Early 67 Shelby Emblems

Very interesting. He states that his had a couple of flat 350's for sale in the past. Wish I'd been checking for that.
Bob, are you still anticipating coming up with some of these?

 

The thing is the flat gas caps were phased out around Vin # 65 and way before #100 the first GT500.

Bob:

You know your my bro, but I'm pretty certain Erics car #0100 is a flat gas cap car. That's what it shows in the original magazine photos.

Kenny

 

Bob and Kenny,

No, I was not the high bidder on that GT 500 flat gas cap emblem. Maybe I should have been. I honestly can not tell from the photos in the February 1967 issues of Car and Driver and Road and Track or the March 1967 issue of Sports Car Graphic if the car was equipped with a flat gas cap and emblem or not. I am still hoping to obtain some additional "out takes" from the Sports Car Graphic photo shoot. Maybe there will be another picture or two of the rear of the car and we'll be able to tell for sure what type of gas cap and emblem was on the car.

Kenny, maybe your eyes are better than mine, are you sure that looks like a flat gas cap and emblem to you? Any other experts/eagle eyes out there want to offer an opinion? Please speak up.


Thanks,
Eric

 

Eric:

If you look at the 2 photos on page 27 of Car & Driver Feb. '67 (especially the "burnout" shot) I think it's pretty clear that the gas cap emblem is the flat style. I invite others (Bob) who have this issue to take a look to give an opinion.
In addition, the Red 500 that appears in the sales brochure, and on the 67 postcard also has a flat emblem. Now whether or not that car became a completed serialized car, who knows? See attached outtake photo. Never the less, it gives creedance to the fact that there would have been a run of flat style GT-500 emblems produced.

Kenny

 

Kenny,

I will have to look real closely at those Car and Driver photos again. It's almost too bad that Sports Car Graphic used the "blur" effect on their published photo of the rear of the car. It might have been real easy to see had they not "blurred" the picture.....

The red GT 500 used for the '67 sales brochure and post card and the magazine ads is a pre-production prototype/test mule. I agree that it does appear to have a flat gas cap and emblem. This car never received a Shelby serial number. I know who owns this car, and when he completes the restoration, I am sure we will hear much more from him about his car and its history. We consider his car and my car to be "sister cars".

The lime gold GT 500 pictured in the December 1966 issue of Popular Science and the January 1967 issue of Road and Track also appears to have a flat gas cap and emblem. All existing evidence points to this car also being a pre-production prototype/test mule that never received a Shelby serial number.

Dave Mathews and I have been in talks over the past several months regarding these cars and my own car. Dave has been doing a lot of research and has assured me that my car is the lowest Shelby serial numbered GT 500 and was the first production GT 500 completed.

Thanks,
Eric

 

Eric:

It is too bad about the blurred photo, I looked at that as well. I agree that the Lime 500 also seems to have a flat emblem, especially the shot in Popular Science seems to show this.

I'm curious, is your friend who owns the "postcard" car gonna restore it with all the original "test mule" features?


Kenny

 

Kenny,

Yes, I believe that he is trying to restore the car back to its "Promotional" GT 500 condition/configuration. I have seen most of his documentation on the car; it will be a pretty neat story when he has the car all finished.

To the best of my knowledge, the lime gold GT 500 test mule no longer exists. But, who knows, it may turn up some day as well..... just like the red GT 500 test mule has.

Thanks,
Eric

 

Kenny,

I looked very closely at these photos again. I still can not tell for sure if that is a flat gas cap and emblem on the back of my car or not.

Anyone else out there with the February 1967 issue of Car and Driver? If yes, please look closely at the photos of the back of my car and see if you can tell if that is a flat gas cap and emblem or if it is a curved gas cap and emblem. Please let us know what you think.

Thanks,
Eric

 

Eric:

Based on your statements, I'm guessing you have a non-flat style gas cap/emblem on your car currently. I'm curious, do you know if the cap had been replaced in the past? If you "pop open" the cap, and look at the back of it, there will be a number and should say FoMoCo for your early car. If it says Autolite then you know it's been changed, because FoMoCo hadn't changed over to Autolite yet when your car was built.

Kenny

 

Kenny,

My car had a curved gas cap and emblem on it when we bought it 28 years ago, and that curved gas cap and emblem is still on the car today. The next time I visit my car over at the Shelby American Collection in Boulder, I will pop the gas cap open and look to see whether it says FoMoCo or Autolite. That may shed some light on the matter.

Thanks,
Eric

 

Hello Bob (and Kenny),

Thanks for taking a detailed look at the photos of the rear of my car. Looks like my car needs a flat gas cap adapter and a flat emblem after all..... As I stated previously, the next time I visit my car I will check the gas cap to see if it is FoMoCo or Autolite and go from there on trying to "correct" this matter.....

Thanks to both of you for your assistance.

Eric