Has anymore been found out about this car? Here's part of the story on their website which is:. http://www.mustangmonthly.com/featuredvehicles/mump_0803_1969_gt350_shelby_mustang/viewall.html "Ford's Dearborn Assembly plant built this Mustang with a Shelby consecutive unit number on May 6, 1969, just weeks after '69 Boss 302 production began. The car carries a Boss and Shelby VIN, 9F02G482244-the G denotes the Boss 302 engine; the consecutive unit numbers beginning with 48 were designated as Shelbys. From the car's inception, it was an executive order, with DSO number 9999. The car is listed in the Shelby American World Registry with its G-code VIN conspicuous among the M-code (351) and R-code (428 Cobra Jet) numbers. I was thinking it might have also been a matter of weight--maybe with the Shelby body panels, the car weighed more than the '69 Boss 302, so it wouldn't have the same performance. Then there's the "executive privlege" theory that soem bigwig decided to order a car just for him. When Bunkie was at GM he ordered a Corvette with special Mako Shark I style outside exhausts just to show , hey, he was the boss.
I dont know the details of why the car was ordered with a Boss 302, however, the car is a 69 Shelby. Its not really a half breed as implied. Shelby engineers were experimenting with a lot of things in 68/69. These include supercharging, fuel injection, emmisions, performance, etc. The car was a Shelby engineering car with the Boss motor. It doesnt have a "Boss VIN", just a Boss engine code. There was also at least one car that had a 351 Cleveland. Shelby body panels are fiberglass and probably weigh less than the steel panels. So much for that theory.... The executive privledge is a bunch of hooey in my opinion. If you are interested in odd balls and one offs, i would suggest not throwing out wild theory, because less informed readers have a tendency to copy that material.
About executive cars, they exist Thank you for answering my question, but all car collectors should be aware that executive cars do exist--cars that aren't supposed to exist. I used to have lunch with this guy in Detroit who was a high VP in GM and he would order things like gold plated trim for his Cadillac. Why? Because he could. And HFII , when he ordered a notchback '65 or '66 Mustang, got his with black leather though it was not offered as such. Why? Because his name was on the building. But my favorite story of a heavyweight pulling weight was when I was in a car club and someone in the club said: "No 300SL gullwing ever came in black" and then a club member said "Excuse me, when I landed my bomber at Unterturkheim and taxied up to the factory door and walked in and pointed to a gullwing and said 'I want one of those and I want it in black' the Germans said 'Yes, sir, General LeMay.' " He was the same guy that bombed the factory a few years earlier when he was in charge of Allied bombing in Europe. So, so much for the hard and fast rules about the way cars are supposed to come...if you got clout, you exercise it...what's a heaven for?
I try to deal with history and details that can be documented. I will believe those stories when there is concrete evidence. In the case of vintage Shelbys it is very unlikely there are any cars that will turn up that are surprises. This particular car was different, but its history has been known for a long time
Cars with stories go for big bucks, if story has some documentation That's the conundrum. Some of the executive cars can't be documented because they were done "off the books" so the executive wouldn't get in trouble for squandering funds. You'll find at auctions like the RM and Gooding these exective cars with special features fetch the good money (say Shelby's twin Paxton car for instance, that was not a catalog car) because they are "cars with stories" but I agree it would be nice if they had documentation that the car was really built that way and not concocted of parts years later.
You sure do a lot of phishing.. Make statements an walk away to see what comes up to the top of the water.
Right its pot stirring.... Lets see Ford was concerned over small parts costing a few dollars, but they didnt keep track of cars that were costing thousands of dollars? Your comments are ....pure fabrication, there is no "conundrum". Ford legal would never let a car leave, nor could it ever be titled, without a MSO ( Manufacturers Statement of Origin ). Its not the case with Shelbys and your examples are more false information. Shelby's twin paxton car was serialized, just like the other cars and its history is well known. You're 0 for 2. It sounds more like the ignorance of a few people perpetuating these stories to me rather then secret one off cars. Like I said, without documentation is pure fantasy.
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300SL Mercedes "The optional exterior paint colours, at a cost, were: Graphite gray (DB 190), Blue gray (DB 166), White gray (DB 158), Ivory (DB 608), Fire engine red (DB 534), Metallic strawberry red (DB 543), Black (DB 40), White (DB 50), and Medium blue (DB 334). Pritchard notes that “many cars were sold in colours and trims outside of the official list” (p. 136). For example, Mercedes-Benz sold approximately 64 Gullwings with Light (silver) blue metallic paint (DB 353), which was not an official 300SL paint option (p. 138). Those who bought a Gullwing or Roadster from the factory had access to the whole range of paint colours available in a given year." http://www.spiritedauto.com/how-to-spot-a-w198-worth-buying/ Gullwing The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Coupé - by Anthony Pritchard, Palawan Press Wally, Since you don't have a Registry, I doubt you have this book either.
I believe the General Curtis LeMay wouldn't lie to me. Maybe that was in '54 (by the way you probably have books that say they didn't make 1954 gullwings. I owned two of them...)
Wally, I must say, you are a real piece of work For those of you that have read any twisted history tales by Wally, feel free to print this off and follow directions.
Re: I believe the General Actually, they made 146 300SL Gullwing Coupe's in 1954 (I did not need the web to figure that one out either as I too have owned one in the past) , but you probably do not have the factory archive book for that one either
Re: About executive cars, they exist That sort of thing can be a problem for the "bigwig", too. Legend has it that Bill Mitchell wanted the Mako Shark Corvette painted to match a shark he had in his office, and they couldn't get it right. While he was away, in exasperation the style shop painted the shark. This may have been embellished over time, but it's considered gospel in the Corvette community.
On a side note, i just yesterday found and purchased the only 1970 Plymouth Superbird Convertible ever built..it was ordered new by Ronnie Sox. THere were actually supposed to be two built but Dick Landy backed out of his order at the last second. The car is a cross ram magnesium hemi car with side exhaust and has a rare prototype 5 speed manual transmission. It is painted red, white, and blue and also has special shag door panels..ole Ronnie had "clout" so he got those added free of charge. Best regards, Vern
Someone just posted on the Mopar forum asking if anyone knew the whereabouts of a convertible Superbird that was ordered by Dick Landy but never picked up. They wondered if it was destroyed or did some worker sneak it out the back door? He wondered if Landy figured out that without a roof the wing worked in reverse and actually created lift and maybe that's why he never picked it up.
DISCLAIMER: No one should take the posts of myself or Vern on the existence of convertible Superbirds as fact.
Crap. I was starting to check my Mopar model stash to see if I had the base for this convertible in 1/25th scale......
OOOOO, so that explains the welded seam up the center of the car...they had to cut the sucker in half to fit it through the back door! Duh, it all makes sense now! Best regards, Vern