A brace of genuine Shelby Mustangs will create a frenzy amongst Ford fans at this year’s Australian International Motors Show auction presented by Shannons. The two iconic Shelby Fastback coupes – a 1967 right hand drive GT500 and a 1968 left hand drive GT350H (Hertz) – are both going under the hammer at Sydney’s Darling Harbour Exhibition Centre on the final day of the Show, Sunday November 5.

The GT500 (build number 500) is one of just 2,048 Shelbys built with Ford’s big block ‘Police Interceptor’ 428 V8 engine in 1967 and its history is fully documented by the Shelby American Registry. When Motor Trend tested a GT500 with a 3.50:1 final drive, they achieved a 0-60mph time of just 6.2 seconds and covered the standing quarter-mile in 14.52 seconds at 101.35mph.

The Le Mans Blue GT500 being auctioned by Shannons was delivered new in California in March 1967 and is fitted with the highly desirable four-speed manual gearbox. After arriving in Australia in 1969, the car passed through four owners, including Bendigo (Victoria) Mustang guru Ian Blume, who totally restored the vehicle in 1999 when the odometer was reading 77,620 miles. The present owner has only covered a further 200-300 miles since.
The left hand drive red 1968 GT350H (build number 01140) has a similar documented history with the Shelby American Registry, which confirms it was one of a number of examples delivered through Stark Hickey Ford of Royal Oak, Michigan to the Hertz Car Rental Company in Detroit, Michigan on January 31, 1968. Shelby built 1,027 GT350 fastbacks in 1968, of which an estimated 250 were delivered to Hertz.

Equipped with automatic transmission and the very desirable Paxton supercharger that was optional on 1968 models, this blue-chip muscle car was imported into Australia in the late 1990s and has since been used by the current custodian’s wife.

Shannons expect the Shelby GT500 to attract bids in the $170,000-$200,000 range and the GT350H to sell for $150,000-plus.

Needless to say, GT-500, I WANT ONE!

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