Little Red is Found?

[David Hawkins]

So Cool.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/7ed947ad-10d5-37bd-94d0-aaa5954c7af0/ss_'little-red'-1967-ford.html

[Mongoose]

Hey guy, very cool find, and thanks for posting it for all of us to see!     

Later!             "MONGOOSE"           

[svtkeith]

10 hours ago, tesgt350 said:

So Cool.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/7ed947ad-10d5-37bd-94d0-aaa5954c7af0/ss_'little-red'-1967-ford.html

 

If true this is one heck of a find....very cool!!

[mhr1961]

It does look like it's Little Red and I am not saying it is not, however , I'm not buying the entire "back story", the photos showing where they say it sat there in that field for the past 25 years seems a little suspect. There is very little over growth around the car, there is nothing growing up through the engine bay and if that thing sat in a field in Texas for 25 years I can about guarantee you it would have a much heavier coat of dust on it than it has in the photos. Hell I had a car in climate controlled storage for 3 years in Texas that had more dust on it than that car in the pictures.  In a couple of the pics you can also see where they kicked up some brush and foliage against the tires and I have never seen a car sit in a field for more than a few years before the tires went flat. 

Edited August 18, 2018 by mhr1961

[John Canfield]

Even though Kevin Marti has documented the car, I'm a bit suspicious as well. Sounds like last years Bullitt find in Baja, but you never know. It had to end up somewhere, if the crusher didn't get it. Equally 'interesting' is that the person who has the Green Hornet ends up with it's twin, Lil Red. But I guess persistence can pay off, especially if you have the funds to make your own luck.

Edited August 18, 2018 by falcongtho3

[John Canfield]

Duplicate

Edited August 18, 2018 by falcongtho3

[twobjshelbys]

You can be jolly well sure that if Craig Jackson bought the car that it is the real deal...   He already owns the Green Hornet.  GH didn't sell for 1.9M (didn't meet reserve), so I wonder what the pair will now bring?

[mhr1961]

6 hours ago, twobjshelbys said:

You can be jolly well sure that if Craig Jackson bought the car that it is the real deal...   He already owns the Green Hornet.  GH didn't sell for 1.9M (didn't meet reserve), so I wonder what the pair will now bring?

 I tend to agree that it is the real deal, but c’mon, look at the photos, there is just something off about them relative to the story. And I realize it may just be hype to build a back story. I have pulled a couple of old mustangs out of fields and I can tell you that if they have been sitting in the same place in an un-kept field more than 3 to 5 years there is going to be all kinds of stuff growing out of them. I pulled a 1964 ½ mustang (one of the first one hundred ever built) out of a field in 1977 and the car had a 3” to 4” diameter tree growing out through a hole in the passenger side floor board and out the passenger window and the brush and crap around it was way more than in those photos. Great that they found an important Mustang/Shelby  but the photos just don't seem to match what they claim. Maybe they moved it around and cleaned it up a bit for a photo op..........who knows....... when there is millions on the line...........hopefully more facts will come out soon.

Edited August 19, 2018 by mhr1961

[twobjshelbys]

57 minutes ago, mhr1961 said:

 I have pulled a couple of old mustangs out of fields and I can tell you that if they have been sitting in the same place in an un-kept field more than 3 to 5 years there is going to be all kinds of stuff growing out of them.

The only thing that grows taller than cactus in Texas (and the southwest in general) is a pile of longhorn steer c***.  

Edited August 18, 2018 by twobjshelbys

[mhr1961]

yeah and those photos don't even have the cactus or the steer c***............car was located near the DFW area, not exactly cactus country......

Edited August 19, 2018 by mhr1961

[shelbymann1970]

My take? I saw the car yesterday and know all involved parties but Craig Jackson. I have no reason to believe  my friends are lying to me. I know the whole story from Jason how they found it and what led him to go find it( they had the list of Ford prototype Shelbys from 67-69). If you see how the sprayed roof has baked off it is real patina for that climate. Jason did a lot of work and using social media had a lot of luck to find the owner of this car. Since he was restoring the green hornet he naturally asked Craig if he was interested in this car. Rumor has it Jackson  at this time wants it restored to "bling" which means supercharged instead of dual 4s. Jason has restored the black prototype 69 Gt500 vert that Tony King owns and will  be doing the other 2 known 69 prototypes for Tony. The car was actually located in the middle of nowhere at a dead end road. He actually saw part of the car in a facebook pic of potential owners in the background and he messaged the owner. The guy's FB profile showed him in an electric Mustang "peddle" car as a youth and that prompted Jason to look at the guy's other pics and noticed what appeared to be a Mustang in the background which turned out to be little red. . 

