Supercharged Shelby

This prototype of the 1965 Shelby GT350 features a Paxton blower, making it on one of the hottest tickets in today's muscle car market

by B. Mitchell Carlson

Unveiled by Carroll Shelby on January 27, 1965, the GT350 fastback had a fiberglass hood and functional scoop, and a clean-looking grille with a tri-color horse on the driver's side. All 1965 Shelbys were Wimbledon White with a blue GT350 side stripe below the door. Dealer option Le Mans stripes were available, running down the center of the body.

The interior was black with a flat wood-rimmed wheel. A special instrument cluster in the center of the dash carried a large tach and oil pressure gauge.

A special aluminum intake increased the solid-lifter hi-po 289's horsepower from 271 to 306. Exhaust from the Tri-Y headers exited ahead of the rear wheels. The suspension was extensively reworked, with a large front stabilizer bar, quick steering, lowered upper A-frames, Koni shocks, and traction bars. The front was stiffened with an export brace and Monte Carlo bar. In all, 50 improvements were listed.

Shelby delivered competition results. His three team cars dominated SCCA "B" production, and Jerry Titus won the National Championship.

Serial number 5010 was designated by Shelby as an "advanced prototype," supercharged for developmental testing and fitted with T-Bird taillights. It's the first and only 1965 GT350 to have the Paxton supercharger, which was offered as an option in 1966.

This GT350 was also used for 1966 research and analysis. It was fitted with 1966 rear brake scoops and seems likely to have been the car in the movie "Red Line 7000" with James Caan, though evidence is circumstantial.

However, it has holes from brackets being fitted for head rests, exhaust cut-outs, and the controls and holes from a Mustang console being fitted, which the movie car had. Company records also show that a car was rented to the movie studio just prior to this car's fitment of special taillights and 1966 extras. The Shelby American World Registry also affirms the movie connection.

Serial number 5010 was sold by Shelby's own dealership after its promotional career ended, first to J.B. Hunter, then to Joe Flowers, and finally to the present owner in 1988. He has owned the car three times since then, with three other individuals owning it in between.

The SCM Analysis

This 1965 Shelby GT350 SC sold for $528,000 at RM Amelia Island on March 10 2007.

Let's see here—a generally original, early production Shelby used for prototype component testing, with most of the prototype equipment installed, movie history, plus an airtight verifiable history from one of the most easy-to-follow paper trail marque-specific clubs there is. Quite frankly, half a million is cheap. Why? Let me break it down.

The early Shelby GT350s are one of the hottest tickets in the muscle car market today. They have a more visceral feel to them—a rawness—than each succeeding year of production. Some of this was due to more hand-fitting and "trial and error" assembly, plus the GT350 was at that time intended for turn-key track racers rather than street performance.

Concours examples worth no more

This car has not been fully taken apart and rebuilt to trailer queen status. The powertrain rebuild and decade-old repaint are the bulk of the restorative work; the original sheetmetal, glass, and suspension are intact. As Shelbys are born to run, concours examples aren't as desirable as attractive survivors.

A "run of the mill" 1965 GT350 street model in this condition tends to trade around $325,000. Throw in another $50,000 as it's the tenth Shelby GT350 built, and that puts us at $375,000.

Now for the "advanced prototype" status. Thanks to the previous owner's documentation and its verification by the Shelby American Auto Club, for the most part, #5010 was used as a test mule for various components for future production.

While it would be physically easy to add the components if they were separately available, the paper trail confirms that they were on the car in its early existence. Some may be superficial yet difficult to fake, such as the '65 T-Bird sequential taillights.