Mostly Original 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Deserved Concours Restoration

Mostly Original 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Deserved Concours Restoration

Automotive enthusiasts often participate in this hobby with the cars they loved when they were younger. It is not uncommon to see car guys driving the exact duplicate of a muscle car or ponycar they owned in high school. Regardless of one鈥檚 brand loyalties, it is always fascinating to hear the story behind the formation of a particular passion for one鈥檚 automobile, or automobiles, of choice. Bob Werneke describes the birth of his passion for Mustangs this way: 鈥淚 bought my first Mustang in 1976, a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1. The color was Black Jade. It was equipped with a 428 Super Cobra Jet with the R-code shaker option and a C6 automatic transmission. I drag raced my Mach 1 at Twin Cities Dragways. The car ran in the C/SA class, consistently producing 13.5 e.t.鈥檚 on street tires. As time went on, I needed to buy a house and settle down.

For the next 20 years, Werneke wisely focused on family and career priorities. But then, the flame was rekindled. 鈥淎bout 20 years after selling my Black Jade Mach 1, I was watching Car everything went right. 鈥淚n all of my years of working on cars, I had never met anyone like Bob Wilson, who had so much information and passion for Mustangs,鈥?Werneke says. 鈥淚 commissioned Bob to recondition the engine bay and undercarriage of my Mach 1. He did an amazing job. The car looked great! Werneke was so impressed with Wilson鈥檚 work that he considered having Wilson convert his car to a four-speed manual transmission. Wilson said it could be done, but he advised against it, since it would take away from the originality and value of the car.

Werneke sold his Mach 1 in May 2012 at the Indy Mecum Auction, and then took a year and a half to find just the right Boss 302. A suitable candidate appeared on eBay and was located in Dallas. Werneke sent Wilson pictures and documentation that he obtained from the owner. Wilson鈥檚 answer: 鈥淏uy it as soon as you can.鈥?Werneke purchased the car 45 minutes later with the Buy It Now option. It had been on the market for less than an hour. The Texas seller had owned the car since 1981, but it had spent most of its life in a garage near Dallas. The engine was rebuilt around 2008 and was balanced and blueprinted. Unfortunately, it was missing a number of the necessary factory parts, which were located prior to restoration. The body had no rust, all the original panels, and about 85 percent of the original paint, complete with door dings aplenty. Werneke had the car transported to R.J.

Restorations so Wilson could inspect the car and make it roadworthy. Both Bobs like the car very much, especially the condition of the rust-free body. Wilson fixed the brakes, did some suspension work, and had it ready to drive as an unrestored, mostly-original-paint car. Over the next couple of years, Werneke pondered whether to leave the Boss as an unrestored original car or go for a full restoration. 鈥淚 decided on the concours restoration. R.J. Restorations was booked for a couple years, so I showed it at local shows and searched for and purchased numerous N.O.S. It was a great conversation-starter at the shows. I was about fifty-fifty on leaving it as-is or restoring it. In mid-2016, Werneke sent the car to R.J. Restorations, where every component on the car was gone through and made better than new. The engine was completely rebuilt by Wheeler Racing Engines of Minneapolis, which included blueprinting to controlled tolerances, balancing the assembly, and a final dyno testing. At Wheeler, the Boss motor logged 335 peak hp. Werneke鈥檚 Boss 302 was completed in November 2017, just in time for the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals.