Ford responded to the upstart Chevrolet Camaro’s success in the popular SCCA Trans-Am Championship for 1969 with a new version of the Mustang: the Boss 302. Powered by a detuned version of the Windsor small-block V-8 engine developed for the GT40 program, the Boss 302 was also the best handling production car ever fielded by Ford to that point, giving its in-house racing teams—Shelby American and stock car specialists Bud Moore Engineering—a potent starting point for homologation in the Trans-Am. Beginning in May 1969, Moore’s Boss 302 racers won the first four Trans-Am races, eventually finishing second in the 1969 Championship, but the first Boss 302 ever to score a race victory was this Pepsi-sponsored racer built by Moore for Mexican racing hero Moises Solana, who took it to its first victory at the VII Circuito Los Fuertes in Puebla, Mexico, on April 26, 1969. According to the Marti Report that accompanies this well- documented Bud Moore Engineering racer, the car was built at the Metuchen Assembly Plant in Edison, New Jersey, on November 19, 1969. Originally painted Silver Jade and equipped with the T-Code 200 CI inline-6 engine, 3-speed manual transmission and 3.08 rear axle, it was reportedly first sent to Garrett Motor company in Hendersonville, North Carolina, and then later to Henderson Ford in nearby Chesnee, both within 25 miles of Bud Moore Engineering’s shops in Spartanburg. Having received a deposit from Solana for $5,000, Moore purchased and took delivery of the car in mid-March 1969 and began the conversion to Trans-Am specification. Moore delivered the completed Mustang to Solana on April 5, exactly three weeks before its first race win. In July of that same year, Solana was tragically killed in a Can-Am McLaren during a hill climb event; soon thereafter, the Solana family sold the car to fellow Mexican racer Freddy Van Beuren. A Shelby employee who drove for Shelby several times and won the 1967 SCCA B-Production Championship in GT350R No. 5R108, Van Beuren raced the Boss 302 with considerable success for several years. After some time in subsequent ownership in Mexico, in 1988 the Boss 302 was purchased by noted Dallas collector and Trans-Am enthusiast Rick Nagel, who re-imported the car and placed it in storage. In 2019, Nagel sold it to collector Tim Olive. Olive, who had tried to buy the car for several years, had visited Bud Moore in 2016 to discuss the car’s history, gathering important details that would figure significantly in the car’s restoration after Olive acquired it. After commencing an intensive cosmetic restoration, Olive presented the partially restored Mustang, minus its engine, at the 2019 Boss Reunion in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He next showed the car at the Carlisle Ford Nationals in July 2020 and then at the May 2021 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, where it won First in Class in RC2 Race Cars 1961-1989. The first race-winning Boss 302, the car once again presents in white with all as-original markings and decals. The gray interior is as originally prepared by BME, including the Trans- Am-style roll cage, seat, dash and gauges. Interestingly, the original wiring harness is disconnected but remains in place to show viewers how Bud Moore’s builders misspelled the word “OFF” by labeling it “OOF” twice on the switch panel to the driver’s right. Once again powered by a period-correct Trans Am-style Boss 302 CI V-8 engine backed by a Toploader 4-speed manual transmission and the original 9-inch rear end with locking axles, it retains many more of the original parts supplied by Bud Moore Engineering, including the period- correct and correct date-coded American Racing 200-S magnesium wheels and Wingard side and rearview mirrors. A well-documented award winner, the Solana-Bud Moore Engineering Boss 302 will forever hold a special place in Mustang and Trans-Am history.
