MUSTANG BOSS 302

Created out of a desire to win the SCCA Trans Am racing championship, the Boss offered race-winning performance & pedigree with bewitching looks. One JUST CARS reader who fell under the spell of a Boss 302 is Tim Phillips. Over more than 12 months, Tim documented the tale of how he wanted, searched for, found, waited for . . . waited a bit longer for, and eventually got his perfect 'Stang - a Grabber Blue 1970 Boss 302 -or as Tim calls it, his 'Bossanova Baby'.

With the help of a good mate, a great partner, and some valuable contacts in the USA, Tim turned his dream into reality. It's a dream we're sure a lot of JUST CARS readers share, so we thought we'd share Tim's story - as much of a cautionary tale as a celebration - with you. Buying a good quality classic Boss Mustang from the States when you're here in Oz is a little like ice fishing with a beach rod for a hole about a kilometre away - and that hole is surrounded by very experienced Eskimos with their spears hovering. By that I mean getting your hook and line in the hole is a lot more dependent on luck and enthusiasm than skill.

My story began ten years earlier ...
It always starts with an innocent day out to "just go and have a look". My then girlfriend Kirsten (now Mrs Phillips Jnr.) and I made the pilgrimage to the traditional Peter Warren All Ford Day in NSW as we had recently started holding hands and I was trying to make an impression. It was hot, it was crowded and there were so many cars. Yet at the end of the day I posed the question to her.
"If you had to choose just one car, which would it be?" In less than two seconds she spun around and pointed to a brown monster - a Boss 302 with its beefy backside staring straight at us. "That one. That's the filth-est car here!" (She is a surfer after all). Little did I know ten years later the journey would begin.

I had contracted "Mustang fever" fifteen years earlier when I joined the Fire Brigade and fell under the influence of a couple of "chrome enthusiasts". Kirsten, however, had been hitherto unexposed to serious horsepower, so discovering a mutual attraction to the steel ponies was both pleasing and surprising. "Well what do you think?", I asked. "Do you like 'em?" She nodded slowly, a dreamy smile on her face. Time passed, and things changed a lot for us, but the desire for a classic Boss remained unabated.

The first car we looked at was an ivy green on green example in late 2006. (Green on green - Ugh! what were we thinking?) However, it was presented as a matching numbers driver - and the heart was ruling the head a bit at this early stage - so after two weeks of intense e-mailing we landed a States-side inspector to check it out. The report read, "engine number unreadable, owner uncooperative" with a nice clear digital picture to back it up. When I phoned the owner in the States to discuss this he was very defensive and insisted the number was indeed legible and even more importantly he had another interested party wanting to buy the car sight unseen. I explained at this point I was withdrawing from the negotiation and asked him to congratulate the new owner for me.

After this experience I decided to focus on top end "show cars" only, enlisting the help of "Two Dogs", a fire brigade colleague and committed revhead. Over the next eleven months, Two Dogs' assistance - and persistence - proved invaluable as we trawled through car after car that stimulated our interest. These fell into two main categories: good cars that we were gazumped on (refer to ice fishing); and owners who were inclined to make grandiose and rather complimentary remarks about their car, but were either evasive or completely reluctant to answer any simple direct inquiry regarding the cars' identity or "dealer added options". After 12 months of scouring the internet through Cars Online, the 302 Registry and Hemmings, amongst others, (I'd made the decision from the outset to source my Mustang from the USA) the garage remained Boss-less!

In late 2007, we came across a very nice show car on the Boss Registry located in Santa Barbara, California - a '70 Boss 302, yellow with matching numbers, correctly and nicely optioned, with the detailing and finish of excellent standard. We contacted the dealer and were told he had already taken a deposit for it (again with the ice fishing!). We replied that if the buyer pulled out to keep us informed.

