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and that’s what I used to construct my
database.
SAAC: Every time a project like this
came along we were looking at it as a
way to expand the club, and it never
really seemed to work out. Ford, for
some reason, was extremely reluctant
to share any of that information with
us, but they weren’t doing anything
with it on their own. They just didn’t
want anyone else to have it. Maybe
buying one would have been a foot in
the door, but even at the initial price
back then, it wasn’t anything you took
very lightly.
BURGY: Ford had a Build Book that
went with each car that had pages in
it – all the alignment specs, the torque
spec for every nut and bolt in the car
and the workers on the line would sign
off and initial it and make notes. It
was a one-inch thick three-ring binder
with a white cover with the VIN of the
car on the outside and all this infor-
mation inside. There were, maybe, a
dozen guys who got those books once
the Ford GT Forum went active. A cou-
ple of guys got theirs by accident and
a few guys got in pretty good with
Saleen after production ended and be-
fore Ford confiscated all of that stuff.
The word was that it all went to
Wixom and was stockpiled out there
somewhere in a locked room. Of
course, everybody who has a Ford GT
would like to have the build book that
went with their car, but Ford wouldn’t
release them or sell them. Now that
the cars are ten years old they have
probably been destroyed.
SAAC: You were fortunate to get that
database containing all of the Ford GT
VINs. It was an excellent starting
point and coming from the factory was
accurate.
BURGY: Of all those VIN numbers I
got, there were about 80 numbers that
were assigned to cars that were never
built. This would be information that
would be dangerous for someone who
was dishonest to get a hold of. They
could get one of those bodies from
Scott Minch and a wrecked transaxle
from X2 Builders in Barrettsville, Illi-
nois who parts out GTs and put a VIN
tag on it. In fact, there is a guy from
SVT who has a car I am very suspi-
cious of. He had a silver GT at one of
the car shows at Ford World Head-
quarters that I was checking out. His
transaxle didn’t have a number on it,
so it was a replacement transaxle. And
he had a baseball cap sitting over the
top of his VIN number. I introduced
myself and talked to him, and asked
him if he would move the cap so I
could write down the VIN for my data-
base. He said no, he wouldn’t do it. So
I don’t know if the car is stolen or if he
is overly cautious or what. The second
Ford GT Rally [
similar to a SAAC con-
vention - ed.
] they had in California,
they had a big Ford GT contingent at
the Cars & Coffee at the Ford Pre-
mium Automotive Group (PAG) in
Irvine, California, and there was a guy
there who put blue painter’s tape over
the top of his VIN, but I had taken
enough pictures of his car at other
venues that weekend and I had one
with his rear license plate so I figured
out which car it was.
SAAC: Having a VIN on a tag that
you could read through the windshield
is certainly a big help for a registrar.
It’s too bad we didn’t have that on the
early Shelbys.
BURGY: Yes, that’s true. That re-
minds me of a story... I had to replace
the headers on my ‘66 Shelby. I did it
in my garage at home, and the new ex-
haust system wouldn’t match up to
the new headers. I put the exhaust
system in the trunk and at six o’clock
in the morning I figured I’d putt-putt
out of the neighborhood and five miles
down the road to the gas station. Of
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Over the years, Burgy carried on a one-man crusade to discover what became of the
two Cobra concept cars created by Ford Styling, the Cougar II and the Bordinat Cobra
(named after Ford styling head Gene Bordinat). The cars were thought to have been
scrapped long ago, as is common with concept cars. Not even the serial numbers were
known. But Burgy examined every scrap of evidence and followed up every rumor until
he finally tracked the cars down, to the Detroit Historical Society. They had been do-
nated to the museum by Ford and put in storage in a damp warehouse, where they
were essentially forgotten. They were still in original condition. Ford’s order had been
to disassemble them, but that was later changed to “decommission” them and donate
them to the Historical Society. Over the almost forty years they were there, some small
parts had been pilfered as souvenirs. Burgy was able to determine their serial num-
bers: CSX2008 for the Candy Apple Red Cougar II and CSX3001 for the silver Bordinat
Cobra. All of this took place prior to SAAC-29 and Burgy was able to find replacement
parts and clean the cars up and convince the Detroit Historical Society to put the cars
on display at the club’s national convention. They were exhibited in a foyer of the Yp-
silanti Marriott Hotel for the entire convention.
Fall 2016 60