Mike Giordano first spotted his dream car on a magazine cover when he was 13 years old: a 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302. “I knew then that someday that was the car I would own,” says the owner of Mike G. Perfection Auto Body Inc. in Miller Place, N.Y. “Fast forward 23 years later, and my dream came true.”
In 2003, Giordano found a Boss 302 for sale on the Internet. “I was so excited that I had them ship it the very next day sight unseen,” he says. “Luckily, the car was mostly as described.” He drove the car for a year before deciding to perform a full rotisserie restoration. Once he began the nearly three-year project, he invested $30,000 to make his dream car shine. Now, the Boss 302 takes top honors at car shows and is even a proud part of the local 4th of July parade.
A TRUE ORIGINAL
Giordano completely disassembled the car. “Every single thing—every nut and bolt—was removed from the car,” he says. “It was taken down to a skeleton, and then was all put back together.” He estimates that he spent over 1,000 hours working on the vehicle’s restoration.
Giordano tried his best to avoid having the project interfere with his family life. “I worked on it before and after shop hours,” he says. “Sometimes I would get up at 3 o’clock in the morning so I could work on it so it didn’t take away time from my kids or running the business.”
Giordano’s main goal was to restore the Boss 302 to its completely original condition. In fact, he even removed parts from the car that were not original and replaced them with originals. Because the car is fairly rare, this took time. “I spent at least a year finding original parts to make the car brand new again,” he says. Fortunately, he discovered a helpful website called boss302.com that allowed him to connect with other Boss 302 owners and swap parts. “That was my main way of restoring the car—through other car owners,” Giordano says.
PROUD MOMENT
The best part of the restoration, Giordano says, was the opportunity to make friends from across the nation through The Boss 302 Registry. “I met a lot of really, really nice people through [the site] that I have met at shows or talked to online or helped find parts. I never would have met people in Australia or California any other way. It’s a nice thing.”
Of course, finally seeing the finished product is also a great moment. “It was amazing,” Giordano says. “Because I restored it myself, I was very proud. To be able to say I did it reflects well on my business and on me, too.” Better still, his 8- and 10-year-old children love the car and proudly show it off to their friends.
SHOW STOPPER
The Boss 302 steals the spotlight at shows—and deservedly so. Only 352 were made in the particular shade of grabber green like Giordano’s. “People ask me if the color is original, because it’s so odd and stand-out,” he says. “It’s nice, because whenever I go to a car show, I’m pretty much the only one there with that body style and color.”
He also racks up the awards. “I’ve been in about six shows,” Giordano says, “and each show, I’ve gotten First in Class. I’ve also won four Best of Show.” He appreciates the recognition folks bestow upon the car. “It’s kind of neat, because it’s a piece of automotive history, in a sense.”
