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.

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.