Was It Real?

[Iggy]

Back in 1975 I purchased what I believe to have been a partially stripped '66 Shelby GT-350.

I'll explain......

The car had the correct functional rear brake scoops. The quarter windows were properly installed. The body was striped correctly with the tapered centerline strpes and side and rear markings. The engine was a HiPo with correct Shelby intake, headers, oil pan, valve covers. The front suspension was lowered with new upper control arm mounting points. Rear suspension had the Traction Master traction bars welded in place. The interior was all black with the wood streeing wheel and correct horn button. The original intrument panel had been swapped out for a competion flat panel with Stewart Warner gages and Cobra tachometer (I've seen photos of this accessory and it matched what I had). The car also had manual steering with manual Kelsey-Hayes disc brakes.

Everything about it screamed SHELBY.

 

There were a few exceptions....

The hood was an aftermarket lift-off fibrglass with a '67 style scoop.

The original Autolite carb was swapped for a 750 Holley double-pump.

The 9" rear differntial had been replaced with an 8". The rear end had new u-bolts and nuts.

The trans was not a Borg-Warner but a Top Loader with Hurst Competition Plus shifter.. Not sure if the Borg-Warner trans was used in '66. ID tag on trans indicated it was pulled from a 429 Mustang.

And biggest item....the Shelby American ID tag was missing from the left front fender, but the mounting holes were there. I have owned several '65 and '66 Mustangs to know that there are no holes in that location from the factory.

 

Dispite the obvious missing/altered items I still believe the car was once a Shelby. I say this because back in the late 60's and early 70's who would have taken the time and money to modify a '66 Muastng to look like a Shelby when they were going for pennies on the dollar on used car lots? The dealer I bought it from didn't even know what a Shelby was. He thought it was just a hot-rodded Mustang.

 

 

What do all think?

[07SGT4578]

what was the VIN, with the VIN number it could be cross referenced.

[springer]

Sounds genuine with a few alterations. The carb was originally a S2MS prefix Shelby Holley carb but could have slipped thru production with the Ford carb. How about the intake, was it aluminum? I know in 1968, many of the GT 350's came with the cast iron intake with Autolite carb

 

I'm with you though, there weren't many fakes, or any that I ever saw, back during that time frame. Many other Mustangs were more popular back then than the 65-66 Shelbys that would beat you to death. I purchased my first Mustang back in 1973 and didn't really get into the performance Mustangs until the later part of the 1970's when the Shelbys were becoming more of a collector item.

 

Many of the early Shelbys were modified right out of the box like they are now. The '66 Shelby could have come with a top loader, but as you noted, yours was obviously changed. Same for the rear end. Somewhere, somebody probably "blew-up" the tranny/rear end and it was replaced.

 

Sounds like you found a winner back then.

[Iggy]

07SG4578,

Thanks! If I can locate any of the old registrations I'll ge the VIN number.

 

Springer,

Yes the intake was aluminum with the word SHELBY cast into it just behind the thermostat boss. I believe it also had a FORD part number cast into it.

The carb had to have been added later. It was too big for the motor. It ran so rich it caused high-speed glazing of the plugs. It wouldn't run on anything less than 260 SUNOCO.

The rear end was a real headache. It had 3.00 ratio gears and the first gear ratio in the trans was too low, numerically, causing the clutch to chatter. Once I swapped the 3.00 for 4.11 that problem went away. Would have swapped in a 9" rear if I could have found one.

One day a guy stopped in my place of work and offered to sell me an aluminum dual-quad intake with Holley carbs, linkage, and an oval air cleaner for 100.00. I looked at it and there was a complete Shelby aftermarket intake setup. Needless to say I jumped on it. I did install it but could never get it to run right. I sold to a guy.

 

 

 

I can still remeber the first time I saw it. I knew what it was right away and I had to have it. Love at first sight.

Dark midnight blue metalic with white stripes. The color looked black in anything but full sunlight.

It was a mechanical wreck at first. Took me a month to get it road ready. Even then it was a constant work-in-progress. It was worth evey minute.

That car took me on many nights of cruzing, street races, dates, and just plain fun.

 

This was one car that got away.

I blew the engine going to work one morning, spun two rod bearings and a main due to loss of oil pressure. Had it towed it home and parked it. There it sat for 4 years. I had a long list of offers to buy it. One day I needed the money more than the car and sold it. I haven't stopped kicking myself since. That was 1983.

[springer]

Dark blue wasn't a color option for '66 Shelbys - was it repainted? Could it be sapphire blue?

