No Power for Jim-More Power for You: The “Does She or Doesn’t She” Edition
This weekend the theme revolves around the fact that our own Jim Brennan sits powerless due to an early New England storm. Rather than make you suffer without power as well, we’re going in the other direction. This weekend is all about LOTS of power.
This olelongrooffan has mentioned previously here in the Hooniverse about some of the cool shit I am able to see and experience living down here near the World Center of Racing. Yesterday was yet another example of that experience. I was driving home from yet another day with Manuel Labor and passed by the world headquarters of Motorsports Marketing where I spotted this vintage 1967 Ford Mustang Shelby GT 500 350 in their parking lot. I was able to determine it was awaiting a transporter to deliver it out Texas way for the Texas 1000 later this weekend.
Now I am sure my fellow Hoons are wondering “What does the reference to the Does She or Doesn’t She in the headline of this post refers to?” Well, you’ll just have to make the jump to follow along with me for my vague advertising reference which I hope Jim (when he does rejoin the modern era) will get a kick out of.
As far as the headline for this post, Does She or Doesn’t She, my older fellow Hoons may remember an advertising series Clairol did many, many moons ago with the tagline, “Only her hairdresser knows for sure.”
This Shelby has all the visual traits of a survivor in original patina. From the rust on the driver’s door to the flaking paint on the rear decklid.
But it was the sight of this Classic Motorsports Magazine sticker that brought a questioning look-see from this olelongrooffan. I mean, Classic Motorsport Magazine has been around for quite some time and it is one of the few print mags I still read on a monthly basis. But I’m not so sure it has been around long enough to gather the cracking and general patina the one on this driver’s side fender reflects.
There were of course, many other cues this ole Shelby is indeed an original patina bearing survivor. Flaking paint on the front of the bonnet and the lower cowl answered some of the skepticism I had developed in the short time I had viewing this classic fastback.
Generally, all around the body the patina screamed out at the top of its tail pipes “ORIGINAL”.
However, when I dropped to my knees to gather an image or two of the undercarriage I realized the body on this Shelby may be original but the drivetrain and suspension system were anything but original. Stock maybe, but certainly not original, at least to this olelongrooffan’s undertrained eye.
I mean, it is immaculate down to the nuts and bolts on the exhaust system and the beautiful extremely lustworthy petrol tank hanging off the ass end of that clean enough to eat off of frame.
But ya know what? I don’t really care. Whether the patina showing on this sweety is real or a damn good color job, it is an absolutely beautiful piece of period artwork. With that 8 track stereo resting just above those gauges and that 4 speed transmission requiring the third pedal, this olelongrooffan just wishes I was heading to Texas this weekend to open it up in the wide open spaces of the Lone Star State with a bunch of my fellow Hoons.
After all, isn’t that what being a Hoon is all about?
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Yep, you can see how they really built those old cars to last. Frankly, I like the way they reused the body shell without any freshening up. I'd imagine that the interior, frame and mechanicals were probably pretty far gone to justify sliding a whole new car underneath. And as long as no one's being lied to about what this really is, it's fantastic.
Much in the spirit that Jim kept his Corvair's all-original patina, even down to the weepy roof.
FYI, Ole', your copy says 500, but the tape says 350. I'm happy either way, even though I'm not as fond of the Shelby Mustangs as I used to be. If I had to choose, I suppose I've go for lower number and earlier versions, and try to stay away from the later tape and paint and stick on ducts versions.
Corrected…thanks for the heads up…i must have proofed this post a half dozen times and still missed that. Oh where, oh where is Miss Daisy when I need her?
I'm diggin' the Gold Lime with the white stripe and Torque Thrusts. Hurst shifter too…
Awesome.
