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Youth is impressionable.
At the age of 6, David Reynolds attended the New York World’s Fair, which covered 646 acres at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens. More than 51 million people turned out during its two 6-month runs, in 1964 and 1965. New technology included a picture telephone, road-building robots, main frame computers, Belgian waffles, color television, and the Ford Mustang. Young David fell in love with the Mustang, a passion which has never left.
At the age of 12, his focus narrowed when a metallic blue, Mustang BOSS 302 arrived in 1970 at his father’s dealership in New Castle in Craig County. He got to sit in it before its new owner, Gary Wright, picked it up.
At the age of 18, Reynolds entered Virginia Tech (class of ’80), majoring in marketing management. Among several job offers, he accepted one with a tire store chain because he knew a lot about cars, trucks and tires from his dad’s 30-year car dealership career.
At the age of 30, David Reynolds shifted into entrepreneur gear, opening South Main Auto Service, which has been on South Main Street in Blacksburg for 36 years.
The Mustang BOSS 302
“The Mustang BOSS, especially in metallic blue, was my all-time favorite car growing up,” Reynolds relates. “I drew pictures of it in my notebooks during school and dreamed of owning one. My teacher would hit me in the head with a ruler and tell me to get back to work.” Gary Wright’s wife drove the 1970 Mustang BOSS between Salem and New Castle to her job until 1979. Mr. Wright sold it with 65,600 miles to Dale Vest of Floyd. He only added 4,400 miles across the next 24 years.
“Fast forward to 2003 when a friend told me about this model vehicle for sale nearby. I went to look at it, and when I sat inside, well, it felt like I’d been there before.”
After returning home and checking the VIN number, this Mustang BOSS 302 devotee discovered it was the same car! He struck a deal and drove it home with its original motor and manual transmission. Though he merely intended to clean it up a bit, he ended up stripping it down for a complete restoration. Reynolds completed the car the day before leaving for the 40th celebration of the Mustang in Nashville. There, Carroll Shelby and Steve Lyons selected his car for the Ford’s Choice Award. [Shelby was an automotive designer, race car driver and entrepreneur, best known for his involvement with modifying the Mustang for racing for Ford Motor Company. Lyons was the president of Ford Automotive Division at the time.]
“The BOSS 302 was built and sold to homologate the car to race the Trans American race series. The ‘70 BOSS 302 won the series in 1970,” Reynolds says. This high performance 302 cu in (4.9 L) H.O. V8 powered variant of the Mustang was produced in 1969, 1970, 2012 and 2013. Though launched to counter the success of Chevrolet’s Camaro on the track, many street-legal Mustang BOSS vehicles were sold to the public in ’69 and ’70 with a sticker price of $3,720. Reynolds’ car has a 302 290 horse power engine, 4-speed Hurst shifter, 9” Ford rear end with a 3.91 gear ratio.
At the age of retirement
David Reynolds continues to work in South Main Auto Service. “My sons Allen and Josh work with me, and I can retire any time I want,” he explains, “but I enjoy the people and staying busy. It keeps the mind sharp. I love the generation angle here. We are fixing cars for Virginia Tech students who are sons and daughters of people whose vehicles we worked on when they were attending college!”
Reynolds also owns (and restores as time permits) several other cars, including a 1969 BOSS 429 Mustang, 1970 Dodge Challenger, several Shelby models, 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner, 1964 Polara 500 convertible and the 1951 Ford Victoria that his dad sold to his grandmother. But it’s the ’70 Mustang BOSS that owns his heart. He was the first person to sit in it, and he intends to be the last ~ until his family inherits it. Reynolds considers it a family heirloom, so stand aside diamond rings, antique furniture, gold watches and memorabilia. This man’s legacy is one very special, metallic blue, Mustang BOSS 302, along with a thriving business for his sons to pass along.
Text by Joanne M. Anderson
Photos by Tom and Christy Wallace
Photos by Tom and Christy Wallace