Why Mustang GT350??

the story goes that in a meeting everyone was trying decide what to call the shelby modified mustang. shelby asked phil remington how far it was from the main office to the competition building, phil walked it off and came back and said 350ft. shelby then said then thats what we will call it, the GT-350. he added that if the car is good the name wont matter, and if the car is bad the name wont help.

in 1967 when the GT-500 was created, shelby used that designation just because it sounded right. and when shelby added the KR moniker in 1968, he did it so that general motors couldnt use it on a corvette model that chevy was planning(shelby had a hatered for chevrolet almost as bad as the one he had for ferrari).

I got this one.....

To answer your question, takes a little bit.....

In 1965, FoMoCo decided it would be good marketing to position their new little "secretary's car" (the Mustang) as a true sports car. Since Ford had entered into to a half-vast partnership with Carroll Shelby in stuffing SBF's into A/C Cobra's to beat up on European "Gran Prix" cars (roughly the 60's equivalent to today's IMSA cars); then-CEO Lee Iococca turned to Shelby to officially "hop up" the Mustang. The Shelby GT-350 was the product of that plan. Shelby took delivery of '65 Fastbacks with the 271-horse 289's, massaged the engines, tweaked the suspensions, modified the interiors and bodies and took 'em racing! You could also buy a Shelby GT-350 at your friendly neighborhood Ford dealer or even rent one (a GT-350H) from Hertz-Rent-a-Car

Oh yeah - somebody decided that the Shelby needed a new model designation to differentiate it from the ordinary Mustang GT. According to legend, it was 349-1/2 feet from Caroll Shelby's office to the shop where the new "hot-rod Mustangs" were being assembled. Round it up, and you got a Shelby GT-350. Again, this is the legend; the only guy on here that might know the true story is our resident Shelby expert, Chepsk8

Actually, when the '67s came out, Ford decided to "up the ante" by stuffing FE big-blocks (starting with the 390) into the new body's engine bay, along with the original smallblock engines; and Shelby followed suit. Well, you gotta differentiate between the small-block Shelby's and the big-block Shelby's; so the big-block Shelby's were arbitrarily called GT-500's. Ford and Shelby went for the 428 Police Interceptor motors for the GT 500's; then copied some hop-up ideas from Bob Tasca of Tasca Ford in Pennsylvania and called them 428 Cobra Jet engines. Bend over, drop trou, and let the Camaro guys pucker up!

Another legend that's most likely true was the build-up of a one-shot prototype with the ultimate kick-in-the-butt; a 427 side-oiler; which sadly never went into full production.
In it's place came the production end-all, be-all, primero numero uno (IMHO): the '68 GT500KR, with more Shelby-Tasca-Ford improvements to the 428; now called the 428 Super Cobra Jet. Dude, I got to ride in a 'KR at a car-show parade; a convertible - one of 318 built and one of (How many, Cheapie?) still in captivity. The car-show guys were doing burnouts; and when Lou, the car's owner dropped the hammer on that BBF and dumped the clutch, I felt like a 12-year-old with his first copy of Playboy!
(Took me a while to figure out how to get that feeling across without running afoul of the Forum MOD's )

After that, with the '69 model year, things started to go downhill; Shelby and Ford had split up, the cars were getting too heavy and too fancy. Again, this is IMHO; but it's telling that the '70 Shelby's were re-badged 69's that hadn't sold in the '69 model year.

Since the guy that took me for a ride in his GT-500KR 'vert is a local; that un-restored but beautiful green sweetheart is a mainstay of the local annual car show. When I get to the baseball complex where it's held; I fast-walk around 'til I find her; and, after we've said hello to one another, I can go look at the rest of the cars. And I can't leave without saying "Seeya later"

Yeah, that's a Shelby

Arrrgh! rbohm, you beat me out!

StangDreamin' said:

Arrrgh! rbohm, you beat me out!

Click to expand...

mebbe so, but you have him beat with the description of your KR ride.....

StD said:

and when Lou, the car's owner dropped the hammer on that BBF and dumped the clutch, I felt like a 12-year-old with his first copy of Playboy!

Click to expand...

StangDreamin' said:

Arrrgh! rbohm, you beat me out!

Click to expand...

but 65stanger is right, i dont have a shelby ride experience though . there was a 68 GT-500KR convertable near where i went to jr high school though . i got to see it everyday on the way to school and on the way home as well. the unfortunate problem was that it wasnt running as the guy was restoring it(this was in 1970!! ) as it had been wrecked and sat for a couple of years. and yes it was an early 68 model(it was first purchased in oct 1967).

rbohm said:

.... there was a 68 GT-500KR convertable near where i went to jr high school though . i got to see it everyday on the way to school and on the way home as well. the unfortunate problem was that it wasnt running as the guy was restoring it(this was in 1970!! ) as it had been wrecked and sat for a couple of years. and yes it was an early 68 model(it was first purchased in oct 1967).

Click to expand...