I don't like this one bit. A great car given a completely misguided treatment. Patina is fine on silver, bronze, and old furniture. However, on cars, it's merely deterioration. If someone has the money to fix up the underpinnings and interior, as this person does, why not clean up the exterior too and give it a decent coat of paint? I'm not talking Barrett-Jackson levels of over-restoration either – just make the damn thing presentable. I see no charm whatsoever in the fake raggedness of this car since it doesn't appear to be some storied and famous racecar. It's like sandpapering a prized vinyl LP so you can get that "vintage" noisy and scratchy atmosphere. I hang out on some music blogs and there are people who prefer the sound of a badly-worn record to the pristine sound of a well-mastered CD or well-encoded digital audio files. I find that sad and wrongheaded. This poor car is the equivalent.
meh. No harm, no foul.
Personally, when I see rust like that, I want to mix in some finely powdered aluminum and touch a match to it, just to see what will happen. I've been able to suppress the urge up until now, but one day…
You would need something hotter than a match.
I knew you were going to come back with that, yet I still went ahead with my allegory, hoping against hope that the idea of lighting a match to something would convey the intent to apply sufficient heat to the crude thermite in order to ignite it. But no, if there is a nit to be picked, Alff will be first in line with his hand raised. Thank the gods below that you were never in any of my classes. Sigh. Very well then, insert the phrase "light it with the flame from my pocket welder" instead of "touch a match to it". Are we happy now?
Whatever. You're the prick that wants to liquefy vintage Shelbys.
Now, now. You'll upset Pete. The car wouldn't ignite anyway, except for the small area (I hope it's small) of rust on the door, which needs to be removed anyway so that it can be repaired. Consider it an innovative method of rust removal.
After all, I like vintage Shelby's too.
It has been updated to perform better than new underneath. If it were a standard fastback, I'd be on board with the Earl Scheib respray. As for the fake raggedness- I think this is as they found it. The interior has been cleaned up / carpeted and the chassis made safe/better.
But really- when the paint just falls off or gets a new owner, it'll get paint. I just PRAY they keep it green.
BTW- I spent the afternoon at a VW show… plenty of fake rust to go around. Who thought of that crap anyway?
Who says it isn't going to get the paint and body treatment down the road. It makes far more sense to go through the mechanicals first. Getting those items done makes the car more driveable and thus enjoyable while gathering the funds for the next stage which can surely result in the car being out of commission for some time if it is done right. It does not look like fake raggedness to me. Keeping it on the road and making it better to drive is so much better. To many cars like this are lost with attempts at grand restorations by a novice. About the time the car is torn apart since it no longer is driveable and doesn't even really look like a car anymore the owner looses interest. By they time they come to the realization that they will never put the car back together they've lost a lot of stuff and the car is often relegated to being a parts donor for some other project.
So very true. I finally got smart with my most recent project and started from the bottom with the suspension and working upward. That way i get to drive it and enjoy it and still park it at work without worrying about that paintwork that cost as much as the rest of the thing plus upgrades combined. I'm completely against fake patina (that goes for cars as well as guitars – hear me Fender? Those "relics" are the stupidest things ever) but I can really appreciate real decay that's just waiting to be taken care of until the important stuff is done.
Yep. My daily driver Alfa is a lot like this – clean and fresh where it needs to be, a little rough around the edges cosmetically.
If this car is a work in progress, that's fine. I realize that things sometimes need to be done in stages. But LongRoofian suggested that it might be a deliberate and final look. If that's the case, then it all goes very wrong.
It's the real deal… not the fake stuff.
Several years ago Hot Rod mag did a spread on a fiberglass replica with rust, stains and and faded paint. Now that was pitiful.
Wait, you mean Charlotte isn't the World Center of Racing? I'm not sure many people around here at the NASCAR Hall of Fame are aware of that.
I want to believe, I want to believe.
cup holders-????
What's that keyhole in the front fender? Kill switch?
Looks like an old time car alarm. They used to be everywhere on C3 Vettes, Hot Rods and Vans. I still get a kick out of seeing them, a neat throwback to the 70's.
Fake uglification is as bad, in fact: worse, than and other kind of fake (portholes, intercoolers, wings, etc).
