You can buy three brand new 1965 Shelby GT500s, as driven by Ken Miles

By: Alex Affat, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 24.03.2020

Shelby’s ‘Original Venice Crew’ are building three new continuations in tribute to Ken Miles

February 14, 1965 saw the racing debut of the Shelby GT350 in an SCCA event at Green Valley Raceway Texas. Carroll Shelby enlisted legendary driver Ken Miles to pilot the car; who won the race, and was etched into Mustang lore when he was photographed four wheels off-the-ground.

That very car will head to auction in May and is set to fetch big bucks, predicted by some to overshadow the Bullitt Mustang’s AU$4.9 million sale at the start of 2020.

But there’s another way to buy a 1965 GT500 almost exactly like the one Ken Miles birthed the famous "flying Mustang" photo in.

Carroll Shelby’s "Original Venice Crew" were amongst those responsible for building that original GT350, and many of the most significant Shelby-racecars in the heyday. Over the past couple of years, they’ve been building official, authorised and exacting "continuations" of 1965 Shelby GT350s.

These are brand new examples of what you would have bought back in 1965; with ‘continuing’ and correct serial numbers, recognised on the official Shelby registry.

To honour Ken Miles and that first competition win, the OVC crew have announced that they are building three Ken Miles-edition cars.

OVC Chief Executive, Jim Marietta stated: "Ted Sutton and I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Ken Miles while we were part of the Shelby American team in 1965"

"While Ken was celebrated for his leadership as competition director overseeing the Shelby Cobra, Daytona Coupe and GT40 programs, he was also a development driver for the Ford Shelby GT350".

The three cars will faithfully mimic that first GT350 as raced by Miles; with sound deadening deleted, exacting livery and iconography, and fully rebuilt from the ground up to competition specification.

One of the three Ken Miles edition cars will be equipped with a Ford 9-inch rear axle, while the other two will bear an independent rear suspension set up designed by Peter Brock (the American one, not ours). Brock’s IRS was developed for Shelby’s 1965 season, although Ken Miles raced the debuting car –and won- without it.

OVC Continuation Shelbys begin at US$250,000, though we imagine the Ken Miles edition may fetch somewhere north of that.

Visit the Original Venice Crew at: www.ovcmustangs.com/

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