NEWPORT -- Tom Goddard is a tall, bespectacled real estate manager from Newport’s leafy Bellevue Avenue neighborhood. His demeanor is reserved.

But don’t let the sheep’s clothing fool you.

When the door to the well-appointed garage-workshop behind his house opens, a throaty growl heralds the real Goddard in his dramatic Grabber Orange 1970 Boss 302 Mustang.

To call Goddard a car nut is an understatement. He’s car crazy and spent his early and middle years working on race car teams in various capacities — mechanic, crew chief, team manager and constructor.

“I’ve always been fascinated with cars,” he said. “I had my first car when I was 9 and taught myself how to drive on farm roads in (South County).”

Goddard spent a year in high school at Stowe, a famous British private school, and graduated with a degree in American Studies from Marlboro College in Vermont.

He taught high school for a year before answering the call of the track, where he spent the next 20 years involved in motor racing, mostly with the single-seat, open-wheel race cars in the Formula B, now Formula Atlantic, Division of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA).

Goddard said he got involved through an older brother. “He was much older and I worked with him and migrated into the racing industry,” he said. At one point, he said, he was crew chief of a team with four cars, one of which his brother drove, that raced at tracks around the country.

It was during this time that he became familiar with the muscle cars in the Trans-Am Series, especially the Boss 302 Mustang.

The SCCA Trans-Am Series was created in 1966 as the Trans-American Sedan Championship and featured racing versions of road cars. It was divided into two classes — an “Under 2 Liter” class made up of European sedans, and an “Over 2 Liter” class made up of cars limited to displacements of 5.0 liters or 305 cubic inches.

The late 1960s and early 1970s marked the series’ high point when classic muscle cars like the Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro, Plymouth Barracuda, AMC Javelin and Dodge Challenger vied for top honors. The Pontiac Trans-Am was named for the series.

In 1970, Ford’s Bud Moore Boss 302 Mustangs driven by Parnelli Jones and George Follmer wrested first place from the Chaparral Chevy Camaro Z28 team. That year is considered the high point of the entire series.

“In 1971, the cars were getting huge and the factories were getting out of racing,” Goddard said. “The Boss 302 represents the heyday.”

So when he said, “I got to know these cars and needed to have one,” that’s putting it mildly. His Boss 302 Mustang is a classic, arguably the most celebrated muscle car of all time.

Goddard said his brother bought the car in 1974 — when it was metallic lime green — and used it as a daily driver for a number of years before storing it. “He put it in a barn for 25 years before I bought it from him,” he said. “It’s never been hit; it was in good shape.”

While the car is ostensibly a Boss 302 Mustang, Goddard modified it in his workshop — where he is currently working on a 1949 Hiram Hillegass Sprint Car. Most significantly, he took out the stock Boss 302 engine, which is stored under a workbench, and replaced it with a 342R Roush engine with 450 horsepower and 420 foot-pounds of torque.

“It’s got more horsepower and torque than the original engine,” he said. “This is an engine you can flog and you don’t really care too much.”

He said the car has a 5-speed transmission and its top speed is about 140 mph, but added, “These cars really get scary over 120 mph.”

He has also added a welded sub-frame roll bar and rear sub-frame connectors, which, he admitted, would be difficult to reverse.

“Everything else is pretty much of a bolt-on,” he said, citing race suspension brakes, 18-inch wheels and a Moser rear axle. He also pushed the seats back and made them deeper for more comfort.

Goddard said he got out of working with race teams in the mid-1970s, but continued to work on cars, doing both mechanical and restoration work. “I kept my race shop open,” he said.

For 10 years he also worked as a car dealer — “that’s where old racers go to die” — while working at the family real estate company, Brown & Ives Land Company, LLC, in Providence.

“All the car stuff I do now is for myself,” he said.

He said he and his wife, Lisa — they have three grown children — have taken the Boss 302 Mustang on vintage rallies all over New England, upstate New York and eastern Canada. He said the rallies typically raise money for charity, particularly for families of veterans and police officers who are in need.

Goddard said he drives while his wife navigates. “She’s a great navigator,” he said, noting that she comes from a long line of Naval officers; indeed the car has a NAVY frame on its rear license plate.

Asked whether his bright orange muscle car might seem out of place in this gilded neighborhood, Goddard smiled. “It seems like a tea-drinking, bird-watching kind of society, but you’d be surprised at the cars people have in their garages here,” he said.

And as for that color, Grabber Orange?

“It’s the only color that a Boss 302 can be,” he said.

Auto Biography is a feature that tells an interesting story about a car and its driver. If you think you have a newsworthy story to tell about your car, write to Auto Biography, Features Department, The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St. Providence RI 02902 or e-mail projocars@projo.com. Be sure to put “Auto Biography” in the subject field.

The car doesn’t have to be a classic or expensive, but it should be somehow unique. The driver must be willing to be interviewed by a reporter about what makes this car special and to be photographed with the car.

pelsworth@projo.com