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Thanks! The paint on my that XT4 is called “Atlantic Blue” and it is amazing! The metallic really pops in the sunlight and there is zero orange peel in the finish- it’s dead flat. Cadillac has really upped their game!
Bringing this to present times I’d have a hard time choosing between a new gt350 and a stingray. (I’m not into superchargers, don’t know why everybody is so crazy about them now)
On the originals I like all Shelbys, but if I could buy one I’d stick to pre 68 small blocks, I think using the 428 instead of the 427 was a significant mistake that softened the brand so much it eventually disappeared, ironicaly it was chosen to make the car more affordable, but at the end they were still very expensive and a lot tamer, kind of a luxurious overscooped mustang, the racing genes were lost.
Dealer installed 427 engine....Okay....What did I win???!!...Mark
Well, I tried to be clear that you could see it in the photos so this is not one of the cars with a dealer installed 427 side oiler. Another purpose of my post was to help Frankie the Fink get educated since he obviously does not know anything about Shelby's which I noticed from his comments about the cars. Frankie may know Vettes but I know Fords having spent a good portion of the 1970's as a mechanic at my local Ford Dealer.
So here is the riddle as to what makes this car special. If you look at the hood you will see that there is a louver next to the main hood scoop. Late 1967's saw those louvers a little more often (still rare) because the 428 with two Holley four barrels (the Frankie the Fink Grocery Getter motor) was a big heat producer. These vents were added to the cars to help with the heat although out of the production of about 3000 cars only about 700 got louvers. This car, however, does not say GT500 in the grill which tells you that something is off because most cars have the GT500 logo. By the way it has a "Z" on the Vin which tells you a little more of its history.
The absence of the GT500 on the grill coupled with the addition of the louvers is because this is a factory air conditioned big block which is why they came out with the louvered hood. According to the Marti Report there were only 13 red GT500's with factory air produced in 1967 which makes this a very rare car. Now add to the fact that this car has scoop side markers would tell the Shelby experts that this is one of one because side scoop lights stopped pretty earlier. At the end of the day if it is a Frankie the Fink grocery getter I can tell you that it is a heck of a lot of fun to run to the local store. I have a 65 GT350 and it is not near as much fun to drive because there is something totally anti AOC to hear eight barrels kick in. I don't want to give up my petroleum life. Over and out.
I LIKE the Porsche 356 & the Mustang Mach 1....is the Mach 1 a 1971 with Ram Air painted in "Bright Blue Poly"?...I have a "Highly Optioned" ( $3,088.00 base price with $1,100.00 worth of Dealership added factory options)...a "1" of "1" 1973 Mach 1 351 4V....4 speed according to the Marti Report....
Is the Porsche 356 a 1956 in Sahara Beige?....Rare Color!.....Mark
Paxton supercharger version? Inner Headlights moved outboard from original center position for more cooling, and hood scoops.
Never saw a Paxton supercharger on a GT500 but I would be happy to be educated on that. You are right that the lights were switched from inboard to outboard to comply with the States that would not allow headlights to be that close together. By the way this car has a "Z" on the vin tag to show that it was converted from inside lights to outside lights by Shelby after its initial assembly.
In ‘67 the cool inner headlights were moved outboard due to our friendly government. I’ve restored almost two dozen mustangs over the years. All but two were 65-68. In stock form they look nice, but are hardly performance cars. Even the highly regarded Z code hipo engine with 271hp of solid lifter terror was mild compared to over vehicles of the day. Plus, the unibody is completely tack welded together and requires significant work to make rigid and reliable as a performance vehicle. Adding torque boxes, sub frame connectors, etc, etc, etc. are required at minimum. No competition.
Real Shelbys are Wimbleton White with blue LeMans stripes IMO...
Once Hertz started doing the "Rent A Racer" thing they started being just "cars"...
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to own any of them up through 1968, but at that point they are what they are...
At least Eric's car doesn't have the side-by-side California-mandated fog lights - those look plain silly to me..
Frankie, the lights in the grill in 1967 were not fog lights. The four lights are high beam/low beam and they were not California mandated. Unlike the stock Mustang the Shelby had to use four headlights because the headlight bucket went to a smaller diameter than the stock Mustang -- just study a stock Mustang light and it will be more obvious. The smaller light was used because they needed more room around the light as they lengthened the front end with the fiberglass extension. In 1968 Ford redesigned the front end to go back to single, and simpler, headlight design. In 1968 the lights in the grill were fog lights but my car is a 1967.
All cars were originally slated to have the inboard design until various state regulators determined much to Shelby's chagrin that there was a minimum spacing distance between headights. Some states allowed them for the first part of 1967. Other states stopped the sale of the cars because of the headlight issue. Later in production most of the cars had them moved to the outboard position. Some cars were "converted" while at Shelby American and for those cars that were converted they got a random "Z" hand stamped on the Shelby Vin Plate so that Shelby would know which position the lights were on a particular car. My car has the "Z" which is why it is an outboard car.
Shelby's decision to have the hi beam headlights inboard was a lot like why our 1963 SWC's have a split window -- it was different and cool. When you saw a 1967 Shelby with the inboard headlights it was instantly recognizable.
And, being an older guy (60), I can tell you that growing up in Cleveland during the 70's, the '63 SWC was not as desirable as any other mid year Corvette. No one wanted them as compared to the newer ones, the split didn't make it more desirable at that point, it had the opposite effect. It's only been in the last 15 or so years that (at least in OH) the SWC has taken off and commands bigger dollars now. I too wish I had bought a dozen '63s and just put them away. I also wish I had kept my '67 coupe too, or my '67 RS Camaro, or... Hindsight is...
03-20-2019, 08:32 PM
