1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Project!
This car just goes to show that there seems to be no shortage of popular muscle car projects still waiting to be discovered out there. The question remains, can you still obtain desirable cars like this at a price that will make sense for an adequate restoration. This 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302 project can be found in Gratiot, Wisconsin. It’s listed here on eBay where there have been nine bids so far with a current bid of $15,600. The reserve has not yet been met, but there are 74 watchers keeping their eyes on this one.
This Boss has been mostly disassembled, so at least you can see some of the problems and issues that will need to be addressed. The rear wheel wells have been flared, the battery side apron has issues with battery acid and there are some small rust spots in the floor pans that will all need to be resolved. “Most of the hard to find and very expensive original parts” are said to be sourced and there are several photos of the various parts for the car. The interior is said to be in good useable condition with “small spots that could easily be fixed”. As with most of these disassembled project cars, obtaining and confirming that all of the loose parts for the car are present can be a challenge that you can’t underestimate.
The engine is identified as a replacement block that has had the machine work done and has been painted. All of the engine parts are supposed to be present except for the carburetor. The VIN is said to be intact on the dash, the number matching 4-speed transmission and also on both inner fender aprons. The VIN on the aprons is reported to be a factory mistake where the last three digits got stamped wrong “like a lot of other Mustangs, but its the way it left the factory”. Can any of our Boss Mustang experts comment on this and perhaps enlighten us further? There is a photo of a Marti report to help document the provenance of this Boss.
This Boss Mustang is reported to have a desirable list of factory options including rear deck spoiler, sport slats, shaker hood, decor group, and Magnum 500 wheels just to mention several of the options. I sure support finding, restoring and saving any of our classic muscle cars like this Boss 302. Finding a muscle car project like this desirable car can sometimes provide an opportunity to obtain a higher end car, particularly if you can do most or even all of the restoration work yourself. So what is the price point where this Boss Mustang makes sense as a project? How would you proceed with this car? To all of our Boss Mustang Barn Finders, let us know what you think!
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Comments
I would like to see this car back in the day when they flared out the wheel wells with some oversized rear tires in every way. I am a stock guy by in large BUT I have liking for some of the period mods. Car will be worth more restored back to stock in this case.
Same guy who has the 67 big block fastback. Doesn’t need to sell it, wont reveal reserve. How about adding the dirt floor to the drama? Not many pics of the underbelly. If he wont reveal the reserve how do you know if you can afford it? Ultimately the buyer will set the value. Sorry for the negativity. Good luck to the new owner!!!
Cheers
GPC
when was the last time YOU went to a home auction and the agent made you aware of the reserve? That’s why they call it an AUCTION!
…except eBay is not a true auction. If it were, you would alway have a chance to beat the high bid before the auction closed. With ebay there is no “going once… going twice…” before the hammer falls.
IMO, ebay should add 1 minute every time someone bids. Then you wouldn’t have any last minute sniping. You would get a true auction, and always have a chance to beat the previous bid.
Bidding up to 27K. Still hasn’t hit reserve. I wonder how many of the bidders have actually looked at the car!
i have a feeling the reserve is over 30k. now that i know hes the same one with the big block 67 fastback, im extremely skeptical of him and people are going to be very mad when they realize how big the reserve is.
Be Careful and proceed with caution.
I agree, this thing is a massive money pit. No way of really knowing what is there and how much of the rare and/or unobtainable bits are missing, or how bad the body is (both rust and prior collision damage). A good rule of thumb on buying a collector car is to get the best example you can afford — it’ll cost you a helluva lot less in the long term.
As for the different VINs on the dash ‘tag’ and the driver-side front apron “like a lot of other Mustangs, but it’s the way it left the factory.” well, I spent four-plus years of my time as an automotive writer, photographer and editor as an associate editor of ‘Mustang Illustrated’. I wrote about and/or photographed a lot of classic Mustangs, and covered several MCA meets including one Nationals, and I have never heard anything of that sort.
Here we go again, another ‘seller’ throwing it up with probably a $100k ‘reserve’ knowing it wont sell, but wants a somewhat ‘accurate’ appraisal -by-bids as to what he wants to see it’s worth. Frankly, I just enjoy looking at these in wonder of what it must have been like at the time to buy. Other than that, these beyond diamonds in the rough are exactly that. Unless you cut your own, you’ll be 2/3 upside down no matter what with the end product.
This one here, to me, is a tops, $15k car. That’s it! Anything above that, you’ll be in way over your head. There is still an abundance of these. Market turning ‘soft’ for sane & not emotional buyers. Guys like me at 58, are looking at retirement, which I’m fortunate to have been since ’94, but looking at RV’s & other things than an every other weekend driver around the block for ‘investment’ purposes lol. “IF” I was to buy, its not going to be a pristine princess. It would be a driver, with an ‘OK’ body, one I wouldnt fear parking at Walmarts 3rd spot in from a handicap reserved spot. One I can take out & hammer the sh*t out of every other traffic light if I so please. But unless any of these ’64-’73 ‘muscle cars are 1 in less than 100 at the time they were made, would justify any high dollar worth. Other than that, there’s another the next town over still. People advertising these puzzles in boxes or rust buckets that appear to have sat in a salt water bay for a year, have to come back to Earth & realize what they have, really isn’t so special & worth the outrageous reserves that they placed on them. Problem is they see the NADA ‘excellent’ values & think they can get that. Just not realistically, going to happen.
That three digit screw up with the vin number worries me. He says it is a common issue with Mustangs. However, I have been dealing with mustangs for several decades and I have never come across this issue with other mustangs.
