I guess, they just choose to "show" it part way through its journey to becoming a GT350
Still not sure it was worth the trouble, after all it's not hard to imagine a white non GT Kcode with steel wheels and missing some parts.
That's more or less how things worked out. The original plan was to address a list of improvements to the car, but during some disassembly, it became evident that a total strip/repaint was the only way to go. The new owner had really wanted to take the car to SAAC/MCA/MCACN this year, but we knew there was no way to make SAAC/MCA, so we set our sights on getting it to MCACN. In conversations, the idea of taking it there as a Mustang came up and we agreed that would be the goal. I would have put the car back close to a complete Mustang anyway, so it wasn't too much more work to add parts like exhaust, shocks, etc...
It was expected that there would be mixed reactions to this decision, but the feedback received at MCACN was extremely positive. Not one person questioned 'why?'
It was a tremendous effort to get this car to MCACN. I didn't receive the car back from Jason Billups until Sept 26th. It was a bare shell needing complete reassembly. A San Jose coupe with a scheduled build date 12 days before 003 had been acquired, which was delivered at the same time. There were many parts/fasteners used from that car, requiring additional restoration work.
Could not have done this without the help of Jim Cowles, who did an amazing job on various parts, including rotors/calipers/prop valve, etc... Marcus Anghel was key in restoring the original control arms from the coupe, they were in amazing condition and the boots were actually good enough to re-use.
The next step will be to do the prototype conversion, just like Mark H did before. A high percentage of the Shelby-specific parts are ready to go. We plan to do this sometime in the Spring, maybe April/May. Photographic/video documentation will be done. We are also hoping to involve ex-SA employees to be there when the conversion is done. It's going to be a great experience for all. The car will then go to SAAC/MCA and then back to MCACN next year as a GT350.
Please understand that the owner and myself have deep respect/admiration for what Mark Hovander did during his ownership of 003. That will never be diminished and it is only because of Mark that we know the true history of 003.