[gth0007]

Back in 1975 I purchased what I believe to have been a partially stripped '66 Shelby GT-350.

I'll explain......

The car had the correct functional rear brake scoops. The quarter windows were properly installed. The body was striped correctly with the tapered centerline strpes and side and rear markings. The engine was a HiPo with correct Shelby intake, headers, oil pan, valve covers. The front suspension was lowered with new upper control arm mounting points. Rear suspension had the Traction Master traction bars welded in place. The interior was all black with the wood streeing wheel and correct horn button. The original intrument panel had been swapped out for a competion flat panel with Stewart Warner gages and Cobra tachometer (I've seen photos of this accessory and it matched what I had). The car also had manual steering with manual Kelsey-Hayes disc brakes.

Everything about it screamed SHELBY.

 

There were a few exceptions....

The hood was an aftermarket lift-off fibrglass with a '67 style scoop.

The original Autolite carb was swapped for a 750 Holley double-pump.

The 9" rear differntial had been replaced with an 8". The rear end had new u-bolts and nuts.

The trans was not a Borg-Warner but a Top Loader with Hurst Competition Plus shifter.. Not sure if the Borg-Warner trans was used in '66. ID tag on trans indicated it was pulled from a 429 Mustang.

And biggest item....the Shelby American ID tag was missing from the left front fender, but the mounting holes were there. I have owned several '65 and '66 Mustangs to know that there are no holes in that location from the factory.

 

Dispite the obvious missing/altered items I still believe the car was once a Shelby. I say this because back in the late 60's and early 70's who would have taken the time and money to modify a '66 Muastng to look like a Shelby when they were going for pennies on the dollar on used car lots? The dealer I bought it from didn't even know what a Shelby was. He thought it was just a hot-rodded Mustang.

 

 

What do all think?

 

 

 

Shelby American sold all of those parts aftermarket from the beginning with ads appearing in all of the auto magazines. The only way to be sure of authenticity is to contact the Shelby American Auto Club and give them the V.I.N. If I recall correctly, all 1965 and 1966 VINS and CSMs are known for those years. Also Shelby American built complete racing coupes, and did extensive work on many customer cars that were not officially Shelbys. A great book to get that has the entire history of the various racing and modified Mustangs is "Mustang Race Cars" by Dr. John Craft. The neat book has tons of photos and little known facts about Shelby's involvement in TransAM and Group ll cars. The book is available on Amazon and auto-book sites.

[Iggy]

Repaint? Anything's possible.

I looked at several photos of Shelby's that were Saphire Blue.....definitely not the color mine was. Way too bright.

Picture the deepest darkest blue you could imagine, two or three shades lighter than black, with a lite metalic content. At night or overcast days people thought it was black.

I was definitely laquer paint. Color faded quickly. Had to wax it weekly to keep from turning a hazy blue/purple.

Thinking back it may just have been painted. I reacall rough paint along the inner edges of the front fenders, trunk area and inside the rear brake scoops.

[Cali_KR]

As mentioned in post #6, contact the Shelby American Automobile Club, specifically Howard Pardee, he is the registrar for the 65-66's and they have the most concise database on the vintage cars,

 

Howards saac email is, 65-66registrar@saac.com

 

here is the link of all of the contacts,

 

http://www.saac.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=114&Itemid=94

 

Good Luck!

[racingdivision]

Regardless of the Shelby VIN tag missing there should be another stamp of the Shelby VIN on the passenger side apron about halfway down even with the middle of the valve cover. Also the Ford VIN has to start with 6R09K, unless it is an early carry over car in which it would start with 5R09K.

 

Michael Holmes, RPS

Racing Division INC

[Iggy]

Thanks guys for all tips and hints.

I never knew about all the little places to look for numbers.

 

Too bad I don't own the vehicle anymore. Best I can do now is hunt for for an old registration copy to get the VIN.

If I can't find a copy of the registration I wonder if I could contact the state motor vehicle department and get the VIN through them? Naaa....I doubt any state, let alone Jersey, would be that cooperative.

[springer]

Thanks guys for all tips and hints.

I never knew about all the little places to look for numbers.

 

Too bad I don't own the vehicle anymore. Best I can do now is hunt for for an old registration copy to get the VIN.

If I can't find a copy of the registration I wonder if I could contact the state motor vehicle department and get the VIN through them? Naaa....I doubt any state, let alone Jersey, would be that cooperative.

