Does anyone out there know where 1968 Shelby GT350 #2096 is?- your owners manual

[Vernon Estes]

Howdy folks!- I have been posting the below post on various social media platforms for the last week.. figured I should spread the word through the forum as well!

Does anyone out there know where 1968 Shelby GT350 #2096 is?

Two weeks ago I purchased the original owners manual for the car..it was listed on eBay for 49 bucks.
These manuals are worth in excess of $500 but I want to make sure it gets back to the car it belongs to. The owner of the car can have it for what I stole it for. 😂

From what I understand, the car is one of the finest unrestored 68 GT350s out there. Original Candy Apple paint still looking good and extremely low mileage. God only knows how the manual was separated from the car.

The car was last sold by BroadArrow Group from the Jim Taylor collection in 2022.
https://www.broadarrowauctions.com/vehicles/tj22_086/1968-shelby-gt350-convertible

I will only deal directly with the owner of the car in getting it back to the car. Please feel free to share this post with your Shelby friends in the hopes that we can find the owner!

If you know the owner- pass this post along and PM me. Thanks!

[Bill Collins]

Hi Vern, Wow, it was a Francis For Fords car, sold new here in Harrisburg. The address in the manual is only about a mile from me, a modest 1950's rancher with no garage.

The Beachley family is long gone, but there is an Eldon E Beachley shown as presently residing in Lebanon, PA which is about 20 miles away. His age indicates that he would have been 24 when #2096 was sold new, so he may be its original owner.

If you locate 2096's current owner, they may find this information interesting.

[QuickSilverShelby]

Nice job Vern.  Kudos to you.

QSS

[KR Convertible]

+1

A true ambassador of the hobby!

Better than all of the a$$holes holding stuff for ransom!!

[Vernon Estes]

Hi Vern, Wow, it was a Francis For Fords car, sold new here in Harrisburg. The address in the manual is only about a mile from me, a modest 1950's rancher with no garage.

The Beachley family is long gone, but there is an Eldon E Beachley shown as presently residing in Lebanon, PA which is about 20 miles away. His age indicates that he would have been 24 when #2096 was sold new, so he may be its original owner.

If you locate 2096's current owner, they may find this information interesting.

Thanks for the info Bill! Somehow I knew that the original selling dealer would excite you 

Kind regards,
Vern

[Vernon Estes]

+1

A true ambassador of the hobby!

Better than all of the a$$holes holding stuff for ransom!!

Seems like the obvious and thing to do.. blows my mind that guys hold original owners manuals for ransom...I've seen people demand WAY above market value for manuals which are original to a specific car.

Truth be told, I have been accused of "holding for ransom" on two occasions in the past. I was accused by the owner of a 66 one time of holding a manual ransom when I wanted $300 bucks for it. At the time, 66 manuals were worth 500-650 and I paid $300 for it not even knowing that it had a serial number written in the inside cover at the time of purchase. Just wanted my money back. He paid the "ransom". I've never been made to feel more guilty for taking half price    For every bad experience there are many more good ones... it is fun to get these manuals back to the people who own the cars. I dont know how many I've helped get back to the original cars but its probably more than 10.  It is a fun challenge and I know id be over the moon if someone found an owners manual to one of my cars and got it back to me.

The most bewildering experience by far, though, is when you find an owner and they have absolutely no interest at any price in the manual. 

Kind regards,
Vern

[QuickSilverShelby]

Some people are just dip shits.  $300 for their original manual!  That's some of the best $300 ever spent.

And the people who don't want their original manual...... those owners are "special".

QSS

[Bob Gaines]

Some people are just dip shits.  $300 for their original manual!  That's some of the best $300 ever spent.

And the people who don't want their original manual...... those owners are "special".

QSS

I suppose by your standards I'm special then. I wanted the original 68 owners manual for my car but was not willing to pay the ransom. He was a previous owner and had tracked me down through Mongo/Vinman . He offered to sell it to me and emailed a picture . The manual was in terrible condition with faded and torn half missing front cover and dog eared inner pages. I still would have paid 300.00 for it in a second if he had offered that because of sentimental value but felt taken advantage of when he said it would take 1500.00 to buy it. While thinking this situation over I looked at the NOS manual I had for the car held in my hand and the picture of the dog eared torn cover manual in the emailed picture on the computer monitor he sent and there was no contest . I was not going to be taken advantage of and pay a obvious ransom so I declined his offer.

[SHELB66]

Sorry, Bob, but you're not "special" as you REALLY WANTED your manual, just not to that extreme!  Some could just care less which is hard to fathom when such an iconic car is involved.

Craig R.

[shelbymann1970]

Some people are just dip shits.  $300 for their original manual!  That's some of the best $300 ever spent.

And the people who don't want their original manual...... those owners are "special".

QSS

I suppose by your standards I'm special then. I wanted the original 68 owners manual for my car but was not willing to pay the ransom. He was a previous owner and had tracked me down through Mongo/Vinman . He offered to sell it to me and emailed a picture . The manual was in terrible condition with faded and torn half missing front cover and dog eared inner pages. I still would have paid 300.00 for it in a second if he had offered that because of sentimental value but felt taken advantage of when he said it would take 1500.00 to buy it. While thinking this situation over I looked at the NOS manual I had for the car held in my hand and the picture of the dog eared torn cover manual in the emailed picture on the computer monitor he sent and there was no contest . I was not going to be taken advantage of and pay a obvious ransom so I declined his offer.

I hear you Bob. The second owner(Belgian) offered me my original owners manual and steering wheel out of my 70 for 7000.00 dollars. I bought a mint original from Jim Cowles for 100 bucks and already had an NOS wheel tucked away for my vert so I declined....I did offer him over market value at the time but he declined then through them on Ebay(circa 2010) for less than half of what he offered them to me. He still has them.

[QuickSilverShelby]

Some people are just dip shits.  $300 for their original manual!  That's some of the best $300 ever spent.

And the people who don't want their original manual...... those owners are "special".

QSS

I suppose by your standards I'm special then. I wanted the original 68 owners manual for my car but was not willing to pay the ransom. He was a previous owner and had tracked me down through Mongo/Vinman . He offered to sell it to me and emailed a picture . The manual was in terrible condition with faded and torn half missing front cover and dog eared inner pages. I still would have paid 300.00 for it in a second if he had offered that because of sentimental value but felt taken advantage of when he said it would take 1500.00 to buy it. While thinking this situation over I looked at the NOS manual I had for the car held in my hand and the picture of the dog eared torn cover manual in the emailed picture on the computer monitor he sent and there was no contest . I was not going to be taken advantage of and pay a obvious ransom so I declined his offer.

I completely agree with you Bob.  Nobody should be held ransom for the manual for their original car.  I guess what I was referring to was Vern's post when he said: "The most bewildering experience by far, though, is when you find an owner and they have absolutely no interest at any price in the manual."    If Vern is gonna offer you your original manual for $50 or $100 or $300 or for free, as Vern alluded to, I consider that totally reasonable but if you decline, at any price in that range, well those are the folks who I consider "special" .

Completely my error in how I wrote my previous post.  Sorry, I didn't mean to offend.

QSS

[Coralsnake]

Mr Gaines is special, do not question that 😉

[Bob Gaines]

Mr Gaines is special, do not question that 😉

[SHELB66]

Mr Gaines is special, do not question that 😉

Couldn't agree more!

Craig R.

[Hipo-Fred]

Mr Gaines is special, do not question that 😉

Couldn't agree more!

Craig R.

+1 ..... and Vern also.

Fred