The Shelby American (Winter 2021)

car for the better part of six months. During that time GT350 production had been ramped up and cars were steadily being shipped to dealers. About a dozen of the earliest produc- tion cars were used for public relations purposes and also to evaluate various parts and components prior to produc- tion. On May 20, 1965 a company memo from Chuck Cantwell, dated 5/20/65, regarding 5S003 stated, “ This car is to be returned to street configuration. This entails removing the special Ford mirror, removing the painted side em- blems [the GT350 rectangular em- blems on the side of the front fenders] , adding lower stripes [referring to the GT350 nomenclature] , removing pro- totype clay [brake cooling] scoop, re- moving prototype quarter window assemblies [installed to evaluate them for the 1966 model] and replacing with original [stock Mustang] grille assem- bly, filling minor holes in the body. Add Shelby serial number plate SFM5003. This car is then to be sold. ” On June 15, 1965 the car was shipped to Hi-Performance Motors to be sold as a used car. It was purchased by Leslie Motors in Monterey, Califor- nia and picked up by salesman Ed Geesaman who was flown to Los An- geles by Leslie, a former military pilot who flew C-47s over China and Burma during WWII. Geesaman recalled that the car had about 1,000 miles when he got it. He was driving it north, near San Luis Obispo, at a leisurely 80 mph when he was pulled over by a California High- way Patrol cruiser. The first thing the officer noted was the side exhausts, which he said were illegal (not to men- tion loud). Geesaman explained this was the way the car came from the fac- tory and that he had picked it up from Shelby American earlier in the day. He proceeded to show the officer the man- ufacturer’s certificate of origin and sales paperwork. Before long the offi- cer was looking all over the car and be- came enthusiastic about it. Needless to say, there was no citation. Ed Leslie, a Cobra team driver, had a handful of GT350s on his lot – all new cars with the exception of 5S003 which was advertised as a used car. It was intended to be a dealer demon- strator but was quickly purchased by Monterey resident Bill Moir for $4,350 – only $400 less than full list. When he bought the car Moir recalled that it had steel wheels. A short time after purchasing it Moir heard some- thing rattling in the back. He tracked it down to the rear shelf area and when he removed the shelf he found an unused 289 Weber intake manifold. Moir installed a roll bar and a TRACO 289 engine from Chuck Par- son’s Lotus 30. He also installed ‘66 Shelby quarter windows and rear brake scoops (although finding no evi- dence of the car’s having had them previously). He added a 2x4V high-rise intake with Holley carburetors, Amer- ican five-spoke wheels, 8-track tape system and he fabricated an R-Model gas tank out of two Mustang tank bot- tom halves. It was then painted Chevrolet Caprice Aztec Bronze by a Salinas body shop. With a set of 4.56 rear end gears, Moir turned an 11.90 e.t. @ 112 mph at the drag strip. Moir sold the car to Wester Porsche- Audi in Monterey in late 1966 and they then sold it to an unknown owner from Santa Clara county. Moir repur- chased it from the unknown owner in 1967 or 1968 after tracking it down through the original license plate number. By then 003 had acquired large front and rear fender flares and about six coats of paint. Moir stripped the car to bare metal, straightened the body, removed the ‘66 quarter win- dows and repainted it the original white/blue. Moir advertised the car for sale in AutoWeek on 9/23/72 for $3,850 and then 9/30/72 for $3,000 or offers with a new engine, transmission, differen- tial and interior. It was purchased by Ray Howells (Palo Alto, California) sometime in 1972. In 1976 the car was purchased by Tim Arnett of San Jose for $3,000. When he restored it Arnett found three bullet holes in the body and an arrest warrant for Howells. At that time it had ‘66 ten-spoke wheels and an R-Model front apron. In 1980 5S003 was purchased by Don Day of Los Altos, California. Prior to that time SAAC had been diligently researching the history of the first three cars, trying to determine their details. The club had access to only a small amount of factory paperwork at that time although we were pretty convinced we had most of. Boy, were we wrong! We would eventually find a treasure trove of paperwork in Shelby’s attic and then even more from Ford’s archives and this would change everything. Based on the thin slice of Shelby history available to us at that time, SAAC concluded that the first three cars were competition prototypes and for some reason this one, the third car, The SHELBY AMERICAN Winter 2021 31