old 65 photo found

Clones and replicas are as old as the cars themselves. It could even be a Mustang in disguise.

 

+1 . The wheels ,tires to a lessor extent, steering wheel ,side mirror, and hood lock hood pins gives more weight to the replica theory. The grill horse seems a little too far to the driver side also but that might be from the angle in which it is viewed. Bob

 

Cool picture Steve, thanks for sharing. Any way to get more info in it?

Dave

 

The side stripe also looks correct for 65. I would think anyone "cloning" a car in the early 70's would use the 66 style stripe but who knows. Besides, original cars were relaitvely cheap then. Original steering wheel could have been stolen. Or perhaps removed to prevent it being stolen while the owner was fishing....

 

Also, if it's a clone it must have been a 6 cylinder as there is no holes for the
V-emblem on the fender. Personally, I believe this is a genuine 65.
Texas Swede

 

Is it me or does the driver's seat back have a red tint to it?

The trim piece in the lower center of the nacelle trim: Eelco® sold a piece similar to the GT350 part just not as tall. This photo is not good enough to tell if the little part is an Eelco or a GT350 one. SAI advertised and sold parts heavily late 1965 through early 1968. The nearest Ford dealer had the Shelby parts for years after that. A speed shop in Birmingham Alabama still had the Eelco parts in stock as late as 2006.

1972: I saw my first bogus copy of SFMS003 in Huntsville Alabama and the owner had gone to extreme efforts for the time to duplicate the prototype GT350. Yes, all the extra holes had been welded up and yes he did 1965 side stripes and yes he had a homemade gauge pod. I saw my first bogus 1966 GT350 that same year about half a mile from by girl friend’s house. A man that worked at a service station was creating his own “Shelby”.

As far as the early 1970s go, two parts dealers were widely advertising and selling both original parts while they lasted and reproduction parts after that. In the 1973-74 time frame every part original or otherwise was available to make a homemade copy of a GT350 in either 1965 or 1966 versions. I still see reproduction parts from that era being offered as genuine factory spares.

Is this car a genuine GT350, who knows but don’t for a minute think that it would have been difficult to do it yourself 1966-74.

 

I do remember the 70's, and it was cool back then to modify your car. I would agree this pic's is too hard to tell if its the real deal. Radio antenna would = a radio tho. Rims also look to be boss 302 with the argent .

 

Can't be 72. 1972 is the first year that a sticker was used instead of new plates here in Michigan. I do think it looks like a Michigan plate though. I know the picture could have been taken anywhere but it looks like an area in Michigan's U.P. that I go to. It has a huge white birch forest.

Here is a 71 Michigan plate with the 72 sticker in the corner.

 

Also on the Michigan plate thing. 1970 was the first year of the 3 letters followed by 3 numbers set up.

The year was only stamped into 5 different years with the 3 letter/3number set up. All had white letters and numbers.
1970 plates where gold
1971 plates where red
1973 plates where blue
1976 plates where bicentennial red/white/blue
1979 plates where black
After that the year was not stamped into Michigan plates.
It is hard to tell what color the plates are in the picture.

 

One thing that I noticed is the grill moulding joint cover. It is definetely 65 Shelby. I dont believe that someone who made a clone back then would go to the trouble of getting one of those when there were lots of the 66 style ones floating around.

 

It may be genuine or it may not be . I would suggest re reading post #9. Bob

 

It looks like it is lowered in the front, it has side exhaust, but maybe a stronger clue is the "GT350" script in the stripe looks faded which happened to 65s ..but it may have been an older clone when the picture was taken with exacting 65 side stripes. ..with the rare clone lemans stripe delete.

 

I agree that the wheels are argent 15" '69 Boss 302 rims. The profile on the rim is correct for an original Boss 302 rim. I also agree that the center grille piece is original and that 99.9% of people would not have gone to the trouble of sourcing one of them. Then there is the tach/oil pressure pod, exhaust and correct stripes and I agree that most would have ordered the '66 stripes, rather than do them correctly.

It's the real deal in my mind.

 

Not to hijack the thread, but here is a picture given to me by the previous owner of my '65, of my car back in '68. Check out the location of the original mirror. The car was original paint when this picture was taken, as the woman in the picture restored the car when her husband died, in 1983 and then sold it shortly after that.

 

Just a FYI for those reading 1965 Shelby's didn't normally come with side mirrors but they were commonly added. Nice picture. Thanks for sharing. Bob

 

That car looks to be real. The mods are pretty typical of a well used car in the early 70s. There were a number of 65s in Tidewater that had similar mods (extra foglights, boss 302 wheels (magnums and plain steel), etc). The 65s and 66s around here got driven. The 65 steering wheels really dont hold up that well, and it wouldn't be a stetch to believe that the original cracked and got replaced with something more practical and readily available. Especially if the guy was using the car to go fishing. Back then, it was unusual for someone to have more than one car. The car you autocrossed or went fishing in was also the car you drove to work. I have lot of photos of 65s and 66s from that era- this reminds me of those cars. Bet that car spent a bit of time on dirt and gravel roads....

Dave

 

Dave,

If possible please post some of those period 65 and 66 photos!

Thanks,
Dave