Early GT-350/GT-500 Thread - 1965-70

[85pig]

LOL - I wish. I've been mostly relegated to Mercury Comets and Ford

Torinos. My "give up an organ" car is the DeTomaso Pantera. If I ever win

the lottery....

Always wanted a Sunbeam Tiger as a kid, until I sat in one as an adult. At

6'-5", it was never meant to be.

Nothing wrong with a Comet or Torino. I remember being in the Mercury dealer in Ft. Wayne, IN and looking at a Pantera. My dad told me they had them stacked up and couldn't give them away.

I always thought a first series Lotus Cortina would be a fun ride. Or, stuffing a Cosworth BDA into a first generation Fiesta....

I come from a line of Ford parts monkeys; my dad worked in Ford parts from the early 50s to around 1980 or so. Had a guy in town that had two Panteras, and my dad said he would cringe every time one of them rolled up. He hated looking up parts for them. That's how we were with Probes in the 80s. Oddballs with non-Ford numbers on the fiche, etc. He totaled one of the Panteras, and years later my mom was friends with his widow. She set up a time for me to come look at the surviving car, man was it nice (I rode in it once on the sly, but that's another story). What was cool was having a 70+ year old woman with a thick German accent step into her garage, and start with "it has a 351 Cleveland and ZF five speed transmission". God rest her soul.

On that note, I'm a Holley hater. Never had one that I could get to run right for any length of time. I've seen guys online say that "you just don't know how to tune them". My dad also hated Holleys, my brother drug one home one day in the mid-80s with the intention of putting it on his 68 Torino. My dad said something along the lines of "what did you buy that piece of ---- for?" He said they were always junk, and I'd guess working the back counter of a Ford dealership all through the muscle car era where Ford put them on lots of engines, they must have always been problematic. And if the Ford mechanics struggled with them, then it's not just me. Some guys just have the touch, I guess. As for me, I go with Dirty Harry: "a man's got to know his limitations".

[Gary Lewis]

On that note, I'm a Holley hater. ... As for me, I go with Dirty Harry: "a man's got to know his limitations".

Amen, brother!

Anyway, a Vega with a 215 Buick sounds like fun! Light & lighter = fast.

And a Pantera would be fun as well, but I guess I didn't realize they had a ZF five speed. If that's a ZF5 then that might take some of the fun away. I've not driven a ZF5 that I really liked - including mine.

[Bronco638]

On that note, I'm a Holley hater. ... As for me, I go with Dirty Harry: "a man's got to know his limitations".

Amen, brother!

Anyway, a Vega with a 215 Buick sounds like fun! Light & lighter = fast.

And a Pantera would be fun as well, but I guess I didn't realize they had a ZF five speed. If that's a ZF5 then that might take some of the fun away. I've not driven a ZF5 that I really liked - including mine.

Here's how we came to own our first GT-350 (6S638);

My Dad decided that we'd had enough fun with our first Mustang, a '65 convertible with a 289 and C4 automatic. I had started with a '67 GTA Fastback (289/C4) but sold it to buy a '66 GT Fastback. The '66 was a 289/Toploader. We ended up selling it back to the guy I bought it from. He sold it to us as a partially completed project, we finished it up and then he HAD to have it back (I think it was his brother's car and his brother had died before we met him). Anyways, '65 convertible was sold as well. I'm not sure how my Dad found the GT-350 but we lived north of NYC at the time and the car was in Fredericksburg VA. On a Spring Break trip to Florida, he stopped to check it out and then, on the way home, stopped to buy it (for some reason, I flew to Florida to meet my family in Jacksonville and also flew home - I don't recall why though). The car was delivered in a sad state. No engine or transmission, hacked rear quarters, no interior, no front fenders. The hood was so beaten up we threw it away and bought an aftermarket fiberglass one (without the steel frame). It did come with NOS quarter panels. It was also green (like 6S648) but had been partially painted white with blue LeMans stripes, like the '65s.

