Photo: Hemmings
Because so few of them were made, pure breed original Shelby Mustangs are difficult to find, and when they do surface, they are prohibitively expensive for most. Take the unrestored 1969 GT500 we talked about earlier this week, currently on the market and selling for over $150,000.
There is a way around these major six-figures obstacles, however, provided one can live with the thought the Shelby sitting in the garage is not exactly an actual Shelby, although it kind of looks like one. They’re called tribute cars, and they are usually fan-modified regular Mustangs.
Kind of like the one in the gallery above. Originally a stock 1965 Ford Mustang 2+2 fastback, it was made to look close to a Shelby GT350 by means of manual labor. The result is not bad, but you’d still know the truth.
As seen above, the Mustang is the result of restoration work (500 hours worth of it) that just ended earlier in 2020. Draped in Rangoon Red (Shelby’s color choice for the 1965 GT350s was Wimbledon White) and with the appropriate racing stripes running the length of the car, it sports no body modifications, with the exception of the added scoops on the hood and aft of the doors.
Restoration work included the stripping and refinishing of the underside of the car, including ridding it of potential rust spots, and a revision of the interior that now shows different colors and materials than the ones originally fitted by the carmaker.
Fitted with the engine it rolled off Ford’s assembly lines, the 289ci (4.7-liter) V8, the car develops 225 hp, not exactly the amount churned out by the true Shelby GT350. The engine has over 66,000 miles on it (106,000 km).
The Shelby GT350 tribute is currently on sale on an auctions website, with the tally at the time of this writing sitting at close to $28,000 (the reserve is not met yet).
Kind of like the one in the gallery above. Originally a stock 1965 Ford Mustang 2+2 fastback, it was made to look close to a Shelby GT350 by means of manual labor. The result is not bad, but you’d still know the truth.
As seen above, the Mustang is the result of restoration work (500 hours worth of it) that just ended earlier in 2020. Draped in Rangoon Red (Shelby’s color choice for the 1965 GT350s was Wimbledon White) and with the appropriate racing stripes running the length of the car, it sports no body modifications, with the exception of the added scoops on the hood and aft of the doors.
Restoration work included the stripping and refinishing of the underside of the car, including ridding it of potential rust spots, and a revision of the interior that now shows different colors and materials than the ones originally fitted by the carmaker.
Fitted with the engine it rolled off Ford’s assembly lines, the 289ci (4.7-liter) V8, the car develops 225 hp, not exactly the amount churned out by the true Shelby GT350. The engine has over 66,000 miles on it (106,000 km).
The Shelby GT350 tribute is currently on sale on an auctions website, with the tally at the time of this writing sitting at close to $28,000 (the reserve is not met yet).
Google News