Well blow me down if he didn't get back to us after two weeks stating that he had found the very car we were looking for - a top spec Grabber Blue '70 Boss with a shaker hood - in Vermont, of all places. Some nice pictures of the car and documentation were sent to us. It definitely looked the goods. We said we were interested and asked what was the next move? The gentleman from Santa Barbara said that if we tele-transferred the money to his account he would acquire the car for us, then undertake the full strip down and "nut and bolt" rotisserie restoration to MEA trailer gold concourse standard. He went on to say said that he'd keep us appraised throughout the restoration process with reports and photos and would invoice is as the project progressed. The car would be completely restored and ready for delivery within a month (remember this bit, readers) of him receiving the car. Sounds great, right?

Now I'm sure the more astute of you would be hearing some loud, maybe even deafening alarm bells ringing at this time. However, I must confess that my pent up enthusiasm for the project, combined with my excitement of the discovery of the car, deafened me to the alarm bells.

Now, without wishing to "air the dirty linen", the Boss wasn't ready in a month. The time frame, not surprisingly, was expanded, then extended, then postponed again, and again and . . . . . . well, you get the picture. From sealing a deal in December, 2007, and the car arriving at the restorers in early February, 2008 (after being stuck in snowy Vermont) I still had nothing more than a few pictures and a list of requests THREE months later. Now if this was the only thing that went out of control, I would be feeling quite smug. I don't and cannot feel that way. So I say to you reader, "caveat emptor" and pack your sense of humour! It sounds grim, I know, but this is not a story with a sad ending. Quite the opposite in fact. It's a story of resilience, overcoming adversity, setback and disappointment and the realisation of a dream - an adventure.

April 1st, 2008 - April Fools Day. An ominous date for sure, especially when I received an email on that day predicting a finish date for the restoration of May 1st. It was ominous for another reason, too. I had requested a vehicle report back on March 11th and been told to expect it the next day. Now, on most people's calendars that would be March 12th, not April 9th when I eventually received the report! There go those damn alarm bells again. This time, however, I could hear them - ever so faintly.

By mid-May we had been given a revised completion date of mid to late June. Not great, but great-ish in that it could coincide a trip we had planned to the USA. Ostensibly, this was planned to catch up with some States-side friends, but also to see our 'completed' dream car. Kirsten and I travelled to California in early July, 2008, to spend a month with our friends, as well as seeing what we could do to help complete the project. Remember, at this stage the car had been at the restorers since February 2nd. Now as the car was going to be delivered to Oz about three times by this stage, and even though the restorer knew six weeks prior to landing that we were coming to the States, he was absent for the first week of our arrival (refer to remember to pack sense of humour).

We landed in Ventura, California, about 40 minutes south of Santa Barbara, very happy to see our friends. After a good nights sleep we set off to Santa Barbara to lay eyes on our Boss for the first time. Well, there was our Boss, painted, panels hung and wheels fitted. There were no stripes, no interior, no carpet, no dash, no grille, no radiator and no headlights. The engine bay was approximately 60% finished. The look of disappointment on our faces must have been unmistakable. After what seemed like an eternity, the dealers' offsider decided to break the awkward silence. "Oh yeah, we've had a lot of delays with suppliers. We've been waiting 8 weeks for the carpet alone".
'What would Ghandi have done in this situation?' I found myself wondering. As "Two Dogs" later informed me, there were probably half a dozen alternate suppliers of this item within a 50 mile radius. Hmmmmm.
"Hey Kirsten, did you remember to pack my sense of humour"?

So, what to do? At this time I had already parted with the agreed sum for the purchase and the restoration, so I didn't have a lot of leverage left. You'd think 50 years of life would have taught me to pull my head in, start dealing with the facts and stop thinking everyone wants to tell me the truth all the time. Not yet, it seemed!

Between receiving day after day of wonderful American hospitality, we would venture up to Santa Barbara every few days to see if the car would be finished by the time we were heading back to Oz. It would have been nice to give it a test drive over there. By now it should come as no big surprise that it wasn't ready by the time we left on August 5th. Ironically, a little over a week after our departure, the car was actually completed and ready for a test drive. However, I wouldn't get the chance to put my hands on my beloved Boss for another seven weeks.

