56 ❘ September 05, 2019 http://www.oldcarsweekly.com
him or see him at family reunions and
take the opportunity to ask him about
it until the summer of ’15 or ’16 when
he said, ‘I might be interested in selling
it,’ and my ears kind of perked up. We
talked a little bit and the more we talked,
the more he was interested in selling it,
and we came to terms and I got to buy
the car.”
By this time, the Boss 302 didn’t
look like it did back in 1972 when
Dwight had bought it. In the interest
of speed, Dwight had begun remov-
ing parts to save weight, including the
whole interior. Luckily, any modi¿ ca-
tions he had performed were simple
bolt-on additions, and he had saved ev-
ery part he removed. Because the ¿ rstowner hadn’t driven it long, and because
Dwight put many of the miles he drove
it just one quarter-mile at a time, the
Boss had just 30-some thousand miles
when it was parked. That was the good
news. The bad news was that the parts
were haphazardly strewn about the barn
and mixed among parts from other cars,
trucks and even airplanes.
Although he was already a Mustang
owner, Blane reached out to Mustang
restoration guru Jason Billups in search
of some guidance about his pending pur-
chase. Blane found that putting a price
on such a desirable but disassembled
pony car was dif¿ cult, and he wanted an
expert opinion. When Blane told Jason
the price, Jason said, “If you don’t buy
it, I will.”
While Blane had grown up digging
Mustangs and admiring Shelbys and
Bosses, he didn’t feel comfortable exca-
vating the Boss 302 and its parts on his
own. Since Jason and the whole Billups
team at Billups Classic Cars in Colcord,
Okla., had been pitched to Blane as the
go-to folks for Shelbys, Bosses and
other hi-po Fords, Blane asked Jason to
accompany him to the barn where the
Boss was stored.
When they arrived at Dwight’s barn,Only upon close inspection can the Boss 302’s minor flaws be spotted. Here,
scratches in the Boss hood stripes are evident.
Although stored on
dirt, the dry Texas
climate preserved
the chassis and
even the paint on
the mechanical
components.