The guy we bought it from, Jim Graves, worked at the local Ford dealer in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He was driving home from work one evening and noticed the Shelby sitting abandoned on the side of a back road. Since this was his normal route, he kept and eye on it, daily. One morning, it was gone. As he was originally from Fredericksburg, he knew all the local LEOs (as he'd gone to school with them). So, he called a friend and asked if anyone knew anything about the car. Sure enough, it had been declared abandoned and the local junkyard had it. He promptly drove to the junkyard and bought it. We got it in pretty much the condition in which he purchased it. He got the quarter panels thru the dealership (as well as some other odds-n-ends). He built a 351 to put in it but had so much money in the engine, he didn't have much left for anything else. He was willing to sell the car with or without the 351. We opted not to buy the 351 as he had a line of people ready to buy it. Interestingly, Jim found the original cast aluminum valve covers and the original cast aluminum T-pan (oil) in the trunk! The wheels were also the original 10-spoke and still on the car. Thru the Shelby American Automobile Club we were able to get the original invoice for the car. It was sold to Bill Currie Ford in Tampa, Florida. The 10-spoke wheels were an option (steel wheels were stock, as on Bill's car). Last time I checked, Bill Currie Ford was still in business. I have no idea how the car ended up in Virginia.

The car underwent a complete restoration with the intent of being a driver (as opposed to a trailer queen). It ended up being converted into a vintage race car. I sold it in the late 90s as it was spending too much time in a storage facility (no longer street legal). It had served its purpose and it was time to let someone else enjoy it. It's now in Australia, painted to look like a '65 (which kind of makes me mad as the green GT-350s are very few and far between).

[85pig]

On that note, I'm a Holley hater. ... As for me, I go with Dirty Harry: "a man's got to know his limitations".

Amen, brother!

Anyway, a Vega with a 215 Buick sounds like fun! Light & lighter = fast.

And a Pantera would be fun as well, but I guess I didn't realize they had a ZF five speed. If that's a ZF5 then that might take some of the fun away. I've not driven a ZF5 that I really liked - including mine.

Kind of mispoke - ZF TRANSAXLE. And old Miss Margarite would have corrected me, too!

Closest I've been to a Shelby really was a ride in a 67 GT500; grew up in a military town, and some idiot GI traded it in at the local Chevy dealership. One of the town collectors snapped it up, and gave me a ride in it. Ran like crap - spark knock, etc. Car was beautiful, white with the blue skunks. He ended up blowing it up, and had the 428 rebuilt, and had a correct dual quad setup put on it. Never got to ride in it after that, sorry to say. Don't know if he still owns it. My Pantera now resides in Germany; Margarite's only son (engineer) had it shipped over to him.

[85lebaront2]

Here's how we came to own our first GT-350 (6S638);

My Dad decided that we'd had enough fun with our first Mustang, a '65 convertible with a 289 and C4 automatic. I had started with a '67 GTA Fastback (289/C4) but sold it to buy a '66 GT Fastback. The '66 was a 289/Toploader. We ended up selling it back to the guy I bought it from. He sold it to us as a partially completed project, we finished it up and then he HAD to have it back (I think it was his brother's car and his brother had died before we met him). Anyways, '65 convertible was sold as well. I'm not sure how my Dad found the GT-350 but we lived north of NYC at the time and the car was in Fredericksburg VA. On a Spring Break trip to Florida, he stopped to check it out and then, on the way home, stopped to buy it (for some reason, I flew to Florida to meet my family in Jacksonville and also flew home - I don't recall why though). The car was delivered in a sad state. No engine or transmission, hacked rear quarters, no interior, no front fenders. The hood was so beaten up we threw it away and bought an aftermarket fiberglass one (without the steel frame). It did come with NOS quarter panels. It was also green (like 6S648) but had been partially painted white with blue LeMans stripes, like the '65s.

The guy we bought it from, Jim Graves, worked at the local Ford dealer in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He was driving home from work one evening and noticed the Shelby sitting abandoned on the side of a back road. Since this was his normal route, he kept and eye on it, daily. One morning, it was gone. As he was originally from Fredericksburg, he knew all the local LEOs (as he'd gone to school with them). So, he called a friend and asked if anyone knew anything about the car. Sure enough, it had been declared abandoned and the local junkyard had it. He promptly drove to the junkyard and bought it. We got it in pretty much the condition in which he purchased it. He got the quarter panels thru the dealership (as well as some other odds-n-ends). He built a 351 to put in it but had so much money in the engine, he didn't have much left for anything else. He was willing to sell the car with or without the 351. We opted not to buy the 351 as he had a line of people ready to buy it. Interestingly, Jim found the original cast aluminum valve covers and the original cast aluminum T-pan (oil) in the trunk! The wheels were also the original 10-spoke and still on the car. Thru the Shelby American Automobile Club we were able to get the original invoice for the car. It was sold to Bill Currie Ford in Tampa, Florida. The 10-spoke wheels were an option (steel wheels were stock, as on Bill's car). Last time I checked, Bill Currie Ford was still in business. I have no idea how the car ended up in Virginia.

