The Super Snake - faster than anything else on four wheels in 1967
03/17/2013
Carroll Shelby landed a sales hit with the Shelby Mustang GT 500. Powered by a modified V8 engine from the police interceptor with 428 cubic inches and 355 hp, the high-volume car sold almost twice as well as the smaller GT 350 variant, with 2,048 units sold against 1,175.
In February, Shelby was asked by Goodyear 's West Coast sales department whether he had a suitable car to promote the new Thunderbolt Economy tires. Carrol decided that a GT 500 would be very suitable. But an even more exciting opportunity presented itself. His former salesman Don McCain approached him with the idea of building a super sports car that would drive everything else in the world into the ground. This should be possible with a 427cc racing machine in the Shelby GT 500. McCain thought he could sell 50 of such a vehicle.
Well, the idea appealed to Carroll Shelby and he commissioned his chief engineer Fred Goodell to build a super-fast Mustang that would be used both for the Goodyear demonstration and as a prototype for the 50-series.
Goodell took the GT 500 with the number 544 and basically installed the engine from the Le Mans-winning Ford GT 40. Of course, the engine was adapted accordingly, but the 600 hp output was definitely enough to accelerate any other production car into the ground.
For the Goodyear 500-mile test run, which was to take place in Texas on the Goodyear high-speed oval near San Angelo, additional radiators and stiffer dampers and springs were fitted to the passenger side and, of course, the narrow Thunderbolt whitewall tires.
The 500 miles were then driven by Goodell, after Carroll Shelby had completed a few demonstration laps for journalists beforehand. Everything went smoothly, with Goodell averaging 142 miles per hour, while Carroll Shelby had even reached 170 MPH during the run-in laps.
After the tests, the GT 500 Special, which was to be sold 50 times for twice the price of a normal GT 500, was shown around, but it was simply too expensive. So the one-off went to a pilot and has changed hands several times to this day. Everyone took care of this rare piece and the total mileage to date is probably less than 30,000 miles.
Now the Mustang will be auctioned off as lot F203 in the Mecum auction from May 14 to 19, 2013. The bids are likely to reach unbelievable heights, considering the uniqueness and originality of this vehicle.
More about the Shelby GT 500 can be found in the Zwischengas archive.
