SAAC Forum

GT350Lad,

Didn't check the Registry, C4 or 4-speed?

Thanks,
Kieth

I forgot to credit my buddy Denny (6S1568 Hertz) for finding that nugget of paint history.

Thanks Denny!

Thanks Jeff!

I'll be passing this along to Ron...

From page 103/104 of Chuck Cantwell & Greg Kolasa's "SHELBY MUSTANG GT350" book:

Thanks for the kind words Steve, I agree with all of them!

Fostering good Shelby karma every chance you get is a great thing for the entire hobby.

And speaking of good deeds, I would expect some positive serendipity coming your way for the carb/lunch trade! Who does that??  There's no "thumbs up" or "beer" emoji here, but I was looking for them! Kudos to you.

Re: My car at SAAC 44? No, that'd be quite a haul. Your Hertz will fly the banner well there, as it does everywhere you take it.

And no, this is not an April Fool's Day joke!

After a few decades, I recently re-connected with a good friend of mine from the old Shelby days. He and I go way back to the 1970's in the Northwoods Region of the Shelby Club here in Wisconsin. He has owned a few Shelby American vehicles, a couple of which are of pretty significant note these days. During our conversations, we discussed the cars that he used to own and he told me of how he still has some mementos from their past that he would like to give to the current owners of the cars! How cool is that? That's an offer that I think quite a few of us will never experience in our tenure of Shelby/Cobra ownership. And just today I received photocopies of all the items that he has for the current owners.

I offered to post his amazing offer on the SAAC Forum to hopefully establish contact with the current owners of these cars. If successful, they can contact me and I will put them in touch with Ron Ressman, who will send the original items to them! I'll list the cars & items that he has in separate paragraphs:

CSX2032 260 COBRA. Yep, the Lance Reventlow Cobra. I can't believe I actually drove that car before I even knew the significance of its serial number. I have a photo of me in it or I still wouldn't believe it to this day. He has the 1977 Wisconsin DMV Registration card and several photos of it in New Berlin, Wis. (circa 1976). He also has a photo of it at SAAC 2 in Hershey, PA with Allen Grant standing next to it with his hand on the roll bar. And YES, Ron drove it there from Wisconsin! He said Allen was real excited to be with the car, and that he was a very gracious and pleasant man to spend time with. He said they spent about an hour together.

SFM6S037 CARRYOVER CAR. Yeah, and a double digit one at that. Those are hot today! He has a June 1972 photo of it as purchased (in Milwaukee) with 15" steel wheels. It looks tough. He has several May 1973 photos of it in a state of partial disassembly, and then a Feb 1975 photo of it with blackwalls and 14" Magnums. What did you do with those steel wheels Ron?? He has quite a way with words, and I had to laugh when he said 037 was "standing real tall" when he got it all freshened up and put back together.

6S815 HERTZ. Nice! A fairly early Hertz car too, with overrides and a steel hood. He has the 1976 Wisconsin DMV Registration Card and a couple photos of it on the day of purchase (March 1975) along with a few of the interior and the engine. He also has a list of the five owners of the car prior to him and the Shelby Owner's Association tag from its first car show at the Shelby meet in Wichita, Kansas (1975?) which is autographed by Carroll Shelby. 815 took 3rd place at that event and he has a photo of it there. My lust for that car motivated me to get my own Hertz on June 30, 1976.

So, if anyone here knows or can contact the current owners of these cars, please PM or email me so I can put you in touch with Ron. His offer to reunite these items with the cars is extraordinarily kind and generous and I hope we are able to complete the chain for him.

Thanks,

Kieth Champine
p51ace@sbcglobal.net

Quote from: No Size on March 17, 2019, 01:35:44 AM
Very interested in Daves post #1265. (Blue 66 Shelby setting next to dealership.) If it is Johnnie bolten Ford dealership in Maitland Florida my blue 6S2201 shelby came from this dealership. Is it just me or does it look like lemans stripes on car? Registery states painted magnums but I purchaced car with ten spokes on car.  Any info would be appreciated. Randy

Randy,

Here's another view of the same car. I have it in my files as 6S799 at Johnny Bolton Ford - Maitland, FL circa 1966.

