In 1967 Ford was missing the street performance boat in a big way. Almost 700,000 high performance cars were sold and Ford, the Total Performance company, was getting about 7% of that market. Loyal owners were unhappy, dealers were unhappy, and Hot Rod magazine called Ford performance cars "counterfeit".
Bob Tasca was the youngest Ford dealer principal in America. He was operating in the smallest state on the union, New Hampshire. His first showroom was leveled by a hurricane barely months after being completed. In spite of it all, Tasca Ford had become the 2nd largest Ford dealer in the country. When his mechanic blew up the 390 in Tasca's daily driver Mustang the recipe for the Cobra Jet was created straight out of the Ford parts inventory. What came next was no less than Fords performance salvation. You can find the rest of the story in Issue 2 of Legendary Cougar Magazine.