BOLD RIDE
Ford was once a titan among the racing community. Not only did it sweep the historic race at Le Mans with the Ford GT40s, but it also ran one of the best sportscar racing programs ever. Chief among them was the Boss project. In its heyday, the Boss would compete against Camaros, Firebirds, Minis, and all other manner of amazing—and now vintage—racecars. And through it all, through all the adversity Ford faced, the Boss continually showed up the competition by beating them at every step and turn.
After decimating the competition and winning the SCCA Trans Am championship in 1970, Ford left the series, and pulled all its support from the drivers and teams. The move was seen at the time to be highly controversial since Ford had gained so much support from the fans, and the ideal of “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” had proven true with Ford raking in the sales of the Mustang. However, the Blue Oval was finished, and in 1971 the year after Ford left, AMC and its Javelins won the championship.
However, before Ford pulled its support from the series, one last 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302 was delivered to Bud Moore Engineering. Bud Moore Engineering (BME) was perhaps one of the most well known racing teams of the era, and it was BME that had the most success with the Boss program. While this particular Boss was delivered to compete in the 1971 season, the team never got around to preparing it for race duty.
With that, the Mustang was then sold to a private party who kept it in their collection in the same condition that Ford had sent the car in. The Mustang’s 302 cubic inch V8 then sat there, waiting for someone to unlock its potential, and continued to sit there collecting dust, until its racing history was rediscovered in 2008. At that point, the owners decided to not only restore the car, but to also bring it into compliance with the racing specs from 1971.
According to the owners, the restoration project took over five years to completely turn the stock Boss 302 into a fully prepped race-ready Boss 302 Trans Am. Moore, who was no longer the owner of the car, was contacted throughout the restoration and it was only after he gave his seal of approval that the car was officially done and given a certificate of authenticity.
This specific car was recently sold at auction through RM Sotheby’s this January. And while the auction estimate was between $150,000-$180,000, this pristine race-prepped Boss 302 Trans Am sold for a staggering $200,000. Finally though, after waiting for 44 years for its time in the limelight, this Boss 302 Trans Am has the potential to finally take the checkered flag it was originally designed to achieve.
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