68 trans Am Shelby Team Car

[Bob Gaines]

A interesting read that Hagerty published today. Especially interesting to me given I purchased the car from the articles subject Phil Jacobs close to 20 years ago.  https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/jacobs-shelby-mustang-gt/

[FL SAAC]

Thanks for sharing this story

[shelbydoug]

Is this the car that was in Mississippi, left out in the field?

[TA Coupe]

What's up with the car today?

      Roy

[Bob Gaines]

What's up with the car today?

      Roy

It is sitting in my shop waiting for the transmission to have a bent input shaft replaced.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Jerry Titus won his class at the 1968 24 Hours of Daytona.
That he was 4th overall is the real story - he beat all the other prototypes too

Titus was a journalist who had shown promise behind the wheel of several race cars when Carroll Shelby offered him a place on his SCCA National Championship Trans-Am team.
CS tapped him to drive the GT350 in 1965 - CS had known Titus since he fixed his "unrepairable" Maserati while working at Bill Frick Motors in NY. CS also had no SCCA National Championship Trans-Am team at this time. CS was tapped by Ford to run the last race because they were close to winning the points total away from the Dodge Dart. - Titus = 65 championship GT350 - 1966 championship Porsche 911 he also won the last TA race to give Ford their 1st TA championship - 1967 TransAm manufacturers championship

Titus quickly proved his worth, winning the Trans-Am series driver championships in '66 and '67 while helping clinch the manufacturer's championship for Ford in that second season.
There was no driver championship for the TA at that time. It was a showcase for the manufacturers and that's who was competing for points. Titus' impact on the series earned him the title Mr. Transam from his fellow competitors.

By the end of the (68) season, with no Mustang championship in sight, Titus jumped ship and signed on with the Pontiac Firebird team.
Titus told CS at the penultimate race that he would not be returning for 1969 and CS fired him on the spot. There was no "Pontiac Firebird Team" until Titus created TG Racing - with money from Terry Godsall. It was scheduled to take birth during the 68-69 off season. But Titus wasn't one to sit out a race so he scrambled and bought a Camaro they converted into a Firebird for the last race (all in less than 1 month). He set a new lap record in the final 68 race but the engine blew. He used the Cambird at Daytona because the 69 Firebirds weren't done. He finished 1st in class and 3oa. Jon Ward who had originally built/raced the Camaro using his mom's car co-drove as part of the purchase deal. Peter Revson was brought in by CS to drive the Titus car for the last 68 race and it's engine failed on lap 24 - Titus' used Chevy 302 lasted until lap 43.

Hancock knew he had what was likely a historic automobile but was unable to document it to the satisfaction of the Shelby American Automobile Club (SAAC). At the time - His extensive research and efforts to fully document the car finally paid off in full when SAAC acknowledged that the Jacobs Mustang was one of the three cars that Ford had provided for the Shelby race team.
Now that's the story I really want to hear. What is the real story on the cars Ford provided to Shelby Racing Co.? Kar-Kraft had been given the Mustang development and builds for 68 onwards - CS built his two 67 cars with KK parts and engineering guidance - KK provided Mustangs to other TA teams in 67. During the 67 season CS became a contractor to Ford with a 3 year 68-70 season deal. For this endeavor he was no longer calling all the shots over his TA race program - which is why he couldn't tell Ford to pound sand when they gave him junk engines. I know when his contract ended at the end of the 70 season the (Kar Kraft) Boss cars he had been assigned when back to Bud Moore.