This is where the amazing Mick and Yvette of Mick's US Muscle Cars in Sydney swung into action and transported our Boss across the Pacific and delivered it to Sydney undamaged in late October, 2008. Two Dogs and I hired a trailer and picked it up at Mick's and drove it home. So that's the end of the story, right? Don't you believe it! Upon arrival in Australia the car was given a full inspection by Two Dogs, as this was the first time he had laid eyes on it throughout the whole project. Although the panel fit and paint were of a very pleasing standard, there were a large number of components that were either incorrect or missing. This resulted in another 250 hours of labour being required to address these issues - issues I thought I'd already paid for! - squeezed in between two jobs. Another three months until the car is ready? Why not. Good thing we brought our sense of humour back with us from the States!

Straight away we were into the meat and potatoes. While every square inch of the engine bay was cleaned and buffed, each component was assessed in the following way.
1. Was it the correct part for concourse standard?
2. Was it installed correctly?
3. Was it serviceable?

If 'no' was the answer to any of the above, it was back to the internet to scour suppliers in the States. Waiting for delivery gave us time to address the correct colours of a lot of the nuts/bolts/plugs, general untwisting of the leads around pipes and housings and securely reinserting screws.

The following is a note on the major components that had to be redone.
- The upper and lower control arms were all cheap repros, so a full strip down front and back was required. Originals were sourced and refurbished and then sent away for the ball joints to be riveted to the arms.
- The dash had to be pulled out to install the correct tach, fuel and temp gauges, as the ones supplied were a mixture of black and silver faces. After trying to install the correct black gauges, it was apparent the printed circuit board was faulty and that also had to be ordered. - After that was installed, the dimmer switch for the lights was not functioning and had to be replaced.
- A complete overhaul of the leaf springs was required even though they had been prepared some two months earlier in Santa Barbara. Rust was forming between each leaf and where the clamps were attached. While waiting for delivery of the correct clamps, each leaf was thoroughly - stripped and meticulously prepared to prevent corrosion in the future.
- We were shocked to find the steering box was held on only by the last two threads on the steering box bolts. As a survivor of losing all steering control along the Pacific Hwy doing 110km/h, this discovery was VERY unnerving. The handbrake cables were also cheap repros, so the original equipment manufacturer was sourced and new stock ordered.
- Rear windscreen rubber was split in two places in the lower corners and had to be replaced.

A laundry list of items, from leaf spring and exhaust clamps, to a set of four Goodyear Polyglas tyres also had to be sourced and added to the vehicle. The time and trouble allocated to this task certainly paid off in the end. The Boss won 1st place - Engine Bay Stock at the Castle Hill Towers All American Day in January, 2009 - more of a testament to the professionalism of Two Dogs than the undeniable appeal of the Boss, I'm sure. We also scored 3rd place overall at Castle Hill Towers. Not bad for a debut effort in a field of more than 600 cars, I thought.

In summary, I accept full responsibility for all the unexpected surprises of missing or incorrect componentry. My first mistake? Not verifying the history and reputation of someone who was introduced to me via the Boss Registry, and not utilising that same resource to do so. Second mistake? Basically paying up front for the car and the restoration before the project had even started, which resulted in any control I may have had being removed.

In hindsight I consider Kirsten and I lucky to end up with the car we did. By all means, learn from my example and use the protection of a written contract and establish and insist on this at the outset of the undertaking - not after full payment!

We would like to recommend the following people who provided outstanding customer service in the States.
Phil Severance of Phidon Restorations, 283 Trotter Drive Twin Falls Idaho 83301
Jim of Lucas Automotive Engineering, 2850 Temple Ave Long Beach CA 90806

The ultimate irony is that after all the time, effort and dollars I poured into this car, I'm now putting it on the market.Some of you may think I'm doing this because I was 'burnt' by my debut Boss experience - not in the slightest! The journey from wanting an immaculate Boss to finally getting one and 'making' it into the car I'd always wanted and dreamed of may have been longer - much longer, actually! - than I anticipated, but I did learn a hell of a lot in the process and I did get to enjoy an awesome car. But other priorities have come into my life now, and the Boss has to go. The story here should give you a very good idea of what's gone into the car - much more than what you'll get in a 30 word advert, that's for sure!

Tim Phillips