January 28th, 2021 Chris Phillip

At the request of Ford’s Lee Iacocca, Carroll Shelby, already a Le Mans winning racecar driver and builder of the Shelby Cobra sports cars with Ford drivetrains, was tasked with beefing up the performance image of the newly released Ford Mustang. Shelby wanted to make the Mustang a pure racer’s machine, with the ability to campaign the car in SCCA events.

Shelby’s G.T. 350 Mustang began as a Wimbledon White fastback from the San Jose assembly plant and delivered to Shelby’s Venice Beach (and later Los Angeles International Airport [LAX] ) shop. There, Shelby’s staff turned the 271hp small-block Mustang into a 306hp screamer with Tri-Y headers, an aluminum manifold, Holley four-barrel carburetor, and more. The G.T. 350 also benefitted from revised suspension that featured over-rider traction bars in the rear and relocated upper control arms up front. Braking was improved via Kelsey-Hayes discs up front and larger drum brakes sourced from Ford’s full-size Galaxie at the rear.

The 1965 G.T. 350 is considered by many the purest of the original Shelby Mustangs with its lack of creature comforts, side-exit exhaust, four-speed manual transmission, and, of course, its long list of SCCA wins—easily placing the 1965 G.T. 350 into our Top 10 list. As the Shelby Mustang production continued into 1966 and beyond the cars were continually “softened” by Ford in an effort to reach more customers; those that wanted an automatic transmission, air conditioning, and a quieter and more compliant ride. This constant battle with Ford led Shelby to walk away from the program, which in turn saw Ford take control of Shelby production, which had moved from California to Michigan’s A.O. Smith in 1968 after Shelby’s lease on his LAX location expired.

Story By Mark Houlahan

Photography courtesy of Ford Motor Co. and Dave Friedman and Austin C. Craig Collection

About the photo: Shelby got his start in a small shop on Princeton Drive in Venice, California, in 1962. Shelby’s Cobras were built here, but as Mustang production ramped up and began running out of room, Shelby moved to a new location at 6501 West Imperial Highway at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Seen here are 1965 R-models being built in the new facility.