The car underwent a complete restoration with the intent of being a driver (as opposed to a trailer queen). It ended up being converted into a vintage race car. I sold it in the late 90s as it was spending too much time in a storage facility (no longer street legal). It had served its purpose and it was time to let someone else enjoy it. It's now in Australia, painted to look like a '65 (which kind of makes me mad as the green GT-350s are very few and far between).

Mine had a similar issue, hood was missing, I also went to the local Ford Dealer, Center Ford in Newport News and ordered a replacement hood, same thing, fiberglass with the whole center open. On wheels, mine had the Magnum 500s, but a good friend who was serving our country in USAF found a set of the 14" 10 spoke mags and bought them, came back to Newport News with them as "carry-on" baggage. Here is a not super good picture of him and the car with the 10 spoke mags:

He would take my Shelby, wash and wax it just so he could drive it.

Since I was racing it, both parking lot events and a high speed series, I had relocated the battery to the trunk for better weight distribution. Best friend had borrowed it to have some fun with a young man he knew who had just bought a Mustang fastback. His battery was down, so while he was there John was going to give him a jump. John opened the hood and looked and then remembered "battery's in the trunk", at which point he was asked "how long have you owned this car?"

The steel rims in the picture are Boss 302 factory 15" rims I used for racing, tires were G60-15 recapped Gillettes If I remember correctly, they were recapped with the same Goodyear compound that the local racer's ran at our 3/8 mile track.

Where in Australia is yours? Mine is in Sydney, NSW.

[Gary Lewis]

Kind of mispoke - ZF TRANSAXLE. And old Miss Margarite would have corrected me, too!

Closest I've been to a Shelby really was a ride in a 67 GT500; grew up in a military town, and some idiot GI traded it in at the local Chevy dealership. One of the town collectors snapped it up, and gave me a ride in it. Ran like crap - spark knock, etc. Car was beautiful, white with the blue skunks. He ended up blowing it up, and had the 428 rebuilt, and had a correct dual quad setup put on it. Never got to ride in it after that, sorry to say. Don't know if he still owns it. My Pantera now resides in Germany; Margarite's only son (engineer) had it shipped over to him.

I certainly hope a ZF transaxle shifts better than a ZF5. All of those I've been around shift like what they are - truck transmissions.

[85lebaront2]

Kind of mispoke - ZF TRANSAXLE. And old Miss Margarite would have corrected me, too!

Closest I've been to a Shelby really was a ride in a 67 GT500; grew up in a military town, and some idiot GI traded it in at the local Chevy dealership. One of the town collectors snapped it up, and gave me a ride in it. Ran like crap - spark knock, etc. Car was beautiful, white with the blue skunks. He ended up blowing it up, and had the 428 rebuilt, and had a correct dual quad setup put on it. Never got to ride in it after that, sorry to say. Don't know if he still owns it. My Pantera now resides in Germany; Margarite's only son (engineer) had it shipped over to him.

One of my customers, who owned, and still does a tractor dealership in Surry VA had a 1967 GT500, He brought it to me to have the carburetors rebuilt and a major tune-up. When finished I took it out on our "test track", Tyler avenue. Damn that car would pull, when I turned onto Jefferson Ave. a nice 6 lane wide 45 mph speed limit main road, I stood on it, had to back off until the tires caught, then nailed it, all 8 barrels opened up.

[Bronco638]

Where in Australia is yours? Mine is in Sydney, NSW.

Melbourne, I believe. I found an on-line article about the car's owner that indicated, at the time of publication (2006), 6S648 was in Australia, too. As of 2018, I believe 6S648 stays in the US while its owner resides in Oz.