Prototype CrossBoss

Many don't realize the CrossBoss intake was originally designed for two conventional four barrel carbs. As designed, it encroached on the distributor and required an extended timing cover which then required and extension for the cam/distributor drive gear and several other custom parts. Photos courtesy of Gus Tarrab.

Prototype Inline Carb

Dubbed the Maximum Performance Carburetor, the basic configuration of the Inline was set from the beginning. Here are some pictures o fthe engineering prototypes. Although the 2100 series 2V Autolite carb accelerator pumps and covers are visible, more 2100 2V carb parts were incorporated into the production Inline units. The velocity stacks were eventually disguarded for a cover an airhorn plate reminiscent of the production model.*

Tooling Up For Production

As 1970 approached the push was on to get the production line up and running and Ford knew how to do it right. Sadly, the Inline would never see the production rates the invested capital in these pictures suggest were envisioned.*

Early Production
D0FF9510T

As production was spooling up, there were a number of early carbs released that were manufactured before the production tooling was available. I say “released” because it is not clear if any of these early production carbs were actually sold to the public. Most appear to have been provided directly to the Ford Factory backed race teams. These carburetors were assigned the D0FF9510T part number. The available information at the time of this post (December 23, 2012) thus far suggests there were at least 18 carbs but not more than 35 carbs built with this designation, after which, all were assigned the D0ZX9510A or B designation. The early or “pilot production” appears to have begun in March of 1970 with at least 18 built through April 15, 1970 and were probably built by non-production staff either assigned to engineering or factory race team support. All of these carburetors known today are the smaller 875 variant with 1 11/16” throttle plates. These carburetors were built with soft tooled sand castings as the production dies cast tooling was not yet available. They are visually very similar to production carbs and functionally identical, though there are a number of subtle differences in parts, all of which interchange with production units. The pictures below denote some of the externally observable nuances.

*A special thanks to Mark Hovander who collected much of the historical information with research including interviews with Max Lunsford and many other Ford employees who worked on the Inline Carb program.