Uncovering An Untouched, 35,000-Mile 65 Shelby GT50 After Sitting Nearly 50 Yrs

[JP Emerson]

It was a pleasure to be a part of this story and to share it with the world.
read here:

Thank you to Rick Kopec and Aaron Shelby for all of your assistance and of course Vernon Estes.. Be sure to see the sidebar story and view the video in the article.

Also, thanks to all the publications who never returned my correspondence. This story should show you why you never know where a great story will come from and why blowing people off may just prove, There is nothing more expensive than missed opportunity. The Saga of Sharing Shelby 5S335 With the World


JP
JP Emerson
www.jpemerson.com

[Shawn]

Awesome and thanks for sharing

[FL SAAC Team Leader]

Superb and congratulations!

[silverton_ford]

More here too:  https://performance.ford.com/enthusiasts/newsroom/2024/10/gt350-recovery.html

[Coralsnake]

Thanks for posting

[Vernon Estes]

Thanks for posting this, JP! And thanks for helping to tell the story of the car to the world.

Doubt I'll ever come up with a more original 65... but who knows.

Kind regards,
Vern

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Great find Great car.
9 months sitting at the dealer is not unusual for a special car. The dealers order them as bait to draw foot traffic into their dealership. Sometime they also use them personal cars until the next special comes along - it would be interesting to see the mileage when the first owner bought it. I can't see the dealer installing the back seat to call it a 66. More than likely a subsequent owner had a kid or two and the wife demanded a back seat. Also I can't see the Doctor wanting a back seat - this was not intended to be his family car. They took his wife's Lincoln when they went out. The dealer would have tossed the rear shelf - or one of the mechanics would have snagged it for his car....

[deathsled]

That car is a stunner!  Congratulations!

[Vernon Estes]

Great find Great car.
9 months sitting at the dealer is not unusual for a special car. The dealers order them as bait to draw foot traffic into their dealership. Sometime they also use them personal cars until the next special comes along - it would be interesting to see the mileage when the first owner bought it. I can't see the dealer installing the back seat to call it a 66. More than likely a subsequent owner had a kid or two and the wife demanded a back seat. Also I can't see the Doctor wanting a back seat - this was not intended to be his family car. They took his wife's Lincoln when they went out. The dealer would have tossed the rear shelf - or one of the mechanics would have snagged it for his car....

All good, logical points.. but the story of the car differs according to the long term owner and the paper trail.

The BoS an letter from the bank in December of 1966 refer to the car as a 66. The car would have been registered by the first owner after his 3/1/66 purchase date...it wasn't the "correct" thing to do in registering a car as the year in which it was sold... but it happened from time to time back then and in certain states. Looser times.

 First owner certainly could have installed the backseat or the air conditioning which was on it when I got it.... but both were on the car as of December of 66 when purchased from the original owner. Donald Dunford bought the car specifically for those features as it was for his wife to drive. He raced SCCA on the weekends.

To be clear.. I wouldn't be so brash as to come on here and claim that the AC and backseat WERE dealer installed... but I also have seen enough on these cars to know that dealers pretty commonly installed accessories and features on aging inventory to make them more sale-able. A 65 GT350 was a tough sale when you had a brand new, current 66 model sitting next to it... WITH A BACKSEAT, and the option for different colors, "more" visual features etc etc.  I owned a 65 a year or so ago which has had quarter windows on it since as early as could be determined with photographs to back it up. Car wasn't sold till January of 66.. could have been installed by the now deceased 1st owner (who also owned the car for less than a year) or could have been installed by the dealer. No proof either way. It is being restored with louvers now

As for the package tray- it stayed with the car since new (which, i agree, is unusual).. it did come with the car to Dunford. If you scroll on the below link... you'll see it resting (in mint condition) on the top of the old RV... was in this spot until the "barn" was cleaned out in April. https://www.vernonestesclassics.com/#/1965-shelby-gt350-335/

Kind regards,
Vern

[Steve Z]

    Vern, Thanks for the response . Things don't always seem  as they appear ? Good luck with the purchase.

[gjz30075]

Will we be able to see the car at MCACN this year?

[sfm5]

Always super cool when another '65 turns up out of the blue. Thanks for sharing the links and pictures.

[Chad]

I heard the new owner is a STUD!

[Vernon Estes]

I heard the new owner is a STUD!

A scholar, a gentleman, and a lover of the fine arts... just what I heard 

[mgreene]

Great find Great car.
9 months sitting at the dealer is not unusual for a special car. The dealers order them as bait to draw foot traffic into their dealership. Sometime they also use them personal cars until the next special comes along - it would be interesting to see the mileage when the first owner bought it. I can't see the dealer installing the back seat to call it a 66. More than likely a subsequent owner had a kid or two and the wife demanded a back seat. Also I can't see the Doctor wanting a back seat - this was not intended to be his family car. They took his wife's Lincoln when they went out. The dealer would have tossed the rear shelf - or one of the mechanics would have snagged it for his car....

All good, logical points.. but the story of the car differs according to the long term owner and the paper trail.

The BoS an letter from the bank in December of 1966 refer to the car as a 66. The car would have been registered by the first owner after his 3/1/66 purchase date...it wasn't the "correct" thing to do in registering a car as the year in which it was sold... but it happened from time to time back then and in certain states. Looser times.

 First owner certainly could have installed the backseat or the air conditioning which was on it when I got it.... but both were on the car as of December of 66 when purchased from the original owner. Donald Dunford bought the car specifically for those features as it was for his wife to drive. He raced SCCA on the weekends.

To be clear.. I wouldn't be so brash as to come on here and claim that the AC and backseat WERE dealer installed... but I also have seen enough on these cars to know that dealers pretty commonly installed accessories and features on aging inventory to make them more sale-able. A 65 GT350 was a tough sale when you had a brand new, current 66 model sitting next to it... WITH A BACKSEAT, and the option for different colors, "more" visual features etc etc.  I owned a 65 a year or so ago which has had quarter windows on it since as early as could be determined with photographs to back it up. Car wasn't sold till January of 66.. could have been installed by the now deceased 1st owner (who also owned the car for less than a year) or could have been installed by the dealer. No proof either way. It is being restored with louvers now

As for the package tray- it stayed with the car since new (which, i agree, is unusual).. it did come with the car to Dunford. If you scroll on the below link... you'll see it resting (in mint condition) on the top of the old RV... was in this spot until the "barn" was cleaned out in April. https://www.vernonestesclassics.com/#/1965-shelby-gt350-335/

Kind regards,
Vern

Vern, somewhere I have a I have a pic of a '65 with quarter windows that I was thinking about buying back around 1987. It was in Michigan, I think, the guy was an old racer, but I can't remember his name now...