1966 Shelby GT-350

Within a month of the launch of the Ford Mustang in April 1964, the sales figures were nothing short of a phenomenon. Little did Ford know that eighteen months into production, sales would reach nearly one million. Instead of waiting for the 'bubble to burst', Lee Iacocca's dream of speed and style was to be attached to Ford's Mantra: 'Win on Sunday . . . Sell on Monday'.

Carroll Shelby was already trusted and respected by Ford, thanks to his efforts engineering the successful Cobra projects. He would be responsible for the 'ponycar performance lift' and creating a Motorsport Legend. In December 1964, the Sports Car Championship of America accepted the GT-350 into B-Production Racing. With such credentials it's not surprising the Shelby Ford Mustang GT-350 delivered three SCCA B-Production Championships in 1965-67 for Ford. January 1965 was a busy month for Shelby America as Ford turned the GT-40 project over to him and two months later marked the move to the Los Angeles Airport facility for continued GT-350 production.The GT-350 began life as a White Mustang 2+2 delivered initially to Carroll Shelbys shop in Venice California from Fords San Jose California Plant. These cars already had the 'High Performance 289cu.in.V-8' and four speed manual gearboxes. With Carroll Shelby's engine modifications power figures gave 306 BHP. The basic Ford Falcon suspension underpinnings were updated, Galaxie 500 parts and larger rear brakes gave improvements. Further suspension modifications resulted in a well balanced, neutral handling winner. The 1966 GT-350s' gained Plexiglas rear windows instead of vents, side scoops for rear brake cooling and the thin bar grille.

The Shelby Mustangs were never to be this hardcore again. The legend was born and without doubt the Shelby GT-350 deserves it's place in Automotive/Motorsport history and the finest car collections in the world.

Built at Carroll Shelbys Los Angeles Airport facility in 1966 this GT-350 was designated 'Street' and finished in Ivy Green, with 'Special Wheels' and optional Rear Seat.This GT-350 was delivered to High-Performance Motors Inc, El Segundo, California - which was owned by Carroll Shelby and Lew Spencer - on June 9th 1966.It was purchased by original owner Stanley Woodward (Palm Springs CA) a personal friend of Carroll Shelby. He then shipped the GT-350 to Spain where his business was based.

In 1977, Stan Woodward agreed a sale of the car to Peter Falter of London. Once in England, a full restoration occured and it was re-registered in the UK with the number 'XGH 606W'.

In 1983, Steve Turland continued to improve the condition of the car, which resulted in numerous concours awards. Paul Kittle of Newbury became the fourth owner in 1995 and it then featured in the August Edition of 'Classic Cars', together with editorial and front cover billing (available with car).

After this point our vendor became the new owner purchasing the car from Rare Performance Motors of Aldershot, aided with knowledgable imput by Mike Penn of the Haynes Motor Museum. The mileage was 67,350 and believed to be genuine.

It was then sold to Aidan Liddell, a Classic Car dealer in November 2000 and eventually to noted car collector and TV/Radio DJ Chris Evans, who bought the car in 2003.

In January 2005, it was re-purchased by our current vendor who wanted ownership back of the car that had given him so much pleasure of ownership. Once acquired, the mileage was still only 69,000 and the process of futher restoration continued with Shelby expert Roy Holmes, who continued to do extensive detail work on the engine bay and underside which now results in a near perfect presentation of the day she left Shelbys 'shop' in June 1966.

The Shelby GT-350 offered here represents an extremely rare example with absolute history and provenance known from new.

SFM6S2042 is on page 635 of the 2011 Shelby Register. There are copies of documents between Shelby America Inc. and Hi-Performance Motors confirming acceptance of the order specification, delivery and even a warranty claim on a 10% inaccurate speedo!

Sensibly guided today, this car represents an outstanding investment opportunity combined with real driving and ownership pleasure.