$72,850.00 For a Re-bodied Shelby

How would you like to be the guy who bought this one? Apparently it was re-bodied on an A code fastback.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...satitle=4589183359&fvi=1&rd=1&item=4589183359

 

The ad states, and from what I have been told he was also informed before he bought it that is was a re-body. I don't think anyone sat him down and explained just what are the issues with a re-bodied car.

 

My first introduction to Shelby’s was in 1967. The general manager at the local Ford dealership bought six GT-350 Shelby's from the Seattle Hertz office. One of those cars is still here, owned a good friend. Besides the stories of Hertz cars being rented and raced on weekends, there is a story of a number of Hertz cars being rented and returned without the HiPo engine. Apparently who ever rented them swapped out a LoPo 289's. Having to piece together cars would not surprise me and I don't think it would have much effect on the value. That all stops when talking about a re-bodied car.
Years ago, a friend who was a noted Cobra and Shelby restorer told me about a guy who brought him a 65 GT-350 for a restoration bid. The car defined the term "rust bucket" Besides everything that would unbolt, it needed floors, quarter panels, rocker panels and extensive roof repair. The bid on the body work alone was astronomical. The owner insisted on a re-body using a non-hipo fastback. My friend passed on the job.

Hypothetical case: You have a 66 Shelby that needs a new body, and you want to do it right. You start out with a HiPo tub. (They were different than regular fastback Mustangs). You cut the front end off the original car and weld it on the new one. Done in such a way as to be almost impossible to detect. Home free? No way. There were a number of holes drilled into all Mustangs that were not drilled into the Shelby's at the factory. They are virtually impossible to plug without leaving evidence of repair.
I asked Howard Pardee if there was any way someone could re-body a car and be able to pass it off as an original with certainty. He told me it would be IMPOSSIBLE to get it by "someone who knew what to look for" (namely, himself).
The one over riding factor: A re-bodied Shelby is nothing more that a Mustang with Shelby parts. A re-bodied car NEVER went through the Shelby American plant and that trip, whether it was in Venice or West Imperial Highway, makes all the difference in the world as to the value of the car.