Export Brace

[Carl111]

Hello everyone, perhaps you can help me out here. I have a 67 GT500 and have had a few different export braces in the garage over the years. The interesting one (that I believe came on the car 37 years ago) has 8 holes, 4 that alight for an earlier car 65 66 and 4 that align with the 67 etc. Has anyone ever seen this? Perhaps it was a leftover at LAX that got redrilled or something? The picture is in primer and a little hard to see, sorry.

[Bob Gaines]

Hello everyone, perhaps you can help me out here. I have a 67 GT500 and have had a few different export braces in the garage over the years. The interesting one (that I believe came on the car 37 years ago) has 8 holes, 4 that alight for an earlier car 65 66 and 4 that align with the 67 etc. Has anyone ever seen this? Perhaps it was a leftover at LAX that got redrilled or something? The picture is in primer and a little hard to see, sorry.

I have seen a number of export braces modified by past owners like that over the years . The ones that I have seen were mostly with equal space holes added to the much more common unequal spaced hole brace. Your example appears to be the less common way. The brace would have been installed on the Ford line and not Shelby LAX so Ford using a modified brace when they had pallets of brace's made by the Ford subcontractor ready for assemblyline installation  extremely unlikely. 37 years sounds like a big number however the 67 GT500 was already over 20 years old by the time you started counting. A lot of things can happen by past owners in that time. My first 67 GT500 that I had in 1973 already had a repaint and a engine rebuild by then and it was only 6 years old. Everyone back then already considered it a old car.  The most logical explanation given the facts is that  export brace was most likely modified by a past owner.

[BryanT]

Earlier post.  https://www.saacforum.com/index.php?topic=11016.0

[Bob Gaines]

Occam's Razor: the simplest explanation that will account for a circumstance or event is most likely the correct explanation. In this case given the facts and somewhat primitive added drilled holes owner added .

[J_Speegle]

Hello everyone, perhaps you can help me out here. I have a 67 GT500 and have had a few different export braces in the garage over the years. The interesting one (that I believe came on the car 37 years ago) has 8 holes, 4 that alight for an earlier car 65 66 and 4 that align with the 67 etc. Has anyone ever seen this?

Interesting. What car number did this come from? 

How long have you had the car?

What else may have been changed on the car?

Perhaps it was a leftover at LAX that got redrilled or something? The picture is in primer and a little hard to see, sorry.

If ones like this were originally used on cars then it would be a San Jose/Ford thing since that is where they were installed not at Shelby

[Carl111]

The car is number 3081, I have had it since 1986. I feel like I will put it on the car at this point.

[BryanT]

IMO I would follow Bob's advice. Get someone to TIG weld the holes not in use and grind and finish before paint.

[Carl111]

Thank you,

[J_Speegle]

The car is number 3081, I have had it since 1986. I feel like I will put it on the car at this point.

Thanks that helps. Seeing that car spent allot or most of its life in the north east there is the likely possibility IMHO that someone replaced the export brace from one from a NJ built Mustang from the  April-May production period there.