You have to hand it to Ford. Over the years, they've coined the market with cool names for both their cars and their engines. Think Mach I, Cobra, Bullitt, Cyclone, Voodoo, Predator, Coyote, and of course, Boss. The Boss 302 was originally produced to meet homologation requirements to compete in Trans Am racing and the cars have become legends. The name was revived for the 2012 and 2013 models.
For consignment, a Ford Mustang Boss 302 with a title verified 4,274 actual miles. Only 3,250 Boss 302's were built in 2012 and 2013, so setting them aside to retain low mileage is certainly one choice many Boss owners made. This car will be accompanied by the original window sticker, the Boss 302 owners kit, a yellow striped shift knob, and the optional red TracKey which opens up a Pandora's box of performance goodies for racing. This generation of Boss 302 is considered by some enthusiasts as the best handling live axle Mustang ever produced.
Exterior This distinct shade of yellow is called by Ford School Bus Yellow and is 1 of 856 of these special rides built this year. And what would a Boss 302 be without the side stripe that props up the name, and the broad hood stripes that intersects a pair of vents. The lower edges of the cars have a splitter up front below a double gaping grille, and a diffuser in the back between massive exhaust tips while working in tandem with the upturned rear wing to create a low pressure zone and reduce drag. Smoked tail lights on the black centerpiece are especially sinister and the original 285/35ZR19s complete the muscular view from behind, which is what challengers would typically see. 19-inch glossy black wheels with silver lips make up the shoes here and look fantastic against the backdrop of our bus colored Mustang. Some scrapes on the splitter was the only flaw we noted. The paint is immaculate and of course, the body is laser straight.
Interior We'll find plenty of standard GT on the interior but some items that were reserved for the Boss, including the Recaro deep racing seats in Charcoal Black with Boss 302 embroidered on the back and slots for a racing harness, although regular seatbelts are standard. The rear 2+2 seats mimic the pattern of the fronts and include a headrest which in a car like this, is more for restraint than resting. From the steering wheel forward, we're reminded this is a track car that is pedestrian enough on the inside to be driven every day. Standard green lit gauges present to the driver and the center stack has an integrated AM/FM/CD radio with Sync, XM and MP3 capabilities. With so few miles the interior looks brand new and this includes the black balled shifter in the center console and the charcoal carpet covering the floor. The padded headliner is absolutely pristine as is the gray lined trunk and "showroom condition" is not overstating the overall condition.
Drivetrain Under the hood is factory fresh and the big blue coil covers and Boss 302 embossed intake, along with the broad strut tower brace that stiffens the ride in twisties. The heart of the beast is a 5.0 liter Road Runner DOHC V8 rated at 444 horsepower. Fuel injected and tied to an MT82 6-speed manual transmission, power is sent to the rear wheels via Ford 8.8" Torsen differential with 3.73 gears and TracLoc. Four piston Brembo brakes supply the power discs at each wheel.
Undercarriage Spotless as expected, this could easily be mistaken for a car that's just departed the assembly line in Flat Rock, Michigan. A four way exhaust system lives underneath; two gargantuan pipes head to the back while two slightly smaller ones dump unassumingly just in front of the rear wheels. Our consignor includes the exhaust cutout plates, which have been removed, thus you'll be rolling the dice in jurisdictions that have noise ordinances. Each shock absorber has five settings which can be manually adjusted with a screwdriver, though the steering is electronically assisted and adjustable with a switch, the shocks are not. That said, the rest of the suspension has also been massaged with fatter stabilizer bars while we note MacPherson struts in the front and coil springs in the back.
Drive-Ability The beautiful hills of Morgantown are calling and this would be the ideal ride, but we're relegated to our flat, featureless test loop around the mall. We didn't expect much more than perfection and the bellowing exhaust is something to behold, and likely caused hens to stop laying eggs in our fair farm town. Throttle response is immediate, and it does not surprise us that this car can do 0-60 in 4.3 seconds and then stop itself with the grippy Brembos. Our task however is to check functionality and function it did!
Somewhere between the common GT and the outlandish GT500, sits the Boss 302. A balanced chassis that is so agile, Car and Driver wrote "the Boss's grip almost always exceeds the driver's courage.". This is a fairly rare car with just a tick over 3,000 being made and this is a like new example that warrants a close look from Mustang fanatics, or aspiring pony enthusiasts. This thoroughbred is poised in the starting gate with no jockey. At least, for now.
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1ZV-USA Auto Alliance, Ford Passenger Car B-Manual Belts, Front & Side Airbags P8C-Coupe, Boss 302 U-5.0L Roadrunner V8 444hp 4-Check Digit D-2013 5-AAI: Flat Rock, MI Assy Plant 237825-Sequential Unit Number
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