I'm…skeptical that that this car was intentionally uglified. This might well be the holy grail perfect Shelby Mustang: a rough, but completely functional example. Search around: your options are piles of parts with the proper VIN on what's left of the fender selling for crazy money, or perfectly restored examples selling for even crazier money. Or cars that have been gutted to track-only status. This is…just right.
Indeed. It's usable, functional, perfect. Like an old pair of jeans you can wear camping.
I've got that ratty old Datsun that I washed and polished a bit, but mostly left alone cosmetically. Mechanically I went all through it and detailed the snot out of the engine, polished all the old shiny aluminum bits etc. But the paint it as good as it is ever gonna get while I have it. It's not a "rat-rod" or anything else contrived… it's honest and a bit of a survivor, cool the way I inherited it.
Some folks get their panties all in a bunch and come over to complain at car shows, and tell me how wrong it is, how DARE I have an old car that is not all pretty and perfect. How dare I not "conform".
I point out they passed dozens of beautiful & shiny works of art without noticing them to come bitch about my beater, unwittingly joining the crowd of folks enjoying the vehicle. Meanwhile other people (MOST other people) say "Don't you ever paint this car, it would be a crime". And I agree.
So I keep it that way because I like it. The fact that it annoys certain "conformist-police" types is just icing on the cake. I would keep this Shelby exactly the way it is, functional, maintained and dusty.
I pretty much agree, although I'd fix the bad rust spots so that it didn't deteriorate any faster, if possible. I think it's great to have a classic car that's used regularly and looks like it, rather than have a glass slipper that spends all of its time under a car cover and is basically unusable for fear of getting a scratch on it. You might as well just own a picture of the car.
I think this car is a new build,end to end,new car with faux patina.Would like to see it on a hoist,but what I can see says new.The hardest part for me to figure out "how-to" was the rust,but a sandblaster to shape the hole,and chloride spray to age it and there it is.
http://classicmotorsports.net/project-cars/1967-S…
Thanks for the rest of the story.
I've got a Victorinox Swiss Army knife, a "Climber". My Dad got it new in about '89 and later upgraded to a model with an integrall sawblade and passed the Climber on to me. I carry it in my jeans pocket most of the time. It is, sngularly, the most tactile item I posess, I'm in the habit of rubbing along its flanks between thumb and forefinger, with my hands in my pockets so it probably looks like I'm surreptitiously masturbating, but hey ho.
The plastic on one side is punctuated by a cast aluminium Victorinox crest, and after a decade and a half of fondling the crest has eroded more slowly than the plastic surrounding it and the two are no longer flush. I love it, I find absent-mindedly searching for it in my pocket to be an enormously reassuring and therapeutic pastime.
It's another kind of patina, that which comes of being utilized and loved. My fear is, as appears to be the case with it being a barn-find, that the patina on this Shelby comes from neglect, not experience. A car has to earn its patina, not acquire it by proxy; and why is a story of being lost and found usually regarded with more romance than one of 44 years of solid, devoted use?
Our '97 Ka has patina that '67 Shelby would kill for, not that I wouldn't kill for the GT350, though. I was all over it as soon as I even read the " " before "GT".
You can request a free issue of the magazine with this car.
http://www.classicmotorsports.net/try
Video from the work they did so far-looks like the car earned all of it's patina.
[youtube oDtFjES87VI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDtFjES87VI youtube]
Sorry about the thumbs down…where are my freaking glasses? +1…
That is in fact real patina, as the Classic Motorsports site explained. How do I know for sure? Because it's my dad's car, and would be parked in my garage if it wasn't currently in Ford's booth at the PRI show.
It's a completely real '67 Shelby with all original numbers-matching body work. We completely restored the underside to concours specs (except for suspension upgrades), then dropped in Ford's new 363 ci 500 hp engine. The interior was partially restored to make it comfortable on long drives. The only bit of "faked" patina on this car is the sponsor graphics, which were artificially aged to compliment the rest of the car.
My dad does plan on eventually restoring the paint/bodywork, but for now he's going to leave it as-is, partially to annoy the haters.