 

Iggy, sounds like a repaint as Ford never used lacquer back then, they painted with acrylic enamel. I've owned two of the dark blue Mustangs from back then, one was a '65 convertible and the other was a '66 convertible. The color is a very dark blue metallic and would look black at night.

[mhr1961]

Most likely the paint color you guys are talking about is called "Nightmist Blue". It was a Mustang Color option offered in 1966 and 1967. The paint code is "K" on the tag. Back in the late 70's I owned a 1967 GTA Fastback in Nightmist Blue "K" Code Color and it also had the K Code HiPo engine. An awesome car that I wish I still owned. The Nightmist Blue was a nice deep blue metallic during the day and it did look almost black at night. The 1966 Shelby GT350's if I recall correctly had available as a standard color known as Sapphire Blue which was several shades lighter than Nightmist Blue. But didnt Shelby back in the day offer custom paint colors to certain people on a one off basis?

 

ps: The nightmist blue wasnt a very popular color option back in the day but I always thought it was one of the best colors because of the car always looked different depending on how the sunlight hit it during the day. It would be a cool color to offer on the current crop of Mustangs/Shelbys.

[springer]

Most likely the paint color you guys are talking about is called "Nightmist Blue". It was a Mustang Color option offered in 1966 and 1967. The paint code is "K" on the tag. Back in the late 70's I owned a 1967 GTA Fastback in Nightmist Blue "K" Code Color and it also had the K Code HiPo engine. An awesome car that I wish I still owned. The Nightmist Blue was a nice deep blue metallic during the day and it did look almost black at night. The 1966 Shelby GT350's if I recall correctly had available as a standard color known as Sapphire Blue which was several shades lighter than Nightmist Blue. But didnt Shelby back in the day offer custom paint colors to certain people on a one off basis?

 

ps: The nightmist blue wasn't a very popular color option back in the day but I always thought it was one of the best colors because of the car always looked different depending on how the sunlight hit it during the day. It would be a cool color to offer on the current crop of Mustangs/Shelbys.

 

 

Shelby called their blue cars guardsman blue, which I believe was the sapphire blue we mentioned earlier - at least that is what it reads in my old "Shelby Buyer's Guide" by Rick Kopec. The stripes were also called guardsman blue on the white cars. My "How to Paint Your Mustang" book by Jerry Heasley calls the blue color for the 1966 Shelby sapphire blue. Go figure!

[shel-b001]

Check the steering box tag it will be different #as they were a quick ratio box also check behind the rear seat there should be two triangular pieces welded to each side of the tunnel to give extra support. If you get the vin I can look it up in my registery.

[cobrakidz]

Sounds like it was still a nice car. I have had quite a few cars I should have kept too.

[Iggy]

Of all the cars I've owned this is the one I miss the most.

It was fast, it was sharp, there wasn't another like it in my town. As I cruised the beach and boardwalk areas peopole would stop me and comment on how cool it was. Everyone knew my car.....even the police.

 

I did a lot of street racing back then. Camaros, Mustangs, and small block Chevells were easy targets. That little 289 would run door to door with a 383 Dodge/Plymouth. I'd give the guys running big block Chevys fits. I couldn't beat them but I'd be right behind them nipping at their heels. A 440 Dodge/Plymouth was the same. The one car I had a tough time with was the 340 Dodge Dart. They were light and quick. My buddy had a red '69 440 Road Runner auto trans. We raced one day for fun. We were door to door going through the gears. Once I hit fourth gear he looked over at me blew the horn, "BEEP BEEP", punched it and left me behind. Kind felt like Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.

I had quite a reputation. Guys would come from other towns to run me. I'd see the same guys in different cars each weekend. Got stupid after a while.

 

I stopped racing after a very close call. Almost hit an elderly couple driving slow that pulled out in front of me. Avoiding them I almost hit two guys hitch hiking on side of the road. Nobody was hurt, just scared the hell out of us all. I haven't raced since. Too old for that stuff now anyway.

 

Before you all jump on me for street racing, the early-mid 70's were a different time. The town I lived in was quiet and small. The main road was six lanes wide with a two lane wide grass meadian and shoulders that are close to full lane wide. This route took tourists straight to the beach. Couldn't race in the summer, way too much traffic. In the fall/winter/spring we had the town to ourselves. The surrounding areas were mostly woods and long straight back roads. No homes for miles. We could race out there and nobody cared. Not even the cops. I was very lucky, never got caught racing.

Today I wouldn't dream of reacing on the street. I see the reports of kids and spectators killed. I oppose street racing today.