COMPETITION PRESS and AUTO WEEK (later AUTOWEEK) published an article in its December 26, 1964 issue about the new Shelby “Mustang GