8T03S187655 68 GT500 vert on BaT

[Vance]

The comments are pretty interesting to see as I was the seller of this beautiful GT500 on BaT yesterday. I am new to this forum so I am glad to see it provided you all with entertainment and something to talk about. We had a great time and the winning bidder is super happy so that's most important.
I am in my early 20's so this has been a great learning experience for me. As my background is mostly Ford GTs, Ferraris, Porsches, and classic BMWs but the older muscle cars have always appealed to me.
In contrast to other cars I have been involved with, I must say it is very unappealing to the next generation of car enthusiasts how quick some of these muscle car guys are to criticize and make bizarre claims online with zero facts. It's highly speculative. Constructive criticism is excellent and I am always open to learn more, but there has to be a better way to go about this. It would be a lot more fun for everyone if we could just appreciate each other's like minded passion and build upon the future of the car community.


Vance

[Tired Sheep]

Vance,

Just curious what claims you find bizzare?

I cant tell you how many times sellers who just sold cars think the price they received is vindication. It is not.

Do you have pre restoration photos of the car? I will venture to say you cant document a whole lot.

[Tired Sheep]

Just looked at those Branda photos...that is not typical of any original 1968 Shelby convertible roll bar installation

We can agree on one thing the moron count is pretty high around here especially since some of the more knowledgeable people have left

[shelbymann1970]

The comments are pretty interesting to see as I was the seller of this beautiful GT500 on BaT yesterday. I am new to this forum so I am glad to see it provided you all with entertainment and something to talk about. We had a great time and the winning bidder is super happy so that's most important.
I am in my early 20's so this has been a great learning experience for me. As my background is mostly Ford GTs, Ferraris, Porsches, and classic BMWs but the older muscle cars have always appealed to me.
In contrast to other cars I have been involved with, I must say it is very unappealing to the next generation of car enthusiasts how quick some of these muscle car guys are to criticize and make bizarre claims online with zero facts. It's highly speculative. Constructive criticism is excellent and I am always open to learn more, but there has to be a better way to go about this. It would be a lot more fun for everyone if we could just appreciate each other's like minded passion and build upon the future of the car community.

If you are looking to sell a rare or significant Shelby collectible, please get in touch as we are looking to build an impressive Shelby display.

Vance

AS with your comment on the auction of your Shelby  being numbers matching can you explain better than that comment as to what you are referring to(bizarre claims)? Your car here? While another poster mentioned "claims" about your Shelby no claims were made that I have seen. I asked about the seat material to start the post. Then the moderator of this forum  asked "what else do you see". I answered. If you noticed on your auction of this Shelby I posted to a friend about the roll bar fitment(shelbymann70)  and said I would investigate. If you noticed I never posted my response on the auction nor did I ever critique. The only time  sellers will ever not like my response is when they make false claims about a car or another poster does(sellers have friends  ) .Feel free to look at my past comments on auctions.  So while I saw many things wrong other than your roll bar most were easy fixes like I said. I could have posted about your comment "we believe it is matching numbers". You believe? As a dealer you should know whether it is or not. I have seen many auctions on FEs on BaT where a seller was able to get pics of the block numbers if they were there. So welcome to the forum and expect cars to be critiqued from time to time. BTW my friend was interested in your car and has deep pockets hence the investigation I did on the bar for him(wife wondered why I had to go by my other friend's house yesterday with the 68 Shelby Vert).  Gary

[shelbymann1970]

Just looked at those Branda photos...that is not typical of any original 1968 Shelby convertible roll bar installation

We can agree on one thing the moron count is pretty high around here especially since some of the more knowledgeable people have left

I think the Branda bar is made so you can use it in a 68 or 69-70 hence his way of doing it. 69-70s are bolted to the sides. No weld. I've owned a few. Gary

[JohnHouston]

It appears the support has been changed or modified. It appears to have grinder or cut off wheel marks on the drivers shock tower. The passenger apron is questionable. I don't see any tilt steering hoses. Would be interesting to see if there's a can? Both front fenders are service parts. It appears both quarters have been replaced and probably the floor pan. The console is a reproduction, the cheap export brace is hideous.

The detailing on the car is horrible. I have a friend that could find something wrong in almost every picture.  Maybe someone just wants one really badly? It's pretty and sometimes that's all it takes. The forum tends to look long term investment and for correctness. Buyers can be careless and have short term outlooks.

It's also interesting, the door tag doesn't match the Marti report exactly.  The extra letter on the interior code is there and not on Marti?? 

This car pretty much demands pre restoration pictures. Especially when you have original Shelby parts swapped out on this scale. Bottom line...The quality of the restoration is not a very high standard for a 200k car.

I'm feeling a little naïve here . . .. no dog in this hunt, but in need of a teachable moment . . .perhaps you can educate me on this . .. How can one tell service replacement fenders from the originals?  And what was the tip off on quarter replacement?  I've certainly seen bad replacement jobs, but nothing jumped out to me on this one.

Many thanks!

John (old but still learning)

[Tired Sheep]

Date codes on the front fenders are in the service replacement format. One letter two numbers representing the year.



Rear quarters look at the attachment in the door jambs, welds are not factory spot welds

Overall this restoration is amateurish, the paint work is particularly distracting

[shelbymann1970]

Tired sheep you went deeper than I did on the car. Thanks for the close up pic and mentioning how fenders are date coded. The lack of paint with gray primer showing is indicative of your thoughts on the paint. Pic 157 is interesting also. Pic 114 shows the other quarter and I cannot comprehend how you could paint that door jamb and not get paint the the out quarter panel lip(still has gray primer) but the recessed area it is welded to had full paint on it? That has me baffled. See pic below. Just expanding on your paint comment here.

[J_Speegle]

......................Pic 114 shows the other quarter and I cannot comprehend how you could paint that door jamb and not get paint the the out quarter panel lip(still has gray primer) but the recessed area it is welded to had full paint on it? That has me baffled. See pic below. Just expanding on your paint comment here.

Odd choice of where they taped off the car/repair at one point I would guess and not rolling the spray gun or making a pass to cover the area. Easier to see this on the drivers side picture of the same area above

[shelbymann1970]

......................Pic 114 shows the other quarter and I cannot comprehend how you could paint that door jamb and not get paint the the out quarter panel lip(still has gray primer) but the recessed area it is welded to had full paint on it? That has me baffled. See pic below. Just expanding on your paint comment here.

Odd choice of where they taped off the car/repair at one point I would guess and not rolling the spray gun or making a pass to cover the area. Easier to see this on the drivers side picture of the same area above

I thought the same thing Jeff after posting that they had to have done some rear quarter panel paintwork after the initial but for primer to be in the jamb when you would think just a scuffing of the paint or using rope tape  on the jamb and not painting anything in the jamb would make more sense. Just another car mystery on a process. I had the same issue with a car in the same manner in the door jamb but the area wasn't taped off as the prior owner said the rear quarter was repainted since the resto. I blew some paint into the jamb to make it look better to cover the primer.