Steve Strange says he was thrilled after buying a rare 1964-1/2 Mustang convertible in 1968 while he was a junior in high school. It wasnt until two years later, though, when he traded that car in on a hot new 1970 Mach 1 Mustang, that his first-car infatuation ignited into a lifelong pedal-to-the-metal passion.


The day I picked that car up was one of my most memorable days, he says. That was at the height of Fords involvement in racing and muscle cars.


Within months, he had begun acquiring high-performance Mustang parts, some for his own use and others for friends and fellow car club members here, and within two years, he had bought his first of a number of Boss 429 Mustangs. He now owns Boss Performance, a 23-year-old, Spokane-based mail-order business that specializes in selling Boss 429 parts and accessories and rare collectible Mustang items.


Weve sold parts to (customers in) every state in the country, and weve shipped parts to Canada, Mexico, Australia, and Europe, Strange says. Weve even shipped parts to South Africa, but in recent years its gotten to be a hassle to ship overseas, so were pretty well limited to the U.S. now.


Strange says he and his wife, Darleen, operate the business from their South Hill home, with help from their son, Mike, a Gonzaga University law student who started going to car shows and swap meets with them before he could walk.


Boss Performance sells everything from hood scoops and gear-shift knobs to fuel pumps and fender decals. Its inventory includes unused, vintage items, referred to in the industry as new old stock, or NOS for short, as well as items that are reproduced by aftermarket companies or that Strange makes in a basement shop.


Because the parts no longer are being produced by a factory in large quantities, and their availability is limited, they can be quite expensive. For example, a spark plug wire set for a Boss 429 typically sells for about $500 and an original Boss 429 battery can go for up to $2,000. Prices for Boss 429 Autolite engines, meanwhile, can range from $12,000 to $20,000, depending on how theyre equipped.


Strange declines to disclose Boss Performances annual revenues, but says they typically are in the five digits, and he adds, If we wanted to jump in with both feet, it would be adequate to live on.


He and other family members devote a lot of time and energy to the automotive enterprise, which he describes as a hobby gone wild, but he also is part owner of BPS Supply Co., a Spokane-based building materials wholesaler.


That company, founded by his late father, Bruce Strange, in 1965, now distributes du Pont-brand Corian and Zodiaq countertop products in five states. His mother, Mary Strange, and one of his brothers, Jeff Strange, are the other part-owners of that company, and another brother, Dave Strange, and a sister, Rita Courtney, also are active in the business.


Strange says his familys wholesale-business background influenced the development and growth of his Mustang-related hobby activities. Early on, he says, he finagled dealer status with Shelby Autosport, a California-based parts supplier started by automotive legend Carroll Shelby, so he could buy high-performance Mustang parts at wholesale prices.


After buying his first Boss 429 in 1971, he began drag racing and competing at car shows, and soon also was buying parts from Ford Motor Co. and from Holman-Moody, Fords race-car division, which later was shut down.


Stranges fascination with the Boss 429 stemmed from the fact that it was a limited-production, high-performance car. Only 1,359 Boss 429s were built, all during 1969, for 1969 and 1970 model runs, he says. He adds that only five Boss 429s were delivered to Spokane over those two years, and he and his wife owned three of them.


They were hard to get, and you didnt see them often, he says.


Ford and Kar-Kraft, an affiliate company that hand-assembled the cars at a plant in Brighton, Mich., developed the model solely as a way to qualify the cars engine for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) competition, Strange say.


It was basically a race engine de-tuned for the street, he says.


Most Boss 429 parts became obsolete within five to seven years after the model was produced, forcing enthusiasts to seek them out from sources other than Ford, which led to his startup of Boss Performance, Strange says. Then, in the early 1980s, muscle car values jumped in response to surging demand from Japanese collectors and others, turning what had been a hobby network into a full-fledged industry, he says.


Strange published a book about the Boss 429 in 1981basically, he says, to clear up some misinformation about the car. In 1985, he published a revised, full-color edition, complete with color photographs he painstakingly tracked down at Ford headquarters in Dearborn, Mich.


In addition to selling Mustang parts, accessories, and collectible items, Boss Performance serves as a resource for enthusiasts, such as helping them confirm engine and vehicle identification numbers, and receives probably 40 to 50 e-mails a day, Strange says.


The company set up a Web site, at www.bossperformance.com, about five years ago, and since then has seen its business and its ability to communicate with Mustang buffs rise markedly, he says.


Now weve got contacts all over the world. The Internet is a fabulous tool for collector-car buffs, he says.


Strange started a Boss 429 World Registry in 1974, through which he has tracked down the owners and locations of about 850 of the cars, and he maintains an extensive historical archive devoted to the preservation and promotion of the car.


A longtime member and six-time president of Spokanes Gents Auto Club, Strange says he has owned six Boss 429s and at least a dozen Mustangs over the years, including a 1966 Shelby GT-350 and a 1970 Boss 302.


He currently owns three Mustangs, including a 1969 model Royal Maroon Boss 429 that he acquired in 1979 and a 1970 model Grabber Orange Boss 429 (with only 979 miles on the odometer) that he bought a couple of years ago.


It still is a new car, he says.


His other Mustang is the Candyapple Red Mach 1 that he bought new in 1970.


He met his wife while in that car, which gives it some added sentimental value, he says, noting with a wry smile that she also owned and was driving a Mustang at that time.


All three cars sit in the spacious, immaculately clean garage at the Stranges homesurrounded by displays of some of the many products Boss Performance sellsand look to be in mint condition.


Strange describes all three as being museum-quality, national-caliber cars. He declines to estimate what theyre worth, saying theyre not for sale, but adds that the current market value for an exceptional Boss 429 is about $100,000.


Boss Performances revenue potential would seem to be limited by the small number of Boss 429s that were produced.


Strange says, though, that aftermarket manufacturers today are producing cylinder blocks, cylinder heads, and valve covers for Boss 429 engines, creating the potential for many more engines to be built, including for street rods, kit cars, and race cars.


A lot of those engines need detail parts, and thats where we come in, he asserts. This hobby is just as strong as ever, and getting bigger.