1967 Shelby GT500 replica: Reader ride

By: Jill Bout, Photography by: Jill Bout

Date: 14.05.2014

Jill Bouts' 1967 Shelby GT500 replica

Jill Bouts' 1967 Shelby GT500 replica

Jill Bouts' 1967 Shelby GT500 replica

Jill Bouts' 1967 Shelby GT500 replica

Jill Bouts' 1967 Shelby GT500 replica...

Reader's ride: 1967 Shelby GT500 replica

Jill Bouts' 1967 Shelby GT500 replica

I was never into cars and didn’t know anything about Mustangs until I met my husband, Peter. I was a private school girl from Brighton and none of my friends were into cars when I was growing up but I’ve always been a bit of a bogan and rebellious.

The first Mustang Peter built me was a ’65 GT350 replica and I remember getting followed home by men – for the car, not me – when I drove it. The noise gets me, I like the exhaust sound, I’m always asking for cars to be louder, and I like the shape; the fastback is my favourite. You get a lot of attention when you drive a Mustang and that was a beautiful car, but I didn’t like it as much after Peter converted it to right-hand drive.

Peter built me this Shelby as an early 10th wedding anniversary present, which also coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Mustang. We found it online at a Brisbane car dealer’s and it had been for sale for two years; maybe because it was Barbie pink! It was standard ’67 convertible converted to right-hand drive, with a rebuilt 289ci and auto. It had GTA badges on it and we didn’t check to see if it really was a GTA but it was a very clean car and the conversion was well done. It was very clean underneath too.

Pete put a new C4 ‘box in it and an alloy manifold with a four-barrel Holley and it’s had the ‘Shelby drop’ in the front and it’s got King springs, Pedders shocks and ‘mid-eye’ leaf springs, which lowers the rear without losing suspension.

We got the fibreglass Shelby GT500 kit from Tony Branda in Philadelphia but the trouble was none of it fitted so the boys had to back-fill the fibreglass parts and grind it to fit. We even had to change the curvature of the bootlid, but we expected that. The nose didn’t fit at all. We had the interior retrimmed in leather with red stitching by Blackman’s. I’m a pretty wussy driver but I like the power of the Shelby.

I love driving it in summer, it’s divine.

*****

More reviews:

> Shelby GT500 convertible review

 
Search used:

>> Search Shelby cars for sale

Unique Cars magazine Value Guides

Sell your car for free right here