1966 Shelby GT350 for sale $365,000
| 1966 Shelby GT350 $365,000 | |
| Car Ad from: Hemmings View Original Ad | |
| Price: | $365,000 |
| Contact: | View Original Ad from Hemmings |
| Location: | Emeryville, CA |
| Details: |
1966 Shelby American GT350 s/n SFM 6S342 White with Black Interior Nothing says American performance like Carroll Shelby. With his legendary Cobra, LeMans winning bravado, and Texas homespun charm, Ford knew they could count on olandrsquo; Shel to deliver a genuinely high performance race ready variant of the already successful Mustang. The production GT350 was fast, loud and exhilarating to drive, a uniquely brawny American GT that was a match for almost any other machine on the road. But the production GT350 was a carefully planned compromise, a streetable allowance toward the car Shelby intended to race andndash; the GT350R, the R signifying its racing specification. The production GT350 suspension, steering and brakes were already outfitted for SCCA competition, but the R-modelandrsquo;s K-code 289 powerplant needed work. R-model engines were built to order, using blueprinting, heads ported and polished by Valley Head Service, Tri-Y headers by Cyclone, a center-pivot-float Holley 715 CFM carburetor on a Cobra intake and flow-through side-exit exhaust. Outputs ranged from 325 to 360 horsepower on the Shelby dynamometer. Differential and engine oil coolers were added, the latter necessitating the distinctive fiberglass front valence that distinguished the R-model. Plexiglas replaced the R-modelandrsquo;s side and back windows, the fenders were flared to accommodate wider Goodyear racing tires; a four-point roll bar was welded in and a quick-fill 37-gallon fuel tank was installed in the trunk. The GT350R was the full realization of Shelbyandrsquo;s plan for a racing Mustang, and it immediately dominated SCCA B-Production racing. The GT350R instantly became the template for racers hoping to emulate Shelbyandrsquo;s winning formula but unable to buy one of the 34 built by Shelby American. In 1966 Shelby knocked some of the rough edges off the production GT350, requiring more work to convert the street version to so-called R spec configuration. Still, independent competition GT350s proliferated, a few even springing up across the ocean in Britain and Europe. One of the most interesting of these is our featured offering, a 1966 GT350 owned and raced by Swiss ace driver Herbert Manduuml;ller from 1966 through the early 1970s. This GT-350 started life as a European export model shipped to Ford Advanced Vehicles in Slough, England. Once in the UK it was modified with R-Model type racing equipment including a roll bar, oil cooler, 37-gallon fuel tank, fiberglass front valence, and American Racing Torque Thrust D alloy wheels. The icing on the cake however was the amazing engine; aWeber-inducted GT40 engine built by Holman-Moody. The cherubic, friendly Manduuml;ller was the kind of fearless racer to whom the GT350 had instant appeal. Manduuml;ller had become one of the most experienced and accomplished drivers in the world of sports and prototype racing by the time of his tragic death at the 1981 Nurburgring. He began his career in 1959 racing motorcycles and advancing to European hill climbs. Driving a series of Porsche GT racers, he became especially successful in the FIA European Hill climb Championship, winning the GT Championship in 1963. While his speed and grace behind the wheel was opening doors into international GT and endurance racing with Porsche, Ferrari and Ford, Manduuml;ller also kept his hand in hill climbing, often taking his son to weekend events in his 1966 GT350. After his passing, Manduuml;llerandrsquo;s personal car collection sat dormant until 1985, when Ron Randolph, a civil engineer with the Army Corps of Engineers in Frankfurt and an accomplished restorer of vintage sports cars, learned of the Manduuml;ller GT350 through exotic car dealer Auto Exclusive of Zurich, Switzerland, whom Manduuml;llerandrsquo;s son had asked to broker its sale. First Randolph had to convince the young man that he would properly care for the car. Randolph later |