1971 Shelby Cobra - What could have been....

[Richstang]

And perhaps more importantly, thankfully wasn't!

[Richstang]

This view is far more hideous...

[Richstang]

Check out the background Quarter Horse? with the raised cowl style hood.
Is that a '69 Camaro behind it. Lots to study at Ford's Design / Engineering Center in Dearborn.

At least one of these was pictured in a "Consumer's Guide Mustang" Book (they made many).
I'm still searching for the rear view or views of the Shelby or better views of the Quarter Horse in this version.

[557]

This view is far more hideous...

.      What do you mean hideous?!?! You are going to offend all the AMX /Javelin fans out there!!!LOL

[Bigfoot]

Really ugly
Fugly

[papa scoops]

picture it with woodgrain siding.  phred

[billups67]

There were only six 69 Shelby's built by this time (pre-production) if the date on the plaque is correct. 2 Pilot Plant cars, both red GT500 fastbacks and 2 Dearborn built convert's 2336 (black prototype we restored) and 2337 (The aqua prototype convert on the Shelby brochure) and 2 Dearborn built GT500 fastbacks 2338 (the black/red prototype we are working on) and 2339 (the aqua 4 wheel disc brake prototype waiting to be restored). 480001 1st production Gt350 convert wasn't built at Dearborn until 10-3-68 and I'm sure didn't get finished till way after the date on this photo. So, unless someone knows something I don't (good possibility) the car in the back ground isn't the Quarter Horse. Has to be one of the 3 red Prototypes. I have a good idea which one it is. 

[Richstang]

There were only six 69 Shelby's built by this time (pre-production) if the date on the plaque is correct. 2 Pilot Plant cars, both red GT500 fastbacks and 2 Dearborn built convert's 2336 (black prototype we restored) and 2337 (The aqua prototype convert on the Shelby brochure) and 2 Dearborn built GT500 fastbacks 2338 (the black/red prototype we are working on) and 2339 (the aqua 4 wheel disc brake prototype waiting to be restored). 480001 1st production Gt350 convert wasn't built at Dearborn until 10-3-68 and I'm sure didn't get finished till way after the date on this photo. So, unless someone knows something I don't (good possibility) the car in the back ground isn't the Quarter Horse. Has to be one of the 3 red Prototypes. I have a good idea which one it is.

Thanks for the all this interesting info. Looking at the posted photo I realize the hood appears to be a standard 69 Shelby hood with vents in the center and on the two raised outer bulges. We know both Quarter Horses (Grabber Blue and Candy Red) had hoods without those NACA vents. It also appears to have a side front fender vent (not found on the Red 429 Quarter Horse). The odd features are the standard mustang quarter panel vent (not the Shelby added scoop) and lack of side stripes. Also, it looks to be a white interior, if that helps. I don't know anything about the 3 red prototypes (I'll have to look in the registry; Does anyone have photos?). You're probably on the right path since I appear to be wrong on the Quarter Horses and the dates are a shown. 

[Special Ed]

note 70type black stripe hood & grill trim type on the 69

[Richstang]

note 70type black stripe hood & grill trim type on the 69

I've never seen that grille trim before.

Nice catch Ed

[mark p]

Maybe the thought was - with more "details" to watch on the hood, hopefully no-one will notice that nose 

[billups67]

Ed, if you remember 2338 had 70 style stripes on the hood when we drug it out of the barn in Ohio. I don't know if I agree with the white interior? 2339 was the only fastback built at this time with white interior but it is gulfstream aqua. The car pictured looks to dark for gulfstream. But if we can determine that it does have white guts, it has to be 2339. Process of elimination..... Richstang you wont have much luck learning about these cars in the registry. There wasn't much known about them till after the last registry was published. Ed is still grumpy because he had to admit he was wrong about the brochure car. Sorry Ed, its fun to poke the bear... Pete has a section on his site about the 4 69 prototypes. I'm going to send him a lot more info so he can update it. Much has been learned.

[Richstang]

Maybe the thought was - with more "details" to watch on the hood, hopefully no-one will notice that nose 

I don't know what they were thinking. It does look like this '71 Shelby Cobra design study could easily swap out that nose/grille section for another version.
Maybe this was the first pass at the styling.

[Richstang]

Ed, if you remember 2338 had 70 style stripes on the hood when we drug it out of the barn in Ohio. I don't know if I agree with the white interior? 2339 was the only fastback built at this time with white interior but it is gulfstream aqua. The car pictured looks to dark for gulfstream. But if we can determine that it does have white guts, it has to be 2339. Process of elimination..... Richstang you wont have much luck learning about these cars in the registry. There wasn't much known about them till after the last registry was published. Ed is still grumpy because he had to admit he was wrong about the brochure car. Sorry Ed, its fun to poke the bear... Pete has a section on his site about the 4 69 prototypes. I'm going to send him a lot more info so he can update it. Much has been learned.

I feel pretty strong that the interior on the '69 is white. Notice the seats compared to the dash pad (not a flat cougar dash either). There is a bold contrast.
Now look at the interior of the Camaro. Nothing but darkness inside, like that of a black interior.
That said I also think it is too dark to be gulfstream aqua, but we know B&W photos are difficult to confirm the actual paint colors.

Also, check out the emblem on the quarter panel of the '69. It looks like a round Mustang emblem.

I forgot about Pete's website. I did check that out a while back for the 69 prototypes...time for a memory refresh.

[billups67]

Richstang, It looks like the deck lid and end caps are still Mustang and not Shelby as well. Maybe the car wasn't finished being converted yet? I have some notes somewhere about the roll bar completion dates. 2338 and 2339 both have very crude built roll bars. maybe the roll bars were not done yet so they didn't bother taking the interior out to install the qt scoops because they would have to repeat the same process again to install the roll bar. just a thought. Maybe someone can find the original print of this photo so we could blow it up and try to find more details.