[svtkeith]

2 hours ago, shelbymann1970 said:

My take? I saw the car yesterday and know all involved parties but Craig Jackson. I have no reason to believe  my friends are lying to me. I know the whole story from Jason how they found it and what led him to go find it( they had the list of Ford prototype Shelbys from 67-69). If you see how the sprayed roof has baked off it is real patina for that climate. Jason did a lot of work and using social media had a lot of luck to find the owner of this car. Since he was restoring the green hornet he naturally asked Craig if he was interested in this car. Rumor has it Jackson  at this time wants it restored to "bling" which means supercharged instead of dual 4s. Jason has restored the black prototype 69 Gt500 vert that Tony King owns and will  be doing the other 2 known 69 prototypes for Tony. The car was actually located in the middle of nowhere at a dead end road. He actually saw part of the car in a facebook pic of potential owners in the background and he messaged the owner. The guy's FB profile showed him in an electric Mustang "peddle" car as a youth and that prompted Jason to look at the guy's other pics and noticed what appeared to be a Mustang in the background which turned out to be little red. . 

 

There is always going to be professional doubters that think they know everything about anything and they'll have opinions of course...I'll go no further than that.

If indeed you know these people personally then you know what they found is for real and not a publicity stunt...can't wait to see it restored to it's original condition.

it's a huge part of Shelby history glad it was found and not destroyed.

[shelbymann1970]

I also know real VS fake when it comes to apron stamps. Not only are they real on this car and never messed with the DS has dual stamps which I have seen numerous times. The owner of this car contacted SAAC(which I have belonged to since 1990) in the early 90s saying he had "little Red". They blew him off saying it was crushed. Why wasn't the car found sooner? Well everyone looked for the Shelby assigned VIN which never made it on the car because the car was shipped back to Ford supposedly to be crushed. It carries 7R01Sxxxxxx vin which even though no Q in the VIN it received the 428 8V. While going thru the paperwork on the Green Hornet they ran across documentation showing all the Shelby prototypes and VIN for 67-69. On it was what turned out to be little red. Also it has a spray on roof like a rhino shield which is almost gone so it looked like a vinyl top in photos. The rear roof prototype emblems and also where the snakes were mounted are exact to the Green hornet. Shelby under dash gauges are all pitted up. rear seat is Connolly leather and fronts were reupholstered. The prototype front valance and header are there and broken from an accident decades ago . I believe the owner kept the car believing it was the Shelby prototype coupe even though the Shelby experts told him that it was crushed. I know the owner of the Vert and FB ordered along with little red. Those 3 will eventually be displayed together once little red is restored. Also they know from documents and first hand knowledge that little red was repainted Ferrari red back then. This car is severely faded but Jason rubbed out one spot on the quarter panel to reveal it's Ferrari red and the door jambs remain its original candy apple red. All this and the damaged parts in the car convinced me 100 percent this car is REAL. 

[shelbymann1970]

a good read of documents of Shelby American and cars those first 3 GT500s. All red, all automatics. Shelby planned on offering 6 models in 1967 with the coupe and vert models coming out in the spring. http://www.1967shelbyconvertible.com/

[shel-b001]

On 8/18/2018 at 4:07 PM, mhr1961 said:

 I tend to agree that it is the real deal, but c’mon, look at the photos, there is just something off about them relative to the story. And I realize it may just be hype to build a back story. I have pulled a couple of old mustangs out of fields and I can tell you that if they have been sitting in the same place in an un-kept field more than 3 to 5 years there is going to be all kinds of stuff growing out of them. I pulled a 1964 ½ mustang (one of the first one hundred ever built) out of a field in 1977 and the car had a 3” to 4” diameter tree growing out through a hole in the passenger side floor board and out the passenger window and the brush and crap around it was way more than in those photos. Great that they found an important Mustang/Shelby  but the photos just don't seem to match what they claim. Maybe they moved it around and cleaned it up a bit for a photo op..........who knows....... when there is millions on the line...........hopefully more facts will come out soon.

Ya they did cut so growth away according to Craig when I talk to him, I also ask him the the time line to restore it & he said it will take a few years , as they are trying to find out if there are any more parts of the car still out there before starting. Who knows someone may still have the engine & tranny not knowing what they have.

 

[mhr1961]

2 minutes ago, shelby001 said:

Ya they did cut so growth away according to Craig when I talk to him, I also ask him the the time line to restore it & he said it will take a few years , as they are trying to find out if there are any more parts of the car still out there before starting. Who knows someone may still have the engine & tranny not knowing what they have.

