Ford is bringing them back, those two little numbers that we all so fondly remember pasted to the side of many Fox Body Mustangs, no matter whether they had the bad boy 302 cubic inch V8 under the hood or not; but the story of the 5.0 goes back beyond to the beginning of the Mustang story. Despite the popularity of the 289 cubic inch engine in the original pony, Ford also offered a 302 cubic inch V8 built from their magical engine plant in Windsor, Canada.
There was also the factory tuned handling machine, the Boss 302, although it didn’t have the big boy 429 Cobra Jet engine under the hood, this car could run circles around its bigger brother. The Boss 302’s motor was taken from the blue oval’s Trans-Am team, the small black racing engine was chosen by Ford in 1969 because of its compact and excellent output, 290 HP, made for the best handling Mustang that has ever come out of Dearborne, it gave the car a more desirable weight distribution than the NASCAR big block. Think the Boss’s 302 cubic inch V8 as the 13B for muscle cars.
When Ford switched over the Mustang II update in 1974, it brought the 302 with it; but it wasn’t until the third generation pony car made its debut that the American automaker decided to add a little flare to the Mustang’s fenders. Unfortunately when Ford switched to the fourth generation Mustang in 1994, the 302 had a short lease on life. The Mustang was only available with that magical motor from Canada in this modern sleek looking Mustang until 1995.
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