Presented by Mecum Auctions – Just as Carroll Shelby?s original Ford-powered Cobra roadster set a new standard for high performance in a sports car, the 1964 announcement of the new Ford Mustang reset the American public?s expectations for affordable performance in a mass-production automobile. The most inspired and brilliantly targeted product in automotive history, the Mustang?s meteoric rise to fame was unprecedented, appealing to the broadest cross-section of consumers ever encountered in Ford?s decades of market research. It was therefore inevitable that Ford would approach Carroll Shelby?already leading the charge in the company?s Total Performance campaign?to instill the Mustang with the performance needed to dominate SCCA B Production competition. Shelby?s answer to Ford?s command, the 1965 Shelby GT350, is firmly entrenched as a genuine American automotive treasure; a single encounter with one of these feral beasts can be a life-altering experience that has opened more than a few eyes to the magic of the times and people responsible for its creation.
Shelby American designer Peter Brock, one of the pivotal figures in the GT350 saga, has pointed out, ?finding a GT350 Mustang in almost pristine condition is more than a minor miracle; it?s headline news.? Offered after 30 years of museum-quality storage, Shelby GT350 No. SFM5013 is the very car to which Brock was referring, and it is quite likely the most well preserved original GT350 in existence. Significa...