I am looking at a 67 GT500 out here in California. The car is in great shape, it will need a restoration to get it to show quality but it seems to have been well looked after. The block in the car appears to be a CJ block instead of a Police Interceptor block. It does have the original tranny. This is noted in the registry. I imagine not having the original block in the car is somewhat common give that these cars were usually driven pretty hard and are 40 years old. After a lenghty restoration is not having the original block in the car a big deal for resale value?
Re: Long Term Value Question While having the original engine will always bring highest dollar you will still do fine if you have the "correct" engine (meaning 67 PI w/ date coded components) instead of the CJ. My guess would be maybe 5-10% less. The good news is the CJ motor has great value if you do sell it. Tim
Re: Long Term Value Question I could not agree more with TLEA -- a Shelby restoration guy once told me that he believed the number of Shelbys with "correct" blocks as opposed to "original" blocks was higher than people think -- the body tags and vin stamps are crucial elements in the provenance of these cars -- the correctness of these blocks is important but i do agree that the 10% less number is the worst you would do -- john
SO I could trade the CJ for a correct PI and keep the 10%. on $200k, that's $20k, sounds worth while to do the swap.
let me offer another view of the question 1. It all boils down IMHO on the buyer no matter what. So what a owner has to consider is the number of possible buyers in each groups of types of buyers (ones with similar feelings about the issue) 2. In an unrestored car the lack of an original car (other than a very low mileage original paint car) the issue is small as the buyer expect to have to hunt down many parts 3. IMHO in a restored car it is VERY different to the point that it will eliminate a group of buyers rather than just lower the sale price in their mind. below that group I would offer that there is another group that would reduce the perceived value by approx. 20% 4. Of course a "non-original" engine can take many forms. Everything from a correctly dated engine with the VIN applied to one that is not even close... example a later CJ engine. 5. Is a car without an original engine a restored car? 6. Remember as you get into looking at the car there is likely much more (than just the block) that has been changed. Good news is all you have to do is start looking for a 66-67 regular 428. I often inspect and represent buyers and sellers in purchases and my policy is to never set value. That is the job of the person spending the dollars or owns the vehicle.
The car is actually extremely well documented, has origination paperwork, all titles, Original transmission etc.. Someone just burned up the original PI and put in a later CJ somewhere back down the road. You had some great points. It seems that I could evenly swap the CJ for the PI or even make money and get the back to 100% correct. Where is the best place to look for a 66-67 PI block, exhaust manifold, and heat riser?
"Where is the best place to look for a 66-67 PI block, exhaust manifold, and heat riser?" Best place to find parts??? Where you find them, so look everywhere. Block? Start looking in all those cheap big Fords and Mercs that year. Exhaust should not be a big issue... not really special
Check Perogie Enterprises for some of the hard pieces to find. They usually have a selection of the more difficult items to find. And it's priced accordingly. shlby66
Since the engine in a 1967 GT 500 is the same as the 428[Q-code] used in a 1967 T-Bird it would not be a hard thing to find. The hard to find and expensive parts are the ones that Shelby installed when he did his thing. Intake, carbs., air cleaner assembly, distributor, damper and pulley and a very hard to find timing pointer. A lot of the cars have what looks like the correct air cleaner and valve covers but are really reproductions. Check the car and have somebody that knows what to look for help you. Frank
Thanks for the input. The guy doing the restoration is super knowledgable. He has restored 25+kr's and gt500's. He has word out to his network of people and I am working with him to find the parts. The CJ block in the 67 GT500 is dated 7C23 (March 23rd, 1967). It's up for sale/swap if anyone is interested.
What parts do you need? When was your car produced? I have some and I have a lot of connections for FE and Shelby parts. Also, you can go to the FE forum and ask for help. Lots of great guys on there like this forum. FE forum Frank
Just read this on www.68cobrajet.com. My marking is an A but from March of 67. "If the marking is an "A", it suggests you're looking at a standard 428 block as used in LTDs, Thunderbirds, and Mercurys. Shortages in 1968 sometimes caused the engine plant to substitute an "A" block for a "C", or vise-versa, so the presence of an "A" block is possible in a stock CJ engine.