The New Boss-Mustang 302 Boss-The Return of the Boss Mustang and the 5.0

Return of the Mustang Boss 302 - Welcome Back Boss and the 5.0

Next year, 2012, is right around the corner and the new year will be here before we know it. Each year, car companies release new models for the year, some with a lot of improvements or alterations, some with slight changes or none at all, and some release cars that are from days gone by for nostalgic reasons, but it's always a competition to get buyers to purchase that car manufacturer's new model year car.

Even though we have barely gotten into 2011, some car companies have already begun to give us sneak peeks at their 2012 model year vehicles. One such company is Ford Motor Company with one of their newest debuts -- the 2012 Mustang Boss 302. This is actually a re-release of the high performance Mustang because the Mustang Boss was first released in 1969, again in 1970, then discontinued for over 40 years. Soon the Boss will be making its entrance onto Ford showroom floors everywhere but with more horses at the gate.

History of the Mustang

The birth of the Mustang came from a vision of a car that would seat four people, have bucket seats, a floor-mounted shifter, weigh less than 2,500 pounds, be no longer than 180 inches, and would be affordable, selling for less than $2,500.00. This vision was that of Lee Iacocca, then vice-president and general manager of Ford Division and the vision became a reality after months and months of meetings, discussions, market surveys. In September of 1962, funding was finally approved for the Mustang and on March 9, 1964, the very first Mustang rolled off of the assembly line floor in Dearborn, Michigan.

To keep costs of production low and pass on the low prices to consumers, many of the components of the Mustang were borrowed from the Ford Falcon, including most of the drive train. The car had a wide variety of interior, exterior, and drive train options. Buyers were able to special order their car as plain, as economical, or fast. Just as the buyer wanted. The Mustang was designed with everyone in mind and was even advertised as "the car to be designed by you".

The Ford Mustang was born and with that began a niche of car manufacturing that would come to be referred to as the "pony car" field. People were in a frenzy for these cars when they first came out -- by the end of the first day over 22,000 of them had been sold. By the end of 1964, Ford had sold over 415,000 of these cars. People loved them. This craze and Ford's niche would continue until 1967 with Ford and the Mustang leading the way. Few changes were made with each year of production until 1967. This is when the improvements and upgrades began and 1967 brought the first major re-styling of the car. Then in 1969, changes were once again made and a couple of new models were added to the line-up: the Mustang "E", the Mach 1, and the Mustang Boss, both the 302 and the 429. There were nearly 300,000 Mustangs built in 1969.

The Arrival of the Boss

The decision by Ford to create a beefed up Mustang came about due to the fact that in 1968, Chevrolet sold 7,000 Camaro 7/28s. Marketing demographers predicted that the following year, 1969, would see another 20,000 Camaros sold off of Chevy showroom floors.  In retaliation of this, Ford's then president, "Bunkie" Knudsen, "'fast-tracked' the hot-rodded Mustang into existence".  

The first Mustang Boss was sold for just over $3,400.  The engine was a 5.0 liter V-8 that produced around 290 horsepower at 5800 RPM.  It achieved 60 miles per hour in 6.5 seconds and cleared the quarter mile in 14.9 seconds at 93.5 miles per hour.  In those days, that was a fast car, but pales in comparison to the speed we see these days.  

The Mustang Boss was discontinued after only two years, but the car continued to evolve into what it is today, over 410 horsepower 7500 RPM bad a$$ V-8 that does 0-60 in 4.3 seconds and is  faster than 14.9 on the quarter milet about 12.8 seconds and 113 miles per hour.

For 2012, deciding to re-release the Mustang is at a time when the economy is not doing that well, but the decision to do so seems clear that maybe Ford wants to capture the hearts of the early 40 somethings (like me) born around the years of the original Boss' release, those who remember the cars, or previous Boss owners, and let's not forget, the re-capture of the "5.0 fanatics".

When Ford designed the new Boss, they added 32 extra horses, a new intake manifold that's got "runners resembling velocity stacks".  They changed out the cylinder heads (stronger alloy with altered ports).  The camshafts have added lift, the intake valves are bigger, the bearings are "race-spec", and the baffle pan holds 8.5 quarts of synthetic oil.  

This resulted in a 444 horsepower 7500 RPM -- sitting between the Mustang GT's 412 horses and the Mustang Shelby GT's 500 horsepower.  It's responsive, agile and smooth and handles corners in a much improved manner. The results on the quarter mile left the Boss 0.4 seconds ahead of the GT and only one mile per hour  behind the BMW M3.  

The suspension on the Boss is a bit stiffer than that of the GT, it offers stiffer springs, a "fatter" rear stabilization bar, new bushings, and 19-inch Pirelli P Zeroes mounted on the rear with 9.5 inch wide wheels.  Each shock has five settings that are adjustable with a screwdriver.   

The bottom line is that this car is the best Mustang ever.  Test drive one and see for yourself.

Every Boss 302 comes with a silver colored key and another key, a red key called a "TracKey". Both keys are exactly alike, but one of them, the red one, is a special key that for an extra $350.00 to the Ford dealership, will allow you to download unique ECM software.  This software provides the owner with 400 new parameters for the car, including more aggressive valve timing, a new spark map, activates launch control to set whatever rev point the driver desires, and more. 

What is the price you ask?  Well, the base Boss starts at just over $40,000.  A major option on this car is a Torson limited slip differential and Racaro seats (they are packaged together for only another nearly two grand.  About 4000 cars will be assembled which includes about 3200 base bosses and 750 Laguna Seca editions.  

What's the Laguna Seca edition?  The Boss' "angry brother" with a little bit more power, fatter wheels, a stiffer suspension, and more, for only another $6995.   

Well, I will conclude this hub here and leave off with this: I want this Mustang! As a former Mustang 5.0 owner, I am excited at the return of the 5.0 and the Mustang Boss 302 and I would love it if I could afford to own a new one, but, will probably stick with my HHR.

Thank you for reading this and I hope you're having a great day!