Does anyone have any photos taken at the Shelby plant when it was located in Venice? There are quite a few from the West Imperial Highway address when they moved in 1965, but photos of the Venice facility are in short supply. Anyone have anything available? Thanks Bill
Hi Bill, Thanks for posting this question, I talked to Chuck Cantwell briefly today about the idea of a section on the web site for the Venice production. Pictures would be nice, there are plenty through Friedman of when the Cobras were being built but something tells me he was not real thrilled about the GT350 production, I could try him again, but he is not real open on sharing photos. If you ever find any please pass them to the web site so we can all enjoy them. I only have three so far, the latest one I should get from Lennartz through a Shelby American employee next week. I will try to work out some of the text during my continuing education classes tomorrow, but we really need to tap back into the employees who worked at Venice, photos are one thing, but I would be interested into how it was laid out. It would be worthwhile to see if the Shelby Museum in Boulder has anything in their archieves the other place I was looking into was Peterson Publishing Archives in California who took over Sports Car Graphic, I have some leads, just need an airplane ticket. Ha Ha. Hov
Are these of Venice? I was told they are, but I am not sure. I have never seen the video but, I was told there is Venice footage in it.
The photo with all the 65's lined up was taken in the end of May 65 at LAX so the answer to your question is: No, at least that photo wasn't taken at Venice. Texas Swede
For years, my son and I would play the "Gee, dad, which one of those Shelby's is ours?" game. Recently, I had to tell him when that our car was long gone when that photo was taken.
Unfortuately, both of these photos were taken at LAX,both photos were taken on the same day, by a local photographer who was hired since the team's photographer, Dave Friedman, was away at the time. These photos were both part of the 1965 Shelby American press pack which were available to the Ford executives and automotive press people when they toured the plant in, I believe June 1965. Gordon Thorne, assistant to Max Mulleman, the head PR person for Shelby American, came up with the ideas of the press packs. Gordon walked around that day with a ladder so the photographer could take elevated shots, both a which are the pictures you have posted. The rows of finished GT350'S awaiting outside to be purchased by the Shelby authorized Ford dealers have their Shelby serial numbers written in black felt pen on a piece of paper tapped to the inside of front windshield. The closest car is 5S283, which was finished on May 21, 1965 is one of 4 or 5 cars we have had this photo blowen up so we could identify which cars are in the photo, My car #284 was finished on the same day and is located probably to the left of this photo. The inside photo is also of LAX you can tell from the tall ceilings and the freespan design. This was in the race shop, where the Rmodels were in the corner (they were considered to be the "bastards"of the family of Shelby race cars. ) To the left of this photo was the "real" race cars, the GT40'S and 289/427 Competition Cobras. In this photo, the car in the foreground is 5S003, recently determined by us since when we blew up the photo and found no export brace, there were only three cars that came with no export braces;R001,R002 and S003. This was further confirmed when I linked up a memo from the GT350 project engineer, Chuck Cantwell to two Shelby American employees to get 003 ready to sale to the general plublic. The date of the memo was, you guessed it, May 20th, 1965. Everything fit like a glove. By the way, the completed R model near the right rear of the shop with the taped headlights is R002, the originally Ken Miles car that was used by the factory for most of the 1965 season, R001 was finished later ,took the place of R002 and actually won the B production championship. The other R models were part of the second batch of R models, roughly R098- R108, just not sure which ones are which.Venice shots can be distinuished by roughly a 12-15 foot ceiling, brick walls and windows that were in two main sections, each section consisted of 9 smaller windows, the top two rows (6 panes) were hinged from the top to allow for ventalation. You may read more about this in my ever evolving web site:www.1965gt350mustang.com Photos of the Venice production of the GT350 are very rare, I only have a couple I am working on the section pertaining to the Venice/LAX production lines currently. Hope this helps. Hov
Just awesome to have someone like you with so much knowledge in this forum, thank you for sharing with all of us. I have only been into the collecting side for 5 months now and I am hooked on finding an original 1965-1969 Shelby GT 350 or GT500. I bought a Unique Performance GT500E Convertible Supersnake so I could actually drive/race it and not feel guilty. Now I want to find an original to show and hold on to.
Yes, I very much agree. Thank you 5S284. I have been into Shelbys for about 15 years and was about 3 years old when all this was happening in the 60's. Without people willing to share this hobby would get old quick. It's also great that new people are into these old cars so there is someone to enjoy the information shared. Mherman2 has taken some hits for buying a Unique Performance Super Snake and I am really glad you stuck around. Larry
The Man, the Cars and the Times are the stuff that Legends are made of. they are and always will be a great topic of conversation as well as highly sought after Collector's items. SAAC is a strong Club and probably the best Car Club dedicated to one Marque in the US. long may the SHELBY Cars and History thrive!!
Thank you Larry. I can take the heat, I love the Supersnake. I have such respect and appreciation for the original Shelby owners after educating myself on the entire Shelby legend. I think we all share the same love for cars, and the excitement and passion for finding out more information on Shelby's that we previously did not know. I love the old photos, the owner stories, just great stuff! I hope to contribute anything I can dig up in the way of stories and photos. I doubt there are many stones unturned with this crew out there looking around! Now that I understand the history and have read virtually everything I can find on Shelby's on the web, I can completely appreciate why people who own vintage Shelby Mustangs have such passion for them, 1965-1970 (some would say 1965-1967). I hope to share that passion with you once I find an original myself. I think restoring one is better than buying a mint one. It may more expensive but it is also more rewarding and adds one more beauty for us all to appreciate. I'm hooked!!!!
I have the video, watched it last night. Well worth the price but as far as Venice photos, there isn't anything I haven't seen before. I did get a good laugh at the final scene, A close up on Carroll wearing one of his signature black hats. What was so funny was the fairly small emblem on the front, a framed patch with the letters: "HMFIC"
