The '68 Shelby GT-500 Mustang
"The car had been part of a collection of an opera-singing couple living in the New Mexico desert. When the husband died, the car had been left outside in the desert heat. My brother told me about it, and after getting a chance to check it out, I was able to make the purchase," Laue explained.
The aspect of the car that made Mark make the purchase was the fact that there was practically no rust. "Then, all of the original fiberglass was with it and I was able to use all of it. When I got the car, there was a 351 Windsor engine in it, but the original 428 engine was also sitting right beside the car." With the purchase, though, the owner got one non-factory item, that being a rat's nest that the rodents called home.
Following a complete rotisserie restoration, the amazing results can be seen here. But as distinctive and recognizable as it is to muscle car fanatics, Laue says that there are many that have no idea what they are looking at. "But many of the younger kids surprisingly know exactly what it is. There are some, though that think a car that looks like this must have been some type of a custom modification," he added.
Laue pointed to some of the interesting aspects of his car, the 874th to be produced that model year. "The car carries the Marchal fog lights which were actually recalled by Ford because there were assessed to be too bright for road use. For some reason, the exchange wasn't made on this model, making it a little more interesting," the Kentucky consulting engineer explained.
The owner also noted some small clips atop the roll cage and windshield chrome piece. "You will never guess what those are for," he jested. "Those were thought up by Carroll Shelby himself to attach surf boards."
This GT-500 has had a concours judging and the results were about as near perfect as you could get, 498 out of a possible 500 points, in the Street-Driven class. It's out on the road a lot for short jaunts with about 400 miles driven since the completion of the restoration. It's never trailored!
In the few car shows it's been entered, it's had a "Best Ford" award in one large show and a second in class at the 2004 Rod and Custom Cavalcade in Cincinnati.
It's a Shelby, a big-block GT-500, a convertible, and almost perfect. Life is sweet!« Prev Page 3 of 3
