Cordero Studios
Feature: Corralling a Thoroughbred
February 1, 2007
In 1630s Holland, a mass of vegetable matter known as the tulip bulb catapulted the Dutch economy into an upward spiral that stimulated the greed gland of the nation’s middle class. Many gave up livestock, farms, and life savings for a single flower bulb. By 1636, bulbs were trading on the Amsterdam stock exchange. Over the course of these few brief years, however, the obsession ran its course, and by 1637, the wreckage of a collapsed tulip market left thousands bankrupt and the economy in abject ruin.
Doomsayers will make inevitable comparisons to today’s U.S. muscle car market, given the stratospheric rise in prices realized by rare Corvettes, COPO and Yenko Camaros, Ford big-blocks, Mopar Hemis, and the elusive multimillion-dollar, 426 cu in Cuda convertible. Whether or not the bottom will fall out of a collecting phenomenon whose participants range from the genuinely passionate to the purely venal remains to be seen, and will depend in large part on the enthusiasm of the 40-to-70-somethings who have coveted these cars for decades.
One car among these American muscle icons, however, is hardly an overnight sensation. The Shelby Mustangs from the early years have always held a special place in the 1960s Performance Pantheon. From its first track wins to taking three straight SCCA B/Production championships in a row in 1965, 1966, and 1967, Carroll Shelby’s modified Ford Mustang fastback quickly established itself as a genuine sports car capable of confronting—and beating—more exotic challengers.
Today, Shelby’s Mustangs are top-tier Ford-powered collectibles, right behind the blue-chip AC Cobra and a handful of genuine GT40s. And while prices have never been higher, the upward trend is not as meteoric as with some other muscle parvenus. This suggests that values—enhanced by competition provenance, relative rarity, and an enthusiastic club following (www.saac.com)—should remain more stable than those of current flavor-of-the-month cars. Thus I resolved to find one.
; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
The search focused on the first year that Carroll Shelby worked his magic.
While 1965 and 1966 GT350 models appear nearly identical (side scoops and
rear-quarter windows distinguish the latter), the 1965 is the early Shelby of
choice, based on race wins, smaller production numbers (562 vs. 2,378), and a
more hard-edged drivetrain and suspension. Potential customers complained of the noisy Detroit Locker rear end, lack of
automatic transmission and backseat, lower ride height, and white-only exterior,
so Shelby followed with a more civilized version in 1966. By 1967, a new, larger
body style morphed the Shelby from a bare-bones sports car to a posh sport GT,
with a 428 cu in big-block engine offered in addition to the proven 289 cu in
small block. The 1967 GT500 is particularly desirable, but as a competition
icon, the 1965 Shelby GT350 stands alone. (Click image to enlarge)
When I began searching in 2003, prices had steadily risen over the previous year, and top restored ’65s had broken six figures. But it seemed there was always a story or a detail out of place with so-called perfect cars. Or else the car was too late in the production run; I wanted an early car (numbered below 300) with the trunk-mounted battery. The focus on matching numbers was not an issue during the first 30 years of these cars’ lives (many a Shelby saw engine swaps and upgrades until values rose and demand exceeded supply during the last decade), so finding the right car—one with its original engine, transmission, and rear end, proved difficult. Ideally, an original, unrestored example made the most sense. Eventually, my search led me to SFM5S270, a car that had enjoyed a leisurely repose in a Tennessee garage from 1973 to 2004. (See The Robb Report Collection, June 2005.) Elevated on jack stands with 39,000 miles on the odometer, it had waited all those years for a restoration by its owner, and like the periodical cicada, it still had not emerged from its torpor.
advertisement
