1967 Running Production Changes

Hi Roy,
Found the letter regarding the 6.5" to 6" steel (standard) wheels
and it's quite interesting. It's from Shelby American , General Sales
Manager, H.A. Bracken, to all Shelby American Dealers and dated
February 22, 1967.

The way I read this letter is that all 67's up to this point had the 7" deluxe
(Magstar) wheels, i.e. it was mandatory until the 6" standard (steel) wheel
was available. No cars or at least very few were ever delivered with the
specified 6.5" standard (steel) wheel.
What do you think?
Texas Swede

 

Swede:

I read the letter a little differently. Sounds to me that they had a hard time finding a supplier for the 6.5" wheels, so they were changing to the 6". But I don't think all cars up to the point of that letter got deluxe (Magstar) wheels. I'm sure several cars came with hupcaps with the 6.5" steel wheels up until that point. I have a few original shots, plus the sales brochure Lime 350 comes to mind which has hubcaps, that definately preceded that Feburary date.

Kenny

 

Hi once again ! This letter is very typical of what Shelby American was experiencing in the entire time they produced cars.Many of the suppliers they counted on were the same as any business would be,and still are...they look after the big contracts first,then the small producers get stocked up.It was always Shelbys plan to sell the deluxe wheels,and be able to profit from them.The 67 G.T.350 in the brochure driving by the theme restraunt is one of the only times they used a hubcap car in a photograph.Do we have a date it was produced?The registry shows the first lime gold car was produced 12/5/66 and several were made after this date.Any clues as to which car this is?My best guess is 176 which is listed as an engineering car,and thought to have been destroyed.Please let us know the origin of any 67 photos,they are scarce.Thanks P.D.

 

Roy,

1)You bring up a good point for the louvered hoods as to whether they should be considered a production change. The louvered hood was developed as a fix for over heating problems with the big block cars with AC and as a bonus, a fix for all cars that were out in the field that had over heating problems. Not every big block car with AC received the hood however. There was a run of these cars near the end that didn't have them.
Most of the louvered hoods ended up on cars after they were in service. The reason I say this is that for years the only replacement hood you could buy from Ford was the louvered hood so a lot of them ended up on cars because of accident damage.

2)The early cars had 6 point roll bars and at some point the decision was made, most likely as a cost reduction, the go with the 4 point. I have seen many cars that have the rear tube cut off, most likely because the roll bars had been all ready manufactured prior to the change. I don't have any documents that determine when this was done or if the vendor or Shelby removed the tubes.

3)OK

4)The die cast spider base is S7MS 9600-B. It was used on the C7ZF-J,M,K air cleaner assemblies which consisted of the top, filter element and base. Take a look at the 7 page SVO and you will see the air cleaner assembly listed by Ford part number rather then the individual pieces that made up the assembly. The earlier SVO sheets should reflect the earlier type air cleaner assembly C5AF, AS,C.

5)The two different steering columns were the one with the rag joint and the other without the rag joint. Maybe Bob, Jeff, or Kenny could fill us in here as to when they were used because my knowledge of that change ends at just noticing the difference.

Dave

 

Patty:

I refer you to the featured car, a 67 GT-500 and cover shot (next to Shelby's private plane) of Road and Track magazine dated January 1967. That is a very early GT-500 with hubcaps. Obviously if the magazine was dated January 1967, then the photo shoot occured before that, like late '66. So once again, preceding the date of the letter Swede has.

Kenny

 

Hello,

Just a comment about that lime gold GT 500 on the cover of the January 1967 issue of Road and Track. That car is not a "production" GT 500. It is most likely a prototype/mule that was never issued a Shelby serial number. I believe that same car is pictured in the December 1966 issue of Popular Science.

Thanks,
Eric

 

Dave I have to agree with your 4 point/6 point roll bar idea mine does have the two rear legs cut off unfortunatly I have no pictures, until next time the rear panel comes off.

 

I thought it might be necessary to clarify for those reading this thread that might be confused by what is being discussed -the cut off of the extra brace on each side of the roll bar that is being discussed is normally not seen because it is lower on the rollbar and covered once the interior quarter trim panels are installed.

I too think it is hard to believe that only Magstars were mounted until Feb 22 of 1967. The letter certainly makes you wonder. Dave I am sure your reading this thread. What is your take on this and do you have a copy of that letter ?

