[Les Quam]

I have been offered 20K for the NOS exhaust on my 70 Boss 9 as well as 6K for the shocks. We have calculated the parts alone on my 70 Boss 9 are worth over 225K right now as it is a Thoroughbred gold and MCA authenticity award winner the only Boss 9 in MCA history to have won both awards. In the Ford world original NOS parts are like gold similiar to the Bloomington Gold Corvette original cars the Ford MCA guys place great value and prestige on their Thoroughbred class so the parts sell for stupid money. (Rich I realize you know all of this already anyway but I did this post for some that possibly didn't know).

As a result most Thoroughbred cars have their parts sold as they go from owner to owner over the years. There is a dealer down south who specilaizes in buying Thoroughbreds and stripping the parts then reselling the cars as a Thoroughbred. I know of three Thoroughbreds this dealer has stripped and resold. So it is important IMHO to realize that a Thoroughbred award is a moment in time and while the restoration may endure and the car will ALWAYS be a MCA Gold concours car which is still quite an accomplishment the same car may not have the parts still on it that made it a Thorougbred any longer.

For example at the last MCA Grand National this past labor day in Ohio I entered my 65 Shelby GT 350 and it won a Thoroughbred Gold and was the second 65 GT 350 to do so in MCA history (Stuart's #76 being the first). It then was rejudged for a total of about four hours of review by four judges and won an authenticity award the first 65 GT 350 in MCA history to win the authenticity award along with a Thoroughbred. In order to win an Authenticity award I needed 5 original Goodyear Blue Dots. Blue Dots are next to impossible to find so I own some and borrowed some. I have to give the Blue Dots I borrowed back unless I can convince my friend to sell them to me. The point is many times the parts are impossible to find and friends loan parts to friends to get the Thoroughbred award then they leave the car and that car is no longer at the Thoroughbred level. It is also virtually impossible to drive a true Thoroughbred because the parts get worn out and then the car again is not a Thoroughbred level car any longer.

Another example we are preparing a 1969 Mustang CV with the 428 Cobra Jet engine and the shaker hood option with a 4 speed trans for next years MCA show circuit. It was already restored to an incredible high level and is an MCA concours Gold winner. But in order to get it to Thoroughbred authentic level we are borrowing a few original parts from my other 69 428 shaker hood 4 speed mustang CV which already won an MCA concours Gold and has a bunch of original and NOS parts so that one can win all the marbles.

My point is that it is going to take two MCA concours Gold mustangs to win possibly one Thoroughbred authentic award. That's how tough it is to find all the correct parts and is why parts get sold.

I recently asked the senior MCA judge for authenticity how many actual and true Thoroughbred cars exist today and he thinks less than 12. The MCA is in the process of compliling a Thoroughbred registry to help with this.

In fact only three cars exist today that have been awarded an MCA Thoroughbred and an Authenticity award. There have been four awards but one car a 66 mustang Cv has won twice. One Mustang restorer has two cars that would qualify but have not been judged.

So while the term Thoroughbred is tossed around quite frequently true Thoroughbreds are actually pretty rare. Thoroughbreds that have also won the auhtenticity award are simply scarce and can be counted on one hand.

We don't know if Chip's car is the one I have been following and even if it is the same car it is still a MCA Gold concours car and SAAC concours Gold car and with an amazingly rare color combo to boot it is certainly a car that should sell for a world record price.

But the car I mentioned is well known in the Ford world to have had the good parts sold off.