I-IUBII: TELLS IT LIKE IT IS! FORD S HUBERT PLATT SHOWS HOW TO TURN A COBRA JET MUSTANG INTO A SUPER STOCK/E CLASS WINNER BY ALEX WALORDY HUBERT PLATT normally does grand stand wheelies to the great en- joyment of the spectators, but at the NHRA Winternationals, he showed up with a super stocker. Not just any ordinary machine but an SS/E that posted the fastest et of its class. The machine is the latest Ford, a Cobra-Jet powered by a big 428. Now before you rush down to your dealer to buy a Cobra-Jet, be ad- vised that as of this moment there are only ten of them. They were all built and prepared just barely in time for the race by Holman and Moody, Stroppe Asso- ciates of Long Beach, California. Holman and Moody have always been the first and foremost of the Ford racing shops while Bill Stroppe was always top man when it came to Mercurys. Now the two outfits have merged into one big family and the CobraJets certainly show that the Holman, Moody and Stroppe team has the answers. As things stand now, Ford plans to produce CobraJets and have them available at dealerships in the near future. If however, you cant wait that long, here are all the secrets, as whispered to us by Hubert Platt himself. You begin with a 360 hp 428 Ford fitted with a single four-barrel and cram it into a Mustang. No problem so far. Next you take it to Bill Stroppe together with a fistfull of cubic bucks and he puts it through its paces. Needless to say the engine is care- fully blueprinted and then fitted with a set of highly unusual Doug headers. You know how the rear pipes of ordinary headers twist in and out to gain proper length, but not here, of course. The 3 and 7 inch stacks cross over under the engine to the opposite collectors. This not only left the rear branches at the same length as the others but also eliminated exhaust pulse interference between adjacent Cylinders and Sharpened Up the A hood scoop, a rubber ring and a reworked air cleaner base, are all it takes to gain some torque peak. bolt-on horsepower. A little help around the wheel openings allows the Goodyear-s to clear. S/S&FX O 41