Trimmed R-Model Front Fenders

I am curious on this one as well...I was going to trim mine by 'eyeball' using the Maier racing front apron, but chickened out and built up the ends of the apron instead. I sure would like to be able to use a little more agressive rubber without a rub.

 

I've never seen a template, but I also have not ever noticed any sort of consistency between cars. Some real R-models don't appear to have the front wheel openings widened at all. Check out these pictures of 5R098, 5R101, 5R103 and 5R528. 5R101 and 5R103 don't appear widened at all, while 5R098 and 5R528 have been widened but appear different. 5R528 also appears to have flares all the way down to the leading edge of the opening while 5R098 does not.

Are you sure this was a SA modification and not something commonly done by the teams that campaigned the cars early on due to problems with tire clearance? The older (less accurate) literature I have on the modifications made to the R-models only mentions the quarter panel wheel well openings, not the front ones.

Josh

 

I would also agree with crzy4shelbys and add, lots of personal mods were done by race teams that included paint work, tire size changes with relation to what track they raced at, putting a car on a diet, etc...

 

racingdivision,

I thought I remembered reading in another thread that you were in the process of scanning high resolution copies of a lot of the pictures on www.1965gt350mustang.com. Am I correct in my recollection? And if so, did you scan the picture of the seven R-models being prep'd with 5S003? Have you looked at that picture in an attempt to determine if the front fender wheel wells were opened up at the factory? It looks to me like the R on the left, just behind 5S003 hasn't had anything done to the wheel wells, but that the one sitting on the ground with LeMans stripes (assumed to be 5R002) looks like it may have the openings enlarged, although it's very hard to tell at the resolution I have.

The pictures of 5R002 at Green Valley, Texas on February 14, 1965 (it's first race) show the openings enlarged.

This may have been covered in previous threads outlining your project, so I apologize if that's the case, but are you replicating one particular R-model, or creating the 37th car? By the way, I really enjoy the project updates on your website.

Josh

 

I think the far right car just has the headlight extensions laid on top of the front section, not a second set of headlights.
Why does the radiator opening on the same car look so large too me? I have read that the r's used the 1965 Galaxie radiator, but did it require re-shaping the core support?

 

The rad supports were opened up and galaxie rads were used. Small brackets were made up to bolt them to the opening. I also believe the original rads were shortend to clear the cap from hitting the hood.

 

That's an excellent observation. Now that I look at it again, it seems clear, but when I first looked at it, it sure looked like a custom double light setup. Now I see that it's the headlight door sitting on top of the headlight extensions.

Josh

 

Glad to see people are enjoying the photos on the 1965GT350MUSTANG.com website. I try to use photos only taken 1964-1965 for their historical reasons, as far as the text in the "history" section, I try to give the photographers credit when it is known who they are. The shot of 5R002 flying at Green Valley TX. was not taken by Freidman, nor was the elevated shot in the race shop with 003 in the foreground taken by Friedman, although it was in a book bearing his name. I know within 3 or 4 days exactly when this shot was taken, cross referencing the dates of when the R models were under construction in the SAAC Registry, I think I came up with a good idea of which R models are in the photos. 5R002 is a piece of cake, since it had the headlights taped in the criss-cross pattern which was seen first at Green Valley, if I knew how to do high dif photos I would be dangerous. I'll leave that up to you guys. Scanning first generation 35mm photos allows for great details lost when you purchase repop Shelby American Press Packs. Documenting race cars is fun and easy at the same time, as long as you have photos. We know 5R002 was raced more with Miles than we had initially thought when the 1997 SAAC Registry was written. At times we are gaining more information on these cars and the events they participated in. It is what makes this hobby so fun, doesn't happen often, but occasionally we do get a breakthrough.
We know the date of the Green Valley Race as well as the rough date of the photo taken at the race shop at LAX, the sticker you are referring to must have been taken off sometime after Green Valley. Now we just need to look at the other race photos following Green Valley, seems like there are a couple of tech inspection stickers in the LAX photo which means it was raced after Green Valley and before this photo was taken, which we may be able to confirm now. Anyone have close up shots of the roll bar of 5R002 in the Boulder Museum?,would be interesting to see if the early 1965 stickers survived and what other ones were added after that.
Here's one for you guys, blow up the photo of the side shot of underside 003's hood, from this photo we are wondering if there are 2 or 3 variations of all fiberglass hoods on these early cars. Go back to the old photos in the 1965 magazines of 5R002 with its hood open, (the cowl of 5R002 actually says 5003 in the photos) are they the same hood style?
If someone is archiving Freidman's old GT350 photos I would enjoy seeing them sometime, we are trying our best to bring 003 back into the configuration of how it looked in November/ December 1964. Photos are an immense help. It is important we put this car back to how it was in 1964, so it can be enjoyed for the future years and for the future enthusiasts.
Thanks for your time, Mark Hovander & 5S003

 

This may be common knowledge to everyone else, but no export brace on 5S003?!?!?!?

 

Good pick "crzy4shelbys" when we started researching 5S003 we were told to not expect much on finding new information when it came to this car, I think sometimes it just takes a fresh set of eyes to see what others may have missed. GT350's were San Jose Mustangs first but when you look at factory Shelby American photos its nice to look at each GT350 modification which would have been done to these cars. The photo of 003 in front of the other R models was perhaps one of the greatest finds we came across, lots of unanswered questions pop up, but sometime you are just plain lucky. The shot of 003 was found by myself then almost within 2-3 days Dave McDonald also picked this feature out as well. When we blew the photo up you can see no export brace, the only three GT350 ever produced without an export brace was R001,R002 and S003. This photo matched up perfectly to the Chuck Cantwell memo to Pike and Lins to return 003 out of the prototype phase and into a regular production car and then to be sold.
We just looked at 5005 this past weekend another keen eye noticed there was no reinforcement plate on the cowl for the base of the export brace, perhaps these first run pre-production cars did not have this feature? We'll have to check to see what the other early cars have.
So long and short, good eye "crzy4shelbys" this photo by the way was not shot by Friedman but by William Eccles since Friedman was not available on that day. This photo and others done by Eccles were part of the 1965 Shelby American Press Packet which has been repoped several times over the years. It just goes to show you we have had these photos in front of us for over 40 years and until we really look close at a small part of one you may find another piece of a quite large puzzle.
Thanks for your input. Mark & 5S003