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Unusual for me, I am not writing about some car that I have
owned. I test-drove a used 1967 Shelby GT-500, but it had been so thoroughly
thrashed in just two years, that I declined the temptation. The only one
ever I raced (a ’68 GT-500KR), I beat handily. That does not take
anything away from their hold on me, their mystique, or their place in
the annals of great American cars. Consider this: The Shelby Mustang took
Ford Motor Company firmly into the muscle car fight with a race-bred heritage
to which only the Corvette could lay claim. It is a fact that Carroll Shelby
was not too keen to even be involved, but his buddy over at Ford, one Lee
Iacocca, wanted to spice up the Mustang’s image beyond just a hip
car into something more formidable. When Ford approached the Sports Car
Club of America, they were told the car needed some alterations to qualify
for SCCA track events. At this time Shelby was heavily occupied in five
different racing programs, not the least of which was Ford’s assault
on Le Mans, but Iacocca could be very convincing.
With a budget limited to just $1500, Shelby went to work on a prototype.
The SCCA specifications required, among other modifications, the removal
of the back seat, larger front brakes, stiffer suspension, a close ratio
four-speed transmission, and a bump in horsepower to over 300. A team
of young Ford stylists gave the car its distinctive look. Other than
a few fabricated engine parts and a fiberglass hood, all Ford parts were
utilized to complete the car that was, in all respects, a street legal
race car. In a mere 60 days, Shelby American produced a car that would
be the start of a seven year run as the SCCA National Champion in production
classes These first ’65 Shelbys were raucous, stiff, noisy cars
way out of the mainstream for everyday street use.
Changes to the production 1967 Mustang allowed room for the larger FE
family of engines. The Shelby Mustangs evolved as well, adding a dual-quad
version of the Police Interceptor 428 cid engine and fiberglass hood,
and glass front and rear fascias. Rollbars with integral shoulder harnesses
were part of the conversion. Although a proposal called for 50 cars to
be equipped with the 427, only one car is documented with another two
rumored. One distinctive feature was the grill-mounted hi-beam headlights.
Shelby intended that the lights were to be located close together, but
some states had laws mandating a minimum distance between headlights,
so wide-set hi-beams cars were produced as well.
For the 1968 model year, production was moved from Los Angeles to the
A.O Smith Company in Michigan as FoMoCo took more control of production.
With the addition of a convertible and the demise of multiple carburetion,
the transformation to street car was complete. Thus, the ‘67s,
the last Shelby Mustangs assembled in California by Shelby, mark the
end of an era.
With the current price of 1:1 1967 Shelby Mustangs pushing well into
the $100,000 range, precious few of us can afford this iconic muscle
car. But we can, with the help of our eye glasses, get a close look at
them in scale. Numerous models are available in 1:18 scale, but until
recently, only the Mattel Legends produced GT-500 existed in 1:24, a
nice effort (in an unconvincing attempt at Acapulco blue) that probably
held down the fort for most of us until GMP ventured into the fray. This
Brittney blue beauty not only fills a void in our collections, but reflects
the outstanding efforts of GMP’s Project Manager, George Bojaciuk.
Attention to the shape, specs, features and the littlest details make
this the finest Shelby Mustang in any model scale. For instance, the
majority of 1:1 Shelbys have wide, down-the-middle Le Mans stripes, yet
these were only a dealer installed option; this model is factory correct
without the stripes. It also marks the first time, to my knowledge, that
the collector has had input into a project. The consensus was for proper
ride height, therefore the suspension is fixed. Another collector preference
was for the folding rear seat, a first in this scale. |
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The underside details were not ignored, either. Transmission
shift linkage, fuel and brake lines, and even the unequal length exhaust
manifolds replicate the real components. The exhaust system, from engine
to tail pipe extensions, is the best I have ever seen in this scale. Take
a look at those chrome extensions; they are big, thin-walled, and wide
open, not some pinched, poorly executed hint at tailpipes. This engine
can breathe. Drive train components take on the look of actual cars, as
well, from the paint-coded drive shaft, intricately molded u-joints, rust-red
differential housing, to the red, Shelby-specified shocks. One could use
this car for reference material. |
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The passenger compartment is essentially a factory deluxe
interior with brushed aluminum dash face and door inserts. Shelbys had
certainly become more civilized and glitzier than their ’66 predecessors.
I have logged many miles sitting behind the instrument panel modeled for
this car. As far as I am concerned, GMP has nailed each nuance of the 1:1
car. Look specifically at the speedometer and tach bezels in any ’67
or ’68 Mustang; they are chrome, not dull silver or, worse, draped
in wood grain paint Other noticeable details are the properly scaled: hand
operated parking brake, wonderfully represented door panels, inner air
extractors, and, oh yes, that clever folding rear seat. Getting back to
the rear can be tricky due to the rollbar and nicely fabricated shoulder
belts. As a concession to those who expect working steering, the steering
wheel thickness and angle have been compromised. That is the only drawback
to an otherwise terrifically modeled interior.
Exterior highlights abound. The headlights are clear lenses free of
the dreaded black dot, surrounded by bezels with screw detail. Tires
are white lettered, fat and period correct. The 10-spoke mag wheels are
some of the finest in this scale. One of the first things that caught
my eye was that the upper side scoops (more properly, air extractors)
were angled slightly upward, as per the real cars. These days I especially
appreciate the separate bright window trim that GMP and Danbury utilize
rather than silver paint. What a difference it made on my model cars
when I moved from painted frames to Bare-Metal foil. The whole is finished
in a rich, glossy authentic Brittney blue paint.
It is that commitment to the details, be they big or tiny, that distinguish
this Shelby diecast from all previous iterations. Keep in mine that this
is just the first of many variations of the ’67-68 Mustang GMP
has in the pipeline. Word is that even more refinements are already in
the works. Stay tuned. |
