My ultimate dream mustang has always been the Boss 302, a 1969 one in Calypso Corral (red for the amateurs). In my first mustang book (a Christmas gift) there was one sprayed out over 2 pages. At the time I did not know, what a Boss was, but boy did I like that car ! Nice in red with the typical Boss striping, fat tires and a truly beautiful shape. Of course not many are around here in Belgium, and I bought my fastback in 2000. Now I definitely now what a Boss stands for and how rare they are and at what price they come...

Here is my tribute to the Boss 302.

Halfway the 60' some races started to be popular in the US. And the mustang was succesful in these Trans- Am races, Mr Shelby got involved with his Terlingua Racing Team and Jerry Titus gave the 67 coupé's many victories. However in 68, because of their new Tunnel Port 302 engines Ford lost the title. So they found a solution: the used the base of the Tunnel Port 302 and added the heads of the new to be released 351 engine (simply said...) The result was a reliable and powerful engine.

Also in 68 a certain Bunkie Knudsen arrived a Ford, and he liked fast cars and racing ! Since he came from the competition, he wanted to built a car that could beat that competition. So Ford got to work. The engine they had, the suspension task for the "best handling street car" was given to Matt Donner, and for the looks: Larry Shinoda, he invented the Boss 302 name, the beautiful striping package and black-out treatment, the spoilers and the slats.

On the track the Boss 302 was a success, it was the fastest car on the track. Bud Moore's drivers Parnelli Jones and George Follmer and Shelby's team made the day. However tire problems and a terrible accident at St Jovite destroying 3 Boss team cars gave the title to Penske's camaro team for 69. In 1970, the Boss 302 did get the Trans-Am title back in one of the most competitive and beautiful race season ever.

The Boss was based on the sporsroof model, the same shape as the Mach I, but while that one could be had with automatics, AC, big block engines and all available colors, the Boss was built for one thing: going fast and handling well.

The Boss was launched in June 1969, quite late in the season. It was sold as a package for $3,685.56, coming close to the Corvette range. There were only 4 colors available: Calypso Corral, Bright Yellow, Wimbledon White and Acapulco Blue. The cool graphics and the black-out treatment were standard as was the front spoiler. The chrome Magnum 500's, rear spoiler and slats were optional, even the color keyed racing mirrors were. But most came with those options. The shaker hood was never available in 1969. The interior came as black standard, not even high back bucket seats (standard on Mach I's) but everything was a tick away on the interior option list. AC was not available, nor was an automatic transmission.