Photo: YouTube/American Mustangs
The year 1965 has gone down in automotive history as the Ford-Chrysler feud over the Race Hemi, the dramatic debut of the Chevrolet 396 big-block V8, and the first Shelby Mustang. None less important than the others, and each an automotive monument in its own right, all three have prompted countless debates and endless discussions about their significance. However, no amount of chatter, large or small, can ever match the thrill of discovering a double-digit GT350 road car.
The Ford Mustang hit the road in 1964 and was an instant sales success, although it failed to meet a crucial expectation of a certain segment of the car enthusiast community: on-track performance. Ford executives turned to their in-house speed expert, none other than Carroll Shelby, to right the embarrassing wrong. The Texan did just that, producing the first of a series of legendary, high-powered Mustangs, the GT350 that would sweep the competition in the 1965 SCCA championship.
The story of how the nameplate came to be is, like all things Shelby, full of frenetic drama and adrenaline overdose, but let’s cut to the chase. In late 1964—and by that I mean literally the last seven days of the year—a batch of 100 Ford Mustangs armed with the top-of-the-line K-code 289 V8 arrived at the Shelby factory in Los Angeles.
The plan was simple: To build race cars, Ford first had to show solid proof of a mandatory production run of 100 or more road cars. That was the easy part. The exciting part is that all 100 Mustangs had to be ready before the end of January. The Shelby men did just that, and on January 27, the GT350 was unveiled to the public. The rest is history and, at times, a treasure hunt for Mustang fanatics.
The American Mustangs YouTube vloggers recently resurrected one of those rare “Double-Digit” cars from a 48-year-old one-owner in South Charleston, West Virginia. The car has been sitting under a tarp in a protected environment for the past twelve years and has been meticulously cared for its entire life. The video is more than clear: the Shelby is a chef’s kiss, even after nearly six decades.
Easily distinguishable by its serial number that places it in that early production run, the rarity: it is one of 562 built for the model year, including prototypes and race cars, and one of 504 road cars assembled. Early GT350s, those built as homologation vehicles, feature unique details, such as the spare tire stowed in the cockpit just behind the two seats (the rear seats of a regular Mustang were eliminated in favor of a storage platform), a sixteen-inch Shelby Cobra steering wheel, Koni adjustable shock absorbers front and rear, anti-tramp bars mounted above the rear axle, cables to limit rear axle travel, a driveshaft safety ring, three-inch aircraft-style seat belts, and an Autolite battery in the trunk.
This car is not a survivor. It was restored at some point and the odometer reads 12,056 miles (19,400 km). However, we do not know if this is the original low mileage or the odometer has been rolled over.