Where was that? I can see Tucson and Luray in your brag file.
Spent 7 years in Tuck-son, right out of high school. Went to UofA; met a girl there, got married, had one kid (Cowgirl Tink) and moved back to Yuma before the next two were born. Been back here since '87.

Yeah, the ride in Lou's KR was AWESOME!; ruined me for "plain Jane Mustangs" pretty much forever. Guy got it as part of his inheritance. Dad had bought it for Lou's older sister, but she hated it - too heavy, too loud. no power steering, didn't have an auto trans, and (in her words) "Who wants a convertible in Rhode Island???" Dad took the car back (to his own garage for himself ) and got her a '69 6-cyl coupe. When Dad died, Lou was executor of the estate. Sis says "I wouldn't mind having that old Mustang Dad bought for me" Lou: "Yeah, right! You can have the house in Providence!" According to him, Barrett-Jackson prices don't evencome close to what it would take to get his Dad's Shelby away from him.

There's a guy here in Yuma (actually only lives 1/2 mile from me, but you can double my annual income then add a zero on the end to approximate his income) who loved that car so much, he bought a restored one out of Florida. Lou's KR isn't restored. It's rust free (spent R.I. winters in a garage), total changes are little daubs of Highland Green touch-up paint on the stone chips and some hardened valve seats in the heads (for unleaded fuel). The only obvious flaw is that the front-passenger corner of the fiberglass hood is curled up like maybe a quarter-inch. Adds character.

it was in tucson. the car was near fickett jrhs.

rbohm said:

it was in tucson. the car was near fickett jrhs.

Click to expand...

Fickett jr high...... if I remember my Tucson geography, that was like the other side of the valley from us. We were out in Cortaro Township - now known as "the Continental Ranch District of the Greater Marana Metroplex"

didn't see too many Stangs in my immediate neighborhood, but there was old Chuck Shinburg (owned Cortaro Store) with his 440-powered Chrysler 300 'vert (fastest running land-barge ever seen). Coupla hot Chevelles lived next door to one another, across the road from Picture Rocks Retreat. Then there was this idiot that first had a sleeper '73 Gran Torino 4 door with a factory "leftover" 4-bolt Cleveland, he traded it off for what was eventually a "mildly built" Lincoln 406-powered '72 F100. The F100 could take the Chrysler 300 in the 1/8th mile, but the Mopar caught up and sometimes passed the F100 at the quarter - pickup C6 was outta gears by then. The Torino could hold off the 300 through a quarter, and usuallt keep ahead 'til the drivers chickened out; mostly because the Torino weighed about 17,000 lbs (and I meant that many zeroes) less than the 300 Oh yeah the Gran and the pickup were mine

One of the Chevelles would usually stomp the 300 and the F100 in the quarter (and I saw nothin' but his tailights in the Torino). The other Chevelle stayed with the Torino, wasted the truck; but refused to race Chuck's 'vert?

Ahhh, those were the days..... back in my carefree youth, before the baby came.
The baby that now poses for her avatar while sprawled across the hood of a '94 SVT Cobra belonging to some Dude that makes his living by jumping out of a perfectly working airplane to swing from a quilted bedsheet while the bad guys shoot at him......




















Wonder how long it will take for one of the two to notice I posted that last part?

StangDreamin' said:

Fickett jr high...... if I remember my Tucson geography, that was like the other side of the valley from us. We were out in Cortaro Township - now known as "the Continental Ranch District of the Greater Marana Metroplex"

didn't see too many Stangs in my immediate neighborhood, but there was old Chuck Shinburg (owned Cortaro Store) with his 440-powered Chrysler 300 'vert (fastest running land-barge ever seen). Coupla hot Chevelles lived next door to one another, across the road from Picture Rocks Retreat. Then there was this idiot that first had a sleeper '73 Gran Torino 4 door with a factory "leftover" 4-bolt Cleveland, he traded it off for what was eventually a "mildly built" Lincoln 406-powered '72 F100. The F100 could take the Chrysler 300 in the 1/8th mile, but the Mopar caught up and sometimes passed the F100 at the quarter - pickup C6 was outta gears by then. The Torino could hold off the 300 through a quarter, and usuallt keep ahead 'til the drivers chickened out; mostly because the Torino weighed about 17,000 lbs (and I meant that many zeroes) less than the 300 Oh yeah the Gran and the pickup were mine

One of the Chevelles would usually stomp the 300 and the F100 in the quarter (and I saw nothin' but his tailights in the Torino). The other Chevelle stayed with the Torino, wasted the truck; but refused to race Chuck's 'vert?

Ahhh, those were the days..... back in my carefree youth, before the baby came.
The baby that now poses for her avatar while sprawled across the hood of a '94 SVT Cobra belonging to some Dude that makes his living by jumping out of a perfectly working airplane to swing from a quilted bedsheet while the bad guys shoot at him......




















Wonder how long it will take for one of the two to notice I posted that last part?

