New Boss plays retro part well

Boss 302: The "Bad Boy" Mustang is back

Ford has flooded the gearhead info pipeline with details on the 2012 Boss 302, the latest performance version of the venerable Mustang.

Based on the numbers, the Boss looks like the real deal: 444 horsepower, 380 lb.-ft of torque, 7,500 RPM redline, manual-only gearbox, forged aluminum pistons, upgraded con rods, revised oil pan baffling, additional chassis bracing/stiffening and Brembo brakes (front only; the rear retains parts-bin sourced stoppers and the embarrassingly outdated live rear axle). The Laguna Seca version takes it up another notch, replacing the rear bench (not the nicest place to spend time in a Mustang) with an X-brace, and adds cloth Recaro seats and dealer-installed brake cooling ducts. Pricing is around $50k Canadian for the ‘base” version and $58k for the Laguna Seca.

Clearly the Boss 302 is intended to address a market niche – two niches, actually. The first niche is potential buyers who remember the original Boss 302s dueling with Z28s back in the heyday of SCCA’s Trans Am road racing series. Owners in this niche might actually take their Boss to the track, and perhaps kick some unwary foreign butt. The other niche is target customers who don’t know what SCCA is, have never been on a road course, but have a thing for Mustangs.

If the Boss 302 speaks to you – for whatever reason – that’s great. Pay your money and live the dream, or re-kindle your youthful racing fantasies.

Even though I had a ’66 289 Mustang in high school, I’ve never had any desire to re-experience that era of my automotive life. After the Mustang, I went to the (then) Dark Side with a Datsun 240z. As friends enjoyed the waning years of the Musclecar Era in their pumped up Goats and Cudas, they snickered at me in my 2-seat, 4-speed ’70 Z with an inline-6 with “only” 150 hp. Back then, I felt slightly smug that I knew something they didn’t.

These days, when a new Mustang, Camaro or other retro Detroit icon pulls up beside me in my 2-seat, 6-speed, S2000 with an inline-4 and “only” 238 hp, I’m still smug. If the other driver is snickering…well, my buddies didn’t get it then, and there’s no expectation the latest crop of v-8 loving musclecar fans is going to see the automotive world through my “smaller and lighter is better” lens.

The reality is that the performance car camp is pretty much split into American, European and Asian factions, each with fervent followers. As an enthusiast who leans towards European and Asian iron, there’s a long list of cars I’d rather own than a new Boss 302. Which means precisely nada to the person who has the Boss on the top of their lust list.

If you want one, better rush on down to your Ford dealer to get in the queue for one of the 250 base Boss 302s and 25 Laguna Seca editions allocated to Canada for 2012. If you’re too late, don’t worry; The odds are that Ford will make a batch more in 2013. And 2014, if there’s still demand.