Forty Years Old and Still Like New
Tuesday, March 25, 2014 at 03:15PM 
This gem was recently found in Pennsylvania barn covered in dust, after its owner died. He has no heirs or living relatives, and left a number of interesting cars behind, including this Shelby GT500. One of only a thousand manufactured, the car has 8500 original miles and replacement tires, but otherwise is completely stock. The owner reportedly never washed it because he was afraid he'd scratch the paint. Rare Shelby GT500 Found
According to the news report,
the GT500, that features a 428 Cobra Jet engine meshed to a 4-speed transmission, still maintains its original paint, tires, belts, hoses, factory steering wheel cover and 1968-dated coded spark plug wires. Vehicles with more miles, in far less original condition, have sold for over $100,000.
Back in the day, I recall seeing a red Shelby GT500 burning rubber on Whittier Boulevard in front of the Bob's Big Boy. If you lived in Southern California and had a cool car, or just liked to watch the muscle cars or low-riders cruise by, then Saturday night at the Bob's Big Boy on Whittier Avenue was the place to be.
Quite a car and a wonderful find!
Reader Comments (3)
Yup, back in the day I was a "gear head." I inherited my dad's 1965 El Camino, I worked for an entire summer, saved my money and replaced the stock 283 with the Z/28 302, and I dumped the 2-speed Powerglide (aka the "slip and slide") for an Art Carr trans with a new rear-end. For my high school graduation my mom surprised me with a custom interior. Eventually I added a set of Crager SS rims.
One of the dumbest things I ever did was trade it in on my first new car, a 1974 El Camino (which has to be among the ugliest cars ever made). But it was the height of the gas crisis and my 1965 EC got 8 1/2 miles to the gallon on the freeway, and often over-heated because of the high RPMs.
As the saying goes, no kid has a poster of a Prius on his wall.
Small world. I lived in Whittier in 1980 and later Downey next door where they
cruised on Stewart and Gray. I had a 1969 Dodge Charger RT with a 440.
Fond memories of muscle cars. Thanks for the memories.