 

Bob,
The letter is posted in The Shelby American # 45 and in Honegger's article about the early 67's.
Texas Swede

 

Bob,
I had always thought that the steel wheels and hub caps were available early on. The SVO sheets definitely list steel wheels and hub caps even for the 1966 built cars. Today I looked and was surprised to find according to production orders, the earliest date of a Shelby American completed car shipped with steel wheels was 3/3/67. I think I need to look further into this but it adds credibility to the theory that Shelby took steel wheels off and replaced them with Magstars. I don't remember seeing the letter before but may have it in a TBD foulder.
Dave

 

Eric:

You may be right about the Lime 500. In fact if you look closely at the engine compartment shot in the R&T issue, there is no Shelby tag rivetted in place.
However, I was merely using it as an example of another car photographed with hubcaps. And you are also correct about it being the same car in Popular Science, they basically recycled the same photos from R&T.

Kenny

 

Kenny,

I had no issue with your statement. I agree with your citing that car as an example of a '67 being photographed with hubcaps. I just wanted to point out that the car was not a "production" GT 500. No telling for sure when the pictures were taken..... my guess would be September or October of 1966. Maybe the hubcaps were all that was on hand at the time?

Thanks,
Eric

 

Dave:

I've looked in the registry to see what wheels came on the earlier 67 cars. I'm curious, is that information gathered from Shelby invoices, or is it supplied by the owner(s).

Kenny

 

The rag joint/ verses non rag joint cars: If you ordered the car with the tilt steering wheel, then you got the rag joint. Fomoco did not make the tilt set up any other way. I have seen some (very low amount) of cars with no tilt set up, and also a rag joint. But, might this be from the tilt breaking, and the owner, years later, putting in a regular column?

Wheels: I can tell you S-A made 20 early model cars like mine, white, GT 350, 4 speed, scoop lights. 19 of those had Mag Stars. One of those had hub caps. That would be one before car number 0170. As mentioned though, was this owner supplied info to SAAC, or SAAC info from records?

 

Roddster

When I looked in the registry I also saw the car you are talking about #0025. (white 350 with hubcaps) But, since we haven't heard back from Dave yet, and after further observation, I am guessing that the information in the registry is owner supplied. The reason I think that is, it shows car #0163 a Lime 350 with 10 spokes? Since that car shows a completion date of 12/22/66, we all know that 10 spokes were not available yet. Therefor, I believe that the information in the registry is not reliable, considering alot of previous owners probably changed their original hubcap cars to deluxe wheels.

Kenny

 

Mine is one of those cars. Shelby invoiced as coming with hub caps, had 10 spokes on it when I bought in 1987.

 

Kenny,
I do not agree with your assessment that the the information in the Registry is not reliable. The wheel information came from factory and dealer documents. It is not 100% but close. I also noticed yesterday when I was researching the information to answer Bob's question that car #0025 was a hub cap car, however car #0025 was not completed by Shelby American until June of 1967. I know you favor Shelby Vins for your assessments but these odd ball cars like #0025 really show us that we need to factor in both Ford and Shelby build dates.
I looked at car #163 closely and agree with you that it was shipped with Magstars rather then 10 spokes. There was a 40 year old clerical error on one of the production orders.
Now is a good time to bring up a question. How should we list a car's wheels when the production order says 10 spokes but both the window sticker and the original sales agreement list Magstars? I say if an owner can document it, that Magstars can be listed.
Dave

 

Dave:

I'm glad you cleared up some of these issues. If you look back at my post, I did say I was making a "guess" about the source of the info in the registry until we heard from you. When you see that car #0163 completed 12/66 has 10 spokes, then it did raise a question of reliability? As far as car #0025 not being completed until June of 67, I did notice that, but still does not clarify when the car would have received it's wheels, the Marti report with the Ford build date on that car would shed some light on that? Looks to me that that car sat around for a real long time before being "officially" completed.

Kenny

 

The steering box production change was Ford assembly line. The early cars had the one piece shaft connected to the steering box. The later cars (I think Feb 1967) had the steering box separated from the shaft and joined by a "rag joint". It didn't have to do with a tilt column. This also address's Dave's post about the different steering columns. I will check on the change date.

Another detail although small was during the 67 model year a lot of items were changing from FOMOCO marked to Autolite marked. The gas cap is one that I wanted to mention . The early cars had FOMOCO in block letters on the inside cap and the later after Aprox Feb 1967 went to Autolite marked. The later service caps had only the C7 engineering number visible inside the cap. The Distributor was another. FOMOCO then Autolite.I believe the BB Dist changed in 66 . The small block changed after the first of the year 1967. engine belts were another . Shocks were another that was discussed before.

 

Bob,
Maybe it was changed at the same time as the sector
shaft from 1" to 1 1/8".
#1317 has the 1" shaft and came with steel wheels
as it wasn't ready at Shelby until 5/25/67, i.e. after 2/22/67
in accordance with the letter fro SA to the dealers.
Texas Swede