Finally... I guess I dont have to keep the secret

[Coralsnake]

It has a valid title. Not sure if its going to restored yet. I think the original idea was it not be sold, but after several changes at the college, things change, decades later it was sold as an asset

[FL SAAC]

Very kool !

[Coralsnake]

This is a pretty significant car. Not on par with Lil Red, but almost as significant

[Prototype]

thats RAD.
Some of these cars lose a feature or two when they get restored,.....particularly PROTOYPES.

[67st102]

Here is a photo of the car when it was at Montcalm Community College in mid-michigan.  This photo appears in the Shelby American #49.

In hopes of keeping this story accurate - the car originally had a 390 4-speed.  That was changed out within the first couple of months of the car's life and replaced with a 428 CJ and an automatic.  (This is shown in the Shelby Inventory documents from October 1968). The 390 is obviously long gone. 

Thanks to former SAAC member Bill VanEss, the college sought legal advice on if the car could be auctioned off and since Shelby American was not an entity any longer - the college got the car titled and auctioned it off in May, 1985.  Kurt Knoll purchased the car with 27,000 miles on it and has had the car ever since.  The car still has basically the same mileage on it as it did in 1985 (and the wind tunnel fixture checking marks in the paint.)

Mr. Knoll passed away last year.  I was able to see the car for the first time this past February though had been aware of it since 2001.  (And it was less than 10 miles from my house)  I also spent many hours with the car this summer -  gathering the parts that had been taken off of it over the years by Mr. Knoll.  I look forward to seeing what Jason does with this car - refresh or restore.  I am thinking this might be a good time to possibly write an article about the car for the Shelby American Magazine.

Lowell

[Coralsnake]

Thanks for your work on this car Lowell

[67st102]

Thanks Pete - It was an honor to have been included as a "resource" for the family

To help all interested to understand how the car ended up at Montcalm Community College - the college is located 20 miles directly up the road north of Ionia, MI  (home of AO Smith and the Shelby garage operations in 1968 -1969)

The awesome thing from a Shelby historical perspective is that both the 1967 prototype GT500 that was donated to the Michigan Training Unit Prison (Ionia, MI) for shop class purposes and the 1969 prototype 100029 donated to the college were NOT destroyed and still exist today.  That could have easily been a different scenario for either vehicle.

On a side note - I have a car friend who still lives in Ionia, MI who attended the college when the Shelby was in the shop class and he got to rebuild the transmission back in the day.  How cool is that!!

[pmustang]

What an amazing story. Thanks for sharing

[J_Speegle]

For what ever reason it appears that more of the pilot plant cars still are around. Not sure if they built more of them or just gave them to different institutions rather than destroying them like earlier ones.

Great and interesting find will be interesting to see what features and "one" off parts they share

[s2ms]

Here is a photo of the car when it was at Montcalm Community College in mid-michigan.  This photo appears in the Shelby American #49.

In hopes of keeping this story accurate - the car originally had a 390 4-speed.  That was changed out within the first couple of months of the car's life and replaced with a 428 CJ and an automatic.  (This is shown in the Shelby Inventory documents from October 1968). The 390 is obviously long gone.

Thanks to former SAAC member Bill VanEss, the college sought legal advice on if the car could be auctioned off and since Shelby American was not an entity any longer - the college got the car titled and auctioned it off in May, 1985.  Kurt Knoll purchased the car with 27,000 miles on it and has had the car ever since.  The car still has basically the same mileage on it as it did in 1985 (and the wind tunnel fixture checking marks in the paint.)

Mr. Knoll passed away last year.  I was able to see the car for the first time this past February though had been aware of it since 2001.  (And it was less than 10 miles from my house)  I also spent many hours with the car this summer -  gathering the parts that had been taken off of it over the years by Mr. Knoll.  I look forward to seeing what Jason does with this car - refresh or restore.  I am thinking this might be a good time to possibly write an article about the car for the Shelby American Magazine.

Lowell

Naive question....

Since the 428 CJ was already in production why was a 390 4-speed used as a pilot plant car only to be changed out to a 428 CJ, A/T later anyway?

[J_Speegle]

Naive question....

Since the 428 CJ was already in production why was a 390 4-speed used as a pilot plant car only to be changed out to a 428 CJ, A/T later anyway?

Don't know that the engines in the pilot plant cars were ever replaced and the cheaper and possibly easier to get 390 was close enough for the evaluation of how the cars would be built at the regular car production plants. As I understand that was the purpose of the pilot plant was to "test", experiment and confirm the steps and order of assembly so having the exact same engine as the production car was not necessary. Often these cars were also used in advertising before they were destroyed or deposed of. That is my understanding from Ford some employees I've talked to and from Ford documentation and books that include some details of the pilot plants and the over all planning and assembly process

[Coralsnake]

Its a good question, not sure of the answer.

[shelbymann1970]

Thanks Pete - It was an honor to have been included as a "resource" for the family

To help all interested to understand how the car ended up at Montcalm Community College - the college is located 20 miles directly up the road north of Ionia, MI  (home of AO Smith and the Shelby garage operations in 1968 -1969)

The awesome thing from a Shelby historical perspective is that both the 1967 prototype GT500 that was donated to the Michigan Training Unit Prison (Ionia, MI) for shop class purposes and the 1969 prototype 100029 donated to the college were NOT destroyed and still exist today.  That could have easily been a different scenario for either vehicle.

On a side note - I have a car friend who still lives in Ionia, MI who attended the college when the Shelby was in the shop class and he got to rebuild the transmission back in the day.  How cool is that!!

I have a former coworker who lives in Lake Odessa(transferred to one of our Lansing facilities a few months ago) who is into cars and building custom 4x4 pickups. A real gear head. I kept telling him to look in every garage and barn out there as there might be cars like this in his area. My Chairman at work lives in St. Johns not far from the college. I always instill on him to look for cars also.

[67st102]

An nice 7 page article by Al Rogers with a lot of great photos will be out soon.  Just a heads up.

Old Cars Weekly - October 15, 2023 edition.

This magazine is available through subscription only - with a digital subscription option available.

[Bill]

https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/found-1969-shelby-gt500-pilot-test-car

Pilot Plant car! Thats super rare! 390 engine Holy Cows

Pete,

   So who is doing the restoration?


Bill