says the team replaced a 9-inch with a Dana 60 back in the day, due to the limited strength of 9-inch axles at the time. It seems that 8,000-rpm launches were quite a shock to the system! Evolution of the 9-inch has long since put such concerns to bed, and thus the Ford manufactured rearend was chosen again for round two. This one features a factory nodular case with 5.14s, a Strange spool, and Strange 35-spline axles.
Chassis/Suspension:
The front is a straight-axle arrangement with custom leaf springs, steering arms, and Econoline spindles. Out back are more custom leafs, Air Lift airbags, 32-inch Thunderbolt-style traction bars, and wheelie bars built from a leaf spring. Vintage Cure Ride drag shocks are found at all four corners.
Wheels/Tires:
The front wheels are spindle-mounted magnesium Ansens shod with 28×4.5-15 Goodyear frontrunners. The rear features 15×10-inch Keystone Klassics with 30×11.5-15 Goodyear Dragway Specials. As original, only rear brakes are in place, along with a Deist chute.
Interior:
The cabin is typical 1960s racer—nothing nonessential. The aluminum dash features Stewart-Warner gauges and toggle switches for the electric fuel pump and ignition.
Exterior:
R&M Performance in Cambridge, MD, performed the restoration of the Sam Auxier Jr. 1969 Mustang, including the colorful paint originally applied by C.T. Brewer. The R&M crew did substantial rehab work on the original one-piece ’glass frontend and sprayed the entire job using PPG products.
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