Not only does it have top stripes, but you can see they didn't even mask off the vertical hood latch support and the masking was also pretty haphazard above and below the bumper on the drivers side!

I have a larger version of this photo and the previously posted profile photo. PM me for my email address & I'll share 'em with whoever wants them.

Kieth

Quote from: werthie on February 27, 2018, 10:24:42 PM
65/66 QUESTION:  i've heard that it's possible to graft an original shifter handle to a Hurst linkage.
has anyone done this?  pros and cons (other than it's not factory)?
thanks,
alan

alan,

Yes, it is possible, and I have made two of them. I made this one for my 1966 Shelby and the other one was requested by a famous R-Model owner who installed and vintage raced his car with it.

I had gotten that idea myself back in the early 1980's when I had somehow talked myself into believing that the factory shifters were "inferior" and that a Hurst Competition Plus shifter must be better. I was already a big fan of the factory Hurst shifter in my 1970 Boss 302, and wanted to duplicate that solid, precise feeling of adjustable stops in my Shelby. And in a word - it was AWESOME! Talk about the best of both worlds, this is it. No one could ever tell that it was installed because the angle/height/function was exact as factory. I even retained the spring for the reverse lock out handle so it even felt perfectly authentic! I was so proud of it that I always pointed it out to people because they had no idea what was going on under the boot.

But truth be told, I "matured" (got older) and looked at the factory shifters in a new light. Like Jim Cowles told me, "They won 3 National Championships with those shifters in the R- Models. They're excellent." That, and I wanted the full "retro" experience with a factory shifter when I got my car out of long-term storage. So I removed the shifter shown in this photo and reinstalled a perfectly sorted factory piece that Jim & I rebuilt. And I love it, he was right.

Back then, I was a machinist and had access to some exceptional welders. I made a fixture with locating rods and adjusting screws to mount the two shifters right next to each other so that the height and angle of the handles could be aligned perfectly. Then I did my measuring, cutting, bevel grinding, mocking up, fixture checking, tacking and eventually welding. I sent my handle out for rechroming, but that might not even be necessary. If the heat discoloration stays below the boot, you may never see it. You just have to be willing to sacrifice a brand new Competition Plus and a stock shifter handle.

So this shifter is now sitting in a wax papered box and I will probably never use it. To me, it's a unique part of my cars history, but it's not doing anybody any good in there.

Thinking . . .

Kieth 

I'll take 3. Looking for a '67 to put them on...

Tom,

PM sent.

Thanks,
Kieth

Brian,

5017 was purchased by a guy from New Holstein, WI of all places, in 1968!

And at that time I was a 13 year old living only three miles away in Kiel and building models of Shelbys! WHO KNEW??

I had no idea the car was there until I moved to Green Bay in 1974 and met Jim Cowles (who later restored the car).

Kieth

PS - Porthole Venice hood!!

PM and email now received - replied to both...

Kieth

PHILL,

No PM received. Try emailing me at: p51ace@sbcglobal.net

Thanks,
Kieth

I have an extra alternator for sale. It's the 42 AMP with the correct fan and pulley for a 65-66 GT350. It's in excellent condition and needs nothing.

It has a couple of technical concours issues, but is still very nice. The main issue is the stator finish (darker than it should be). And it has a lightly stamped part number (C6AF) on the front housing.

But it definitely looks the part, to all but a very educated eye. Perfect for the right kind of car.

$250 plus shipping.

PM or email me at p51ace@sbcglobal.net for any additional photos or info.

Thanks,
Kieth

My best friend's brother once used a phrase to describe something like this to me, and I never forgot it.

He said, "That looks like a sore ass."