Click to expand...

yep fickett is on kolb road between 22nd street and broadway. and yeah them old chrysler 300's were heavy all right.

as far as jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, thats crazy enough, but letting the bad guys shoot at you as well while hanging from a bedsheet...................................









well you ARE airborn special forces. as far as i know only navy seals, british SAS, or the old soviet union spetnaz are crazier than you guys

rbohm said:

....well you ARE airborn special forces. as far as i know only navy seals, british SAS, or the old soviet union spetnaz are crazier than you guys

Click to expand...

I hope you're talking to A.J. (SVTCobra306).
As long as the plane still has one fan turning and has retained 60-70% of it's designed wingspan, and you can see through the flames; I'm staying right in there where it's reasonably safe!


EDIT for an OBTW: I wouldn't count on the "killer squids" to be crazier than those 82nd guys. Being an Army brat as well as an Army Dad; I'd have a hard time believing the white-hats are better than the ranks of The Long Green Line - especially regarding institutional lunacy!

Another OBTW: I guess the term "Long Green Line" will be fading away? Heard that the Army will be returning too dress blues. Who knows, maybe before it happens, Tink will get to wear her Green Class A's more than a dozen times total.

StangDreamin' said:

As long as the plane still has one fan turning and has retained 60-70% of it's designed wingspan, and you can see through the flames; I'm staying right in there where it's reasonably safe!

Click to expand...

i knew a fuel altered driver with that attitude. our team went with his team to a meet in eloy years ago(we had a B/FA and ron had a BB/FA car). ron went on a side by side qualifying run, the car turned dead left, but rather than back off the throttle, ron STAYED ON IT. he went into the dirt area between the track and the stands, turns the wheel full right, swings the car around, turns the wheel full left and basically dirt tracks the car while trying to get it back on the track. he is pointing straight at the guy in the other lane when he hits the track and again the car goes dead left. again remember ron stays on the throttle the whole time. the other guy gets off the throttle, ron manages to straighten the car out without crossing the centerline, and makes his run to the finish line. at about 1000ft ron pops a blower hard enough to shoot it 200ft in the air. this car is oddly enough still running because ron had installed a third set of fuel nozzles in the intake near the ports(a new innovation at the time, 1980). as ron is going through the traps, his motor is shedding parts. we finally get down there after our run, and find ron picking up engine parts. we asked him why he didnt get off the throttle whent he blower went, and ron said that the motor was still running, so he stayed on the throttle.

I heard about that one; didn't see it though. - When I arrived in Tucson on July 17, 1980; my brother stuck 40 foot of 7/16" hard lay team roper's "heelin' rope" in my hand and said "Rewrap it for left-handed, get on that bay horse out there and start shakin' out loops!" Spent more time throwing that rope (and its replacements) at cattle than I spent studying . But it did (slightly) beat out the typical Engineering Students' pastime - which involved pitchers of Pabst Bock at Gentle Ben's (the original, on 6th Ave - not the new one on University!). And, the "roper girls" decidedly beat out the ENGR chicks on the "HHHHHHottt-tt-t" scale.
Yes, Tink, that was before I started dating your mother - besides, she was a Nursing student

Back to the memories: Rbohm; I was there at Corona a couple years later when the blower popped and landed in the windshield of the (was it an El Camino?) out in the parking lot Well, maybe it was for the guy with the El Camino!

StangDreamin' said:

Back to the memories: Rbohm; I was there at Corona a couple years later when the blower popped and landed in the windshield of the (was it an El Camino?) out in the parking lot Well, maybe it was for the guy with the El Camino!

Click to expand...

the funniest, now, incident i have had with a fuel altered was at the 1979 fuel altered nationals. we were waiting for our qualifying run, when a AA/FA was doing his burnout. we watched him turn dead right. the driver stayed on the throttle and made the car do a U turn just past the christmas tree, and he was headed back to the staging area under full power . all of us altered teams, and the pro dragster guys, were looking for a place to go to get out of the guys way. the door slammer guys were just standing there, right in the path of the altered driver, watching. they had a deer in the headlights look on their faces. turns out the guy snapped an axle. he still made a qualifying run, and got the number #3 spot, even though he was all over the track(just about sideways half the time on his run ). we blew a trans on our run and our weekend was finished

then there was the time when i missed getting killed when an altered flew past our tow vehicle. i was going like 5mph at the time towing our car back to the pits after a run, when something flashed in front of the truck. we stopped and followed a trail of parts about 300 ft off into the desert. we thought the driver was going to be seriously injured or even dead. we see him walking out of a cloud of dust brushing himself off. he looked up at us and said "that was a *******#$%er!". his altered had gotten squirrely at the 1000ft mark, and as he started to reach for the chute, it went dead left, hit the guardrail, and launched over an 18wheeler, lengthwise , and tumbled off into the desert in front of us. we figured that if i had been going 3mph faster, that car would have gone right through the drivers door of the truck i was driving, and taken out me and my car owner .

just some of the fond memories of all the fun at the dragstrip in those days.