 

Thanks for clarifying, I don’t think anybody is in doubt about the car being real and I never said or implied it was not real. All I was saying is that the pictures of the car didn’t look like a car that had been sitting in the exact same place for 25 years. It looked like it had been moved perhaps to be easier to photograph or to get clearer photos. I never, nor did anyone else ever say it was a hoax or publicity stunt either so I don’t know where that BS comment was coming from. Nor did I say that it did not look like it was stored outside. I have just never seen a car sit in a field undisturbed for 25 years and there be air in all four tires and no fauna growing up and through the engine bay and underneath the car and was just stating that in the photos supplied it looked like it had been moved. Again, thanks for clarification.

[David Hawkins]

2 hours ago, shelbymann1970 said:

I also know real VS fake when it comes to apron stamps. Not only are they real on this car and never messed with the DS has dual stamps which I have seen numerous times. The owner of this car contacted SAAC(which I have belonged to since 1990) in the early 90s saying he had "little Red". They blew him off saying it was crushed. Why wasn't the car found sooner? Well everyone looked for the Shelby assigned VIN which never made it on the car because the car was shipped back to Ford supposedly to be crushed. It carries 7R01Sxxxxxx vin which even though no Q in the VIN it received the 428 8V. While going thru the paperwork on the Green Hornet they ran across documentation showing all the Shelby prototypes and VIN for 67-69. On it was what turned out to be little red. Also it has a spray on roof like a rhino shield which is almost gone so it looked like a vinyl top in photos. The rear roof prototype emblems and also where the snakes were mounted are exact to the Green hornet. Shelby under dash gauges are all pitted up. rear seat is Connolly leather and fronts were reupholstered. The prototype front valance and header are there and broken from an accident decades ago . I believe the owner kept the car believing it was the Shelby prototype coupe even though the Shelby experts told him that it was crushed. I know the owner of the Vert and FB ordered along with little red. Those 3 will eventually be displayed together once little red is restored. Also they know from documents and first hand knowledge that little red was repainted Ferrari red back then. This car is severely faded but Jason rubbed out one spot on the quarter panel to reveal it's Ferrari red and the door jambs remain its original candy apple red. All this and the damaged parts in the car convinced me 100 percent this car is REAL. 

The VIN# is 7R01S133947

 

[shel-b001]

4 hours ago, mhr1961 said:

Thanks for clarifying, I don’t think anybody is in doubt about the car being real and I never said or implied it was not real. All I was saying is that the pictures of the car didn’t look like a car that had been sitting in the exact same place for 25 years. It looked like it had been moved perhaps to be easier to photograph or to get clearer photos. I never, nor did anyone else ever say it was a hoax or publicity stunt either so I don’t know where that BS comment was coming from. Nor did I say that it did not look like it was stored outside. I have just never seen a car sit in a field undisturbed for 25 years and there be air in all four tires and no fauna growing up and through the engine bay and underneath the car and was just stating that in the photos supplied it looked like it had been moved. Again, thanks for clarification.

Your probably right about the clean up & putting air in the tires .

[David Hawkins]

1 hour ago, shelby001 said:

Your probably right about the clean up & putting air in the tires .

I will bet that taking Photos was an after thought and someone said they should have taken Photos when they walked up on it so they took the Photos a bit late.

 

[mhr1961]

1 hour ago, tesgt350 said:

I will bet that taking Photos was an after thought and someone said they should have taken Photos when they walked up on it so they took the Photos a bit late.

 

Alrightythen, a super rare Shelby, one of the rarest ever……… is miraculously found “in the wild” , they say on their website that they want historical accuracy and input from the public, ok then……they knew well in advance that this was most likely “little red”, they knew the historical significance of this car in advance , there were multiple “experts” involved who knew of the significance of this car in advance …….. this car is basically the car equivalent of finding king tuts tomb. They evidently had the forethought to have a video crew onsite because there is footage online of the “discovery” of them walking up to a red mustang in a field with the brush already cleared away………. yet somehow, miraculously in this day and age of everybody over ten years old having a cell phone equipped with a camera in their pocket, that somehow, someway…….absolutely nobody had the forethought to go gee, we better take a picture to publish to the public and for historical accuracy so we can show how this car has really “sat” for 25 years on a farm in the middle of nowhere………. and nobody in advance thought , wow, we better take a picture of how it actually sat before we pump up the tires and clear the brush and fauna away or touch anything”……yeah sure………ok…..........hopefully more details and pictures will be forthcoming to explain further because this is indeed an important piece of Shelby history.

