01/30/2004: "Classic Metal - the Story of my GT500KR"

Anyone who knows me knows that I have always loved cars. Ever since that first diarrhoea-brown Datsun 1000, with the boot that would pop open on left hand corners, I have always had a love affair with our four-wheeled friends. I have owned some great cars in my time, not necessarily what everyone would call classics, but each has a special place in my heart.

Somewhere around mid-life-crisis #17 (I really should label those more carefully), I finally purchased my dream car - a 1968 Shelby GT500KR. For those of you who know the remake of the classic "Gone in 60 Seconds", the GT500KR is very similar to Cage's favourite, the '67 Shelby GT500 "Eleanor". I should point out that I bought mine six months before the film came out, so before the GT500 got quite so much public attention. I should point out that the only true GT500 to star in the film was the beaten-up project car at the end - the many Eleanors used in the film were all "clones" [1].

So, how did I come to purchase such a fine piece of American muscle-car history? Well, its the usual story - it was a Sunday afternoon, I was hung over, and I figured an impulse buy would make me feel better. Did it ever!!! The car was originally purchased from S&C Ford in San Francisco. A father and son used to race the car at Candlestick park, but when they tired of that sometime in the late '70s, she was stuck in a garage to collect dust for the next 20 years, with less than 50k original miles on her.

A couple of local enthusiasts managed to track down and buy the car, and then put it up on eBay to try to make a quick profit. I snapped her up at just $100 over the reserve, and everyone came out of the deal smiling. I had another Mustang at the time (a '69 Mach 1) that I was working on, so aside from a new set of wheels and tires, and a new exhaust system (she had originally had straight side-pipes when I bought her, which threatened to rattle fillings loose on the freeway), she stayed mostly as I bought her.

The GT500KR has a special place in Shelby history. The last of the 67-68 style Shelbys, the KR designates "King of the Road". The model was introduced half way during the model year, as soon as Carrol Shelby could get hold of the awesome 428 Cobra Jet engine, to replace the original 428 PI (Police Interceptor) used in the '68 GT500. For this reason, the GT500KR is sometime referred to as a "68 1/2 Shelby". While production numbers vary depending on the source, there were about 1000 GT500KR fastbacks made, and another 500 convertibles.

The story on this particular car doesn't stop there though. This Shelby was rare, even among GT500KRs. A very small number of GT500KRs were ordered with "Special Order Paint". The majority of these were Yellow (as is mine), and there were just 65 Yellow GT500KR fastbacks ever made - making her super-rare - especially with such low miles. There were a few original pieces missing - the air-cleaner had been replaced by a chrome open-element filter, and the smog-system had long since hit the trash - but aside from that, she was complete, ran well, and turned heads everywhere I would drive her.

Finally, I sold the Mach 1, and now it was time to turn my attention to the Shelby. It is a slow-process, planning a restoration. It is time consuming, expensive, and fraught with perils. The small parts that are missing seem almost inconsequential, but when you consider that an original air-filter and snorkel for a GT500KR can run over $3000, you can imagine how careful you must be! I learnt a lot of lessons from my work on the Mach 1. Firstly, the Mach 1 was almost too nice - The paint and body were so clean and straight, that I was paranoid when driving it. I really want a car that I can drive and enjoy, so I don't want to spend the enormous amount of money necessary for a "rotisserie restoration". Also, I took on too much too soon with the Mach 1, so I learnt that I must tackle the project in small, manageable parts. Finally, I learnt that I just don't have enough time to do all the things I want in life, so there are certain jobs that have to get contracted out!

The first work was to rebuild the Transmission. The transmission seal had developed a bad leak, and there is nothing I hate more than a leaky car, so after a few months of calling around and chatting with shops, I finally took her over to "Mikes Transmissions" on Blossom Hill Road, who did a first-class job on the rebuild.

With a nice snappy transmission again, I started to drive her a little more. I was driving up to Portola Valley one Saturday afternoon, and I noticed that the oil pressure gauge had started jumping around. The faster I would go, the further it would jump down towards zero. I pulled off at the next exit, and checked the oil. All looked fine, and there were no strange noises, but it was very disconcerting. Now this is the original engine (there is a partial VIN number stamped on the back of the block, just visible with a mirror and some contortion work), and in terms of resale, and original drive train makes a huge difference to the value of the car. Not that I intend to sell her any time soon, but it has always been my goal to keep things as original as possible. So, rather than take any chances, I decided it was time to tackle the engine rebuild.

Again, I researched, I talked to various engine shops, and I got thoroughly confused. I got one quote from a shop in LA for $1000, another for a shop in Fremont for $14000! Finally, after talking to Rod at "The Mustang Ranch" of Santa Clara, I decided that I would take it to them. They have their own in-house machine shop, and have rebuilt many Cobra Jet engines in their time. They have just completed the initial tear-down of the engine, and everything is looking good - as I suspected, the engine has never been rebuilt, which is a good thing - each time an engine is rebuilt, it is bored out a little further, so an engine can only be rebuilt a few times. Inside, everything was stock, except the valve train - it had been converted to a solid-lifter cam, but I will be taking her back to the original hydraulic-cam.

This is a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to getting her all pepped up ready for the Spring. Vrooom!



[1] No, not the scary Kiwi Stormtrooper type of clones. The term clone is used when a regular Mustang has all the parts added to make it look like a Shelby car - but no matter how close it looks, if it doesn't have an original Shelby serial number, then its still is not the real thing...