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A brace of genuine Shelby Mustangs will create a frenzy amongst Ford fanciers at
this year’s Australian International Motors Show auction presented by Shannons.
The two iconic Shelby Fastback coupes – a 1967 right hand drive GT500 and a
1968 left hand drive GT350H (Hertz) – are both going under the hammer at
Sydney’s Darling Harbour Exhibition Centre on the final day of the Show, Sunday
November 5.
The GT500 (build number 500) is one of just 2,048 Shelbys built with Ford’s
big block ‘Police Interceptor’ 428 V8 engine in 1967 and its history is fully
documented by the Shelby American Registry. When Motor Trend tested a GT500 with
a 3.50:1 final drive, they achieved a 0-60mph time of just 6.2 seconds and
covered the standing quarter-mile in 14.52 seconds at 101.35mph.
The Le Mans Blue GT500 being auctioned by Shannons was delivered new in
California in March 1967 and is fitted with the highly desirable four-speed
manual gearbox. After arriving in Australia in 1969, the car passed through four
owners, including Bendigo (Victoria) Mustang guru Ian Blume, who totally
restored the vehicle in 1999 when the odometer was reading 77,620 miles. The
present owner has only covered a further 200-300 miles since.
The left hand drive red 1968 GT350H (build number 01140) has a similar
documented history with the Shelby American Registry, which confirms it was one
of a number of examples delivered through Stark Hickey Ford of Royal Oak,
Michigan to the Hertz Car Rental Company in Detroit, Michigan on January 31,
1968. Shelby built 1,027 GT350 fastbacks in 1968, of which an estimated 250 were
delivered to Hertz.
Equipped with automatic transmission and the very desirable Paxton
supercharger that was optional on 1968 models, this blue-chip muscle car was
imported into Australia in the late 1990s and has since been used by the current
custodian’s wife.
Shannons expect the Shelby GT500 to attract bids in the $170,000-$200,000
range and the GT350H to sell for $150,000-plus.
The two Shelbys are amongst 27 cars and 18 memorabilia lots in the Shannons
Motor Show auction.
All auction lots will be available for public viewing on the Shannons stand
in Hall 6 throughout the Australian International Motor Show, from October 26.
Shannons are also auctioning 100 special New South Wales number plates on
behalf of NSW’s RTA during this year’s Motor Show.
Fifty of the number plates for auction are three and four-digit vitreous
enamel numeral-only plates, while the other 50 are a limited edition series of
the soon-to-be-released Black Euro plates.
The auction will be held from 3-6pm, Saturday 4 November in the Parkside
Auditorium at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, with a plate preview
from1pm.
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