"Drag-Pack” seems to be one of those terms in the Mustang (and Cougar) hobby that invites controversy. Even the spelling is argued about. That’s because there are various factory documents that list variations in spelling, such as “Drag-Pack,” “Drag Pack,” and “Drag Pak.” While the intent of this article is not to try to settle the issue, information will be supplied to help understand the origin and development of the notion of a Drag-Pack.

Ford was trailing behind Pontiac, Chevrolet, and the Chrysler Corporation in the muscle-car market. Various meetings were held to determine how to bolster Ford’s performance image to the youth of the ’60s. A multipronged approach was employed. One component was using Bob Tasca’s elegantly simple development of what would become the 428 Cobra Jet engine. The release of this engine in April 1968 for the Mustangs would garner a lot of press and attention. It also began producing headaches at Ford.

Every time a vehicle was sold, the accountants at Ford divided up the money to various departments. One department was the Autolite Parts and Service Division, which was responsible for the warranty work on Ford vehicles. The Cobra Jet engine proved to be formidable but costly for Ford. A large number of the owners used these cars for what they were designed for — racing. This came at a cost. One of the first weaknesses of this design was the power steering pump, followed closely by the water pump. The high rpms these engines saw resulted in bearings being spun out of the pumps. The simple solution: oversize the pulleys to reduce the spin speed. But this wasn’t enough, and soon the Autolite Division was sitting in interdepartmental meetings demanding more money for all of the warranty work that was being done on CJ-equipped vehicles.

Raising the price of the 428CJ option was not an attractive idea. Ford’s pricing already put them at a disadvantage to the competition. A solution was reached that proved satisfactory to Engineering, Marketing, and Autolite. For $155.45, a buyer could get a new option known as the Drag-Pack. Marketing liked the term and believed it could sell the package to the public. Autolite Division liked it because the extra money would be given to them for warranty repairs. Engineering liked it because it got Autolite off their backs and let them get back to “having fun” (however, warranty expenses would continue to mount, which would later result in the introduction of the rev limiter).

The only thing about the creation of the Drag-Pack is that it was a myth — a cleverly hatched idea to raise the price of the vehicle without changing a thing. For you see, any 428 Cobra Jet vehicle invoiced after February 20, 1969, (the Drag-Pack’s introduction date) that was ordered with the Drag-Pack was absolutely identical to any 428 Cobra Jet vehicle invoiced before that date that was ordered with either the 3.91 or 4.30 Traction-Lok rear axle. The only difference was an increase in cost to the consumer of $85.41. But “Drag- Pack” sounded cool. Effective marketing is all about convincing someone they’re getting good value for their money, whether or not it’s true.

Incidentally, this marketing strategy took place only for sales in the United States. If you were in Canada and ordered the 3.91 or 4.30 Traction-Lok rear axle, which gave you the 428 Super Cobra Jet engine, your cost remained the same throughout the entire model year. But you gave up the groovy terminology on your window sticker.

Juliet tells Romeo, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” In Ford’s case, the “other” name of Drag-Pack was so sweet that it also resulted in a huge increase in Super Cobra Jet sales. The order rate more than doubled just by a name change (and a price increase). And the only cost to Ford was the printing of some brochures.