In 1964, Carroll Shelby was asked to enhance the performance of the new Ford Mustang, and the legendary GT350 was born. Initially just for racing, the 1965 GT350 R Model began its dominance on American racing circuits and making a name for itself by winning the SCCA B production championship in 1965, 1966 and 1967.
The Ford Mustang was a huge sales success when introduced in the spring of 1964. However, Lee Iacocca, Ford Division General Manager, was concerned that the Mustang, while selling well, lacked a performance image and did not fit into the Ford Division Total Performance marketing program.
To correct the image issue, Iacocca called Carroll Shelby and asked if he could make the Mustang into a sports car with a winning performance image. The result was the 1965 Shelby Mustang GT350. This latest Shelby American performance car earned its sports car and performance image on road race circuits across America. Competing in the Sports Car Club of America’s B Production Class against the Corvette Stingray, Jaguar XKE, Sunbeam Tiger and various Ferrari models, the new GT350 dominated the competition, winning the 1965 B Production National Championship while building a performance image for the Ford Mustang.
The Shelby GT350 was produced from 1965-1970, with the GT500 model added in 1967 after Ford enlarged the Mustang enough to hold a big-block V-8. The Shelby GT500, powered by a 428 cubic inch engine, was built from 1967-1970.
The 1965 and 1966 GT350s body style were a 2-door fastback, 2-door convertible or 2-door hardtop with a 289 cu in (4.7 L) Windsor K-Code V8 4-barrel carb engine connected a 3-speed automatic or 4-speed manual transmission. All 1965 GT350s were painted in Wimbledon White with Guardsman Blue rocker stripes and with the optional Le Mans stripes that run the length of the entire car from the hood through the roof and the tail. For 1966, available colors were white, blue, red, green, and black. The GT350 lost the Mustang tag for 1966 and was marketed as the Shelby GT350.
1966 Hertz Shelby GT350
Most Hertz cars were black with gold LeMans stripes and rocker panel stripes, although a few were white with blue stripes. The first 85 Hertz cars were available with four-speed manual transmissions and Hertz advertised them as “Rent-a-Racer” cars.
The arrangement between Hertz and Ford was for 1,000 GT350s to be added to its rental fleet included condition attached that after the rental terms finished, the cars would be returned to Ford, refurbished, and sold to the public as “GT350H” models. Hertz added another 800 GT350s with a automatic transmissions.
One of the first “pony cars” – fast and sporty (and with lots of horsepower under the hood) – was of course the iconic Ford Mustang. Introduced in mid-1964, it quickly became a best-seller. Only problem, it was considered a bit small, and lacking the full-throated power that buyers wanted. Ford’s Lee Iacocca felt that he could increase sales with more powerful engines and better handling, and in searching for a solution, he approached Carroll Shelby. Iacocca wanted Shelby to prepare and campaign the Mustang as a B Production SCCA racer (Sports Car Club of America).
Repeating his proven Cobra approach, Shelby first built 100 examples of the GT350 street model to qualify it as B Production car, then built a smaller series of racers (two team cars plus 34 customer cars). Given the go-ahead by Ford in August 1964, the Shelby American staff had only until early 1965 to develop the two models, arrange for the necessary parts to be made, and get the race cars into competition. Chuck Cantwell was the project engineer, Ken Miles did the mechanical development, and Peter Brock designed the graphics.
During the last week of 1964, Ford’s San Jose plant shipped Shelby American 110 specially built Wimbledon White fastback in incomplete form; most of their distinctive GT350 modifications would be accomplished in the Venice shop. To qualify the GT350 for SCCA production racing, as Ford had requested, Shelby had to build at least 100 street-legal examples in time for the 1965 season. For him and his busy employees, many of whom were by then deeply involved with 427 Cobra and GT40 work, developing an entirely different car for the street was far more difficult than creating a car for the track. After all, they had to satisfy not only themselves but their client, Ford Motor Company. In the case of the GT350, Shelby American was working on a production model with myriad options, and no doubt Ford was eager that these cars—aimed at a range of influential high-performance customers—would meet its usual quality standards.
Priced at $4,547, the GT350 street version differed only slightly from “R” Model, mainly in that it had a normal steel front bumper and valance, but no roll bar. Normally supplied with 15 x 5.5-inch steel wheels, the 306-hp, 2,800-lb fastback could also be ordered with 15 x 6-inch Cragar/Shelby alloy wheels. A total of 521production models were built before August 1965, when Shelby American switched over to building the somewhat softened 1966 model.
Chassis Number: 5S195
Horsepower: 306 hp
Displacement: 8-cylinder, 289 ci (4.7 L)
Wheelbase: 108″
The 1964 debut of the Mustang changed the auto world forever, and from its arguably humble beginnings, it was the GT350 project led by Carroll Shelby that brought the new pony car to performance prominence with horsepower-laden racing and street GTs. One of the most historically significant Shelby American built GT350s is the Shelby Mustang SFM6S051, the only GT350S ever produced. With the rare Ivy Green Metallic paint job, the 6S051 is the 1966 prototype for the Paxton-Supercharged GT350s.
It is the first ’65-bodied Shelby Mustang to be painted in a color other than Wimbledon White and it is the only Shelby Mustang designated GT350S. In 2013, the Shelby American Collection was honored to receive this magnificent historic car along with an extensive collection of memorabilia as a gift from the estate of Joyce and Steve Yates of Nashville, Indiana. It is rumored that the GT350S was specifically designed for Carroll Shelby’s banker, who drag-raced it through the 1960s.⠀
Chassis Number: 6S051
Horsepower: 406 hp
Displacement: 8-cylinder, 289 ci (4.7 L)
Wheelbase: 108″