?'s on cloning a 65 Mustang???

Everything is available except a real VIN number for a 65. Shelby only made fastbacks that year. And every singlr one was white with blue stripes.
No 289 2 bbl build cars came with a 9" rear end, and, the Ford 8" rear end closely resembles the 9"
Look up some vintage Sports Car Graphic magazines that feature a 65 Trans/Am type car and you'll get it close.

 

Immitation is the greatest form of flattery, but as a novice in muscle car restoration, how do shelby, boss 302, mach 1, z-28, gto etc restoration and original owners protect the real goods ? How can new buyers make sure the hard earned bucks which is starting to approach our life savings that when we buy a real one we are buying a real one? Until you own something you really don't know what you got ( kind of like marriage).

Is our only protection the vin ?
Are there laws against people putting false vins on cars ?

I personally had a few sleepless nights when searching for my car.

I am amazed when people come up to me and compliment me or the mechanics at the RATS shop and say " Thats a great Shelby clone." When they are told it's a real one they seem amazed. Are there really that many fake Mona Lisas vs real ones out there?

 

Well, with Shelbys, EVERY one of them has a listing in the SAAC registry. And, at the Boss 302 website, there is a rather larger secion to look up all the legalities involving VINS,
On every vintage Mustang from 67 to 73, you can purchase a Marti report to tell you exactly how the car left the plant. Fomoco destroyed the records for the 65 and 66 cars so beware.
But, if you go installing the Shelby Vin plate with your coupes vin number on it, and also paint it red, well, we'll all see through that. There are numerous modified Mustangs around. But painting some stripes on a coupe ain't gonna make it a Shelby.
With the GM cars there is something for Pontiacs that is similar, but, I hear GM was thinking of opening the vault for the Chevy Vins so they to could get a build report. Man there is going to be a mountain of disapointed fake owners when that happens.
If you own a REAL muscle car, not a clone, it helps to point out how you can spot a real one from a fake. For instance, NO Boss 302's left the factory without a "G" for the engine code. If you see somebody secretly ignoring that fact, you need to call them out on it.
My problem is with the 65/66over the top stripes being placed on far too many 67/68 real Shelbys. So many that I get asked "where's mine". They never made them that way. But when far too many real 67/68 Shelby owners are putting the stripes on, what am I supposed to do?

 

With a notchback, you could do something like KenG.
A '65 would be the wrong year to work from but you can get an idea of how to make your car Shelby like.

robin

 

We're just starting re-assembly on our next GT350 clone, a 65 model. It'll be as true looking as the originals, all parts and pieces are readily available thru many sources. A "clone" should be just that, if it's to be called one. This 65 will have no rear seat but a package tray, correct Shelby suspension, tach gauge pod, seat covers, radio delete, etc. But, we at McMichael Motorsports choose to make them drivers. We like a nice engine like a 302/alum heads or maybe a Roush stroker, but we put the correct valve covers etc dress up kit so when opening up the hood, it all looks correct. Also, for driving a Tremec 5 speed is a MUST. I will soon do the swap of my 4 speed from my original 67 GT350 to a 5 speed. Photos have been, and will be uploaded into my gallery as work progresses. The body was taken down to bare metal and various panels were replaced, and the entire car painted by our local body shop.

 

As far as Shelby Coupes go -- In 1965 there were a handful of Factory Built R Model Shelby Coupes that were pretty much identical in setup to the R Model GT-350`s . These were Road Race cars built for A-Sedan - Trans Am competition. You could do a cool reproduction or clone your Coupe to look like one of these bad boys . I believe you can find details and photos in the Shelby Registry.

 

Here is the main detail to the "Shelby" R model coupe. The SAAC registry states that not a single one of them received the all important Shelby vin tag or Shelby vin number. But SAAC does know the Fomoco vin for those cars.

 

Hi,
The Mustang Notchback Trans-Am cars that Shelby built was
based on 1966 cars not 1965. He produced 16 Group II + 1 prototype.
These had a lot of R-model parts. He also produced 4 Group I for Rally
and of these, 3 were shipped to Europe, and 1 to Australia. These were
changed more like the 65 Shelby street models with lower A-arms,
Monte-Carlo bar and Quick-Steering kit.
All 66 Shelby Notchbacks were white with black interior.
/Texas Swede

 

Well, everyone pretty much covered everything, but there were some '65 Rallye cars built by Ford, but Shelby was not involved with those.

 

I have some cool pictures of a coupe somewhere. I'll post them if I can find them. Stay tuned

 

Here's an Idea