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1967 Shelby Mustang GT500

Carroll Shelby was a formidable driver long before he began building cars, and he had the experience and expertise to extract the most performance from a car. As a race car driver, his greatest success was co-driving the winning 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans entry, one of the pinnacles of motorsport competition. Although he had great success on the track, it was his collaboration with the Ford Motor Company that cemented his legacy.

1967 Shelby Mustang GT500 photo
Fastback
Chassis #: 67410F2A02943
View info and history
Auction entries : 2
The Ford Mustang, introduced mid-year in 1964, was originally conceived as a sporty car for the masses. It used the exiting Falcon platform and borrowed components already in production, which helped in keeping costs down and getting it to the market quicker. When it was time to bestow the Mustang with Ford's 'Total Performance' campaign, Ford turned to Mr. Shelby to transform it into a proper sports car capable of competing with the Chevrolet Corvette at the track. But first, Ford would have to convince the Sports Car Club of America that the Mustang was not a 2+2 design and thus not a true sports car.

The Sports Car Club of America, the sanctioning body for amateur sports car racing, initially rebuffed Ford, so Ford then turned to Carroll Shelby to rectify the situation. Mustering all of his Texas charm, Shelby coaxed a solution from the SCCA's Executive Director, John Bishop, on what it would take to make the Mustang a production 'sports car.' The result was the purpose-built 1965 Shelby GT350, homologating the Ford Mustang for SCCA racing. The production Ford Mustang GT built at the San Jose plant was sent to the Shelby American facility in Venice, California where they were transformed into (essentially) a racecar for the street. Numerous performance modifications were made along with subtle styling changes to distinguish it from the base Mustang.

Carroll Shelby's GT350 was introduced for 1965 and was immensely successful, winning the 1965 SCCA B-Production championship with Jerry Titus. The Shelby Mustang would dominate the competition from 1965 through 1967, winning three straight SCCA B-Production championships.

The GT350 was powered by a 289 CID 'Hi-Po' V8 with a Holley four-barrel carburetor, 'Tri-Y' exhaust headers, dual exhaust, a high-performance cam, and an aluminum high-rise intake manifold, boosting output by 35 horsepower. Kelsey-Hayes disc brakes were used at the front and drum brakes were at the rear. The front suspension was lowered, and the front structure was reinforced with an 'export brace' and 'Monte Carlo' bar. A larger front stabilizer, rear traction bars, Koni shocks, Ford Galaxie rear axle, and Detroit Locker rear-end were major upgrades. A four-speed Borg-Warner manual gearbox was the stock transmission on early Shelby Mustangs, though a heavy-duty, three-speed automatic soon became available as an option. Exterior modifications came in the form of twin Le Mans stripes from nose to tail, exhaust outlets just ahead of the rear wheels, and a fiberglass hood with hood scoop and hold-down pins. They rode on either silver-painted steel wheels or special cast-magnesium center 'Cragar Shelby' 15' rims wrapped with one-year-only 130 mph-rated Goodyear 'Blue Dot' tires and had chromed center caps marked with a stylized 'CS'. The interior gained a woodgrain steering wheel, a tachometer, competition seat belts, and a fiberglass shelf in place of the rear seat (thereby qualifying the GT350 as a two-seat sports car).

A total of 562 examples of the GT350 were built for the street in 195, plus 34 competition-only R-models.

The Shelby GT500
Ford redesigned its Mustang for 1967, expanding the engine bay enough to accommodate the big-block V8. The GT350 continued to house the K-Code high-performance 289 with a 'COBRA' aluminum hi-rise while the new GT500 was fitted with the 'Ford Cobra' FE-Series Police-Interceptor 428 cubic-inch (7.0-liter) V8 engine with dual 600 CFM Holley four-barrel (BJ-BK code) carburetors resting atop a mid-rise aluminum intake manifold, 10:1 compression, long duration, high lift police interceptor cam, hydraulic lifters, progressive linkage, and vacuum secondaries. It was conservatively rated at 355 horsepower at 5,400 RPM and 420 lb-ft of torque at 3,200 RPM. It was paired with a C6 automatic gearbox or Ford Toploader 4-speed manual, hydraulic front disc brakes, rear drums, and an independent front suspension with unequal-length A-arms and coil springs. In the back was a live axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs. They had a unique fiberglass hood, nose and rear deck, plus 15x7 wheels, fold-down rear seats, and roll bar mounted inertia reel shoulder harness.

1967 Shelby Mustang GT500 photo
Fastback
Chassis #: 67 402 F4A 00481
View info and history
The early production run of GT500s included some features not found on later GT500s including 'hybrid' steel and fiberglass hood and deck lid, center high beam headlights, sand-cast air cleaner, functional lower brake scoops, grey color center Magstar wheels, tail light panel, exhaust trim, and specific fiberglass type. The big-block Shelby Mustangs were offered with more features, luxurious trim, and convenience options than its small-block siblings, expanding its target market, offering both track performance and road-going luxuries and reliability.

A total of 2,048 fastback examples of the GT500 were built in 1967, outselling the small-block GT350 which had 1,175 units built.

The solid lifter K-code engine was discontinued by Ford in 1968, so Shelby used the hydraulic lifter 302 CID V8 with 230 horsepower. Shelby's modifications brought output to 250 horsepower. The early 1968 GT500 received the 428 Police Interceptor with a single four-barrel carburetor rated at 360 horsepower.

1967 Shelby Mustang GT500 photo
Fastback
Chassis #: 67400F7A02869
View info and history
Auction entries : 2
Supply, production and financial problems from the onset of cars arriving at Shelby's Los Angeles facility resulted in Ford taking control of the engineering and purchasing by October of 1966. The A.O. Smith of Ionia, Michigan was tasked with resolving the fiberglass fitment and quality issues. By 1968, production had moved from California to Michigan to simplify the logistics of shipping bare Ford Mustangs from their plant in New Jersey to Shelby. Shelby American's operations were split into three separate companies in November of 1967, with the Shelby Automotive being the Mustang production arm and set up in Livonia, Michigan. Production of the Shelby Mustangs was moved to the facilities of fiberglass supplier A.O. Smith in Ionia. The Shelby Parts Company (later renamed Shelby Autosports) moved to Torrance, and later to the Detroit area. The Shelby Racing Company moved from the hangar at LAX to a new office in Torrance, California.

The Shelby Mustang continued to be based on the stock version, receiving the latter's styling changes and mechanical improvements while retaining its own distinctive special features until production ended in 1970.


by Daniel Vaughan | Jun 2022

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1967 Shelby Mustang GT500 Vehicle Profiles

Recent Vehicle Additions

Performance and Specification Comparison

Price Comparison

1967 Mustang GT500
$4,395-$25,580
1967 Shelby Mustang GT500 Base Price : $4,395

Compare: Lower | Higher | Similar

Other 1967 Ford Models
$2,295 - $3,065
$2,460 - $2,695
$2,740 - $3,495
$2,790 - $2,905
$4,605 - $4,828

Shelby Mustang GT500

Specification Comparison by Year

Year
Production
Wheelbase
Engine
Prices
108.00 in.
8 cyl., 430.28 CID., 355.00hp
8 cyl., 428.00 CID., 400.00hp
$4,395 - $4,395
108.00 in.
8 cyl., 428.00 CID., 335.00hp

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