Edited August 21, 2018 by mhr1961

[twobjshelbys]

The people doing  this are public relations pros.  why are you surprised that it's a show?

[David Hawkins]

11 hours ago, mhr1961 said:

Alrightythen, a super rare Shelby, one of the rarest ever……… is miraculously found “in the wild” , they say on their website that they want historical accuracy and input from the public, ok then……they knew well in advance that this was most likely “little red”, they knew the historical significance of this car in advance , there were multiple “experts” involved who knew of the significance of this car in advance …….. this car is basically the car equivalent of finding king tuts tomb. They evidently had the forethought to have a video crew onsite because there is footage online of the “discovery” of them walking up to a red mustang in a field with the brush already cleared away………. yet somehow, miraculously in this day and age of everybody over ten years old having a cell phone equipped with a camera in their pocket, that somehow, someway…….absolutely nobody had the forethought to go gee, we better take a picture to publish to the public and for historical accuracy so we can show how this car has really “sat” for 25 years on a farm in the middle of nowhere………. and nobody in advance thought , wow, we better take a picture of how it actually sat before we pump up the tires and clear the brush and fauna away or touch anything”……yeah sure………ok…..........hopefully more details and pictures will be forthcoming to explain further because this is indeed an important piece of Shelby history.

Yeah, I do.  It happens all the time.  Someone in the group could of had a Video Camera in his Hand when they first arrived and was in total awe with that "There it is" moment that the Camera was not even thought of.  It happens more than you think.

[shelbymann1970]

According to Jason Billups who I talked to on Saturday: Going over the green hornets extensive paperwork they found a document with all the Shelby prototypes thru 1969. On it was 7R01S. While everyone was searching for the assigned Shelby VIN for years nobody had searched THIS vin and I didn't ask who else had access to it. Craig had Jason search. Thru connections in a national data base a HIT of this vin came back in Wyoming in the early 90s. Now also with this VIN they knew it was sold new in Colorado to a returning Vietnam vet. He sold it to the Wyoming guy who was contacted and he sold it to another Wyoming guy who then moved to Texas. Now I am assuming Jason was given his name because Jason told me thru social media and such he found the guy on Facebook because his name showed an old pic in the profile as a little kid in a Mustang electric "peddle" car. He contacted the guy. The guy always felt he owned little red-possibly why it survived all these years-and when he contacted SAAC in 1994(?) they blew him off  because a expert verified LR was crushed when it was sent back to Ford. So it retained it's Ford VIN as it was never officially tagged with the assigned Shelby VIN. Ford  eventually shipped it to the Colorado dealer. Thank God Ford didn't crush many of their test vehicles and sold them used. So Jason went to look at the car. To him it was real. To me it is real and I have owned and restored enough to know real when I see it. So he contacts Craig who coordinates with Kevin Marti to verify the numbers. They all fly out with a documentary crew so ,yes, it was staged to document it.

 

Edited August 22, 2018 by shelbymann1970

[shelbymann1970]

Oh, yeah Jason searched the guy's pics he posted on FB  and in one of them he made out the front of this car as possibly being a Mustang in the background with other cars. Jason also told the guy he felt he had LR and everything was upfront and he found it in 3 days but took another 2 weeks before the owner let him see the car. 

Edited August 22, 2018 by shelbymann1970

[shelbymann1970]

Oh, yeah Jason searched the guy's pics he posted on FB  and in one of them he made out the front of this car as possibly being a Mustang in the background with other cars. Jason also told the guy he felt he had LR and everything was upfront and he found it in 3 days but took another 2 weeks before the owner let him see the car. check out the interior: 67 door panels. 68 Shelby dash woodgrain. 68 Shelby steering wheel. 67 Shelby SW gauges. 68 Console lid

[Larry T]

Super cool car ... maybe one day I will have my own barn find.

[svtkeith]

 

Cool story and cool pics...amazing find and very important to the Shelby GT500 history.

[07gt500conv]

It is a great story, glad I was there when it was unveiled.

[shel-b001]

3 hours ago, 07gt500conv said:

It is a great story, glad I was there when it was unveiled.

Same here was a great night & what a surprise to see this Shelby find. Did you get one of the numbered cards of Little Red ? The ones they handed out at the dinner was the only box that were numbered..

Edited August 23, 2018 by shelby001

[07gt500conv]

4 hours ago, shelby001 said:

Same here was a great night & what a surprise to see this Shelby find. Did you get one of the numbered cards of Little Red ? The ones they handed out at the dinner was the only box that were numbered..

Yes I got one and signed