VIN mis-stamps happened – not often, but they happened. Figure they would be very hard to detect at final inspection at the assembly line when the fenders are on. Occasionally see numbers swapped around on drivetrain component stamps too.
The VIN stamp pic attached is from what is actually an R-code / 4-speed ’69 Eliminator recently sold by Volo Cars.
There is a ’68 Cougar that left the factory with a 302 in it. My understanding is that the dash and door tag and Marti data back this up, but the shock towers are mis-stamped with a “W” engine code…
Now, if I were a potential buyer, I would be in touch with Marti Auto to verify BOTH VIN numbers – dash and shock tower – to see what the other VIN might belong to. Of course a thorough inspection should be done to see if the car had the front clip spliced in. ALWAYS do your due diligence.
Amen on the due diligence, Mike s!!! Hate to sound like a broken record but there are so many places that rust that you can see, let alone what you can’t see. Plus the documentation. Plus the original engine is gone, that’s what makes it valuable. On the plus side, I have driven a Boss that a friend had, if you didn’t hang on you would be in the back seat. Legend has it that the claimed hp was 300 at the factory and was way low. I believe it. Caveat Emptor…
Cheers
GPC
WOW! at age 76, I thought I was critical, you guys are brutal !! and 100% accurate. GOOD JOB!. Unfortunately in a free society one can ask any price into the stratosphere, and this seller thinks he has a gold mine finding rusty northern Wisconsin rust buckets to pawn off on big money buyers. He’ll learn eventually that not all people are stupid.
I like the last minute ebay bids, bid what you can, its like racing if you dont step on the gas then you loose, if dont put up the money, get out of the way for someone who will. I dont like the annonomous bids, i used to like to see who was bidding, Ebay makes tons of money on deadbeat bidders, thats why ebay has them. Make the deadbeet pay the 50$ listing fee. Sometimes the lack of the original motor makes a car affordable. I dont know about the ford numbers stamping , but i know brand new Gm cars had parts moved from one to another. A brand new car has a vibration and the dealership swaps out a rear to keep the customers happy.
Totally agree about Ebay. People get mad because they lose an auction in the very end, but if you were willing to pay more, then you should have bid more! Don’t blame the snipers. (I use the ‘justsnipe.com’ website to put in nearly all of my bids in the last 5 seconds of an auction, works great and is free. If I lose then I didn’t overpay, and if my bid is highest nobody has time to counter it.)
@r s – By your logic you should not need to snipe – just bid your highest bid on day one. If you aren’t willing to pay more, then why snipe? What if you were willing to pay a penny more? Or a dollar more? Wouldn’t you want an opportunity to do that? Like you said, “no one has time to counter” your bid. That is not an auction.
I see a 302 block, BUT is it a a 4 bolt mained Boss block?
Pretty big honking dent in the passenger side roof line, too.
Was the Boss 302 the same block as the regular 302? I don’t think so, the difference was more than how many bolt mains. I’m not a Ford guy but thought it might be the same block as the Cleveland motor…?
A Boss 302 block is a Boss 302 block. It is not the same as any other block.
dont pay for potentail only pay for what you see not what you dont
In 1977 my brother’s brother in law bought a 1970 Boss 302 in Grabber Orange just like this one, from a high school kid who had it as his first car and ruined the clutch. B.I.L. paid $800 for the car, fixed the clutch, drove it two years, then sold it for enough to put a down payment on a house.
Current bid 32 grand with 32 bidders. Having ordered and purchased a ’71 BOSS 351, I’d be cautious about his statements about the engine in this one…and to paraphrase ” most don’t come with original engines”. Obviously this one doesn’t, and therefore the value (to me) tanks. I absolutely hate the back window slats, and didn’t order them on my car, and purposely did NOT buy a new ’70 428CJ that the dealer tried to “foist” on me, as it had them. He was stuck with that car as the young man that ordered it (orange with black stripe package and every conceivable option) learned that his monthly insurance bill was more than the car payment. Anyway, I’d rather have either my old BOSS or the CJ than this !
Always like this sheet metal. To bog – I like the slats okay, but the spoiler on these and many Mopars to me always looked goofy. The more integrated spoiler on the Camaros was, to me, more pleasing to the eye. Do these Mustang spoilers actually have an impact on performance?
Steve – I live in Chicagoland, where the slats would be a pain in the “you know what” much of the year. I’ve seen plenty of vehicles here with them…they collect tree leaves and seeds, lots of dirt, and in the Winter, snow and ice. So unless one only uses the car in the absolute best weather they’re a disadvantage. If I lived in a very sunny area where the Sun would bake my interior I’d probably have them. Doubt that they help performance, probably hinder it aerodynamically. Yes, Ford could have done a better design job with spoilers…they were optional on my BOSS, and I had front and rear. Rear was pretty heavy duty (though hollow)and adjustable for rake, front had slot type mounting holes to catch more or less air depending on how it was installed. I took both off as soon as Winter approached. Otherwise the front would have been a snowplow if not damaged or ripped right off vehicle. Few spoilers or other aero elements work below 40 mph, you may want to do your own reading on that. My experience of over 2 years on the Autobahn with my ’67 Fairlane GTA showed me THAT car should have had a front spoiler at the very least. Over 100 mph it would catch all that air and the front end would lift to near the top limits of the front shocks. And get light and “floaty”, if you know what I mean. That did not keep me from having foot to floor in good weather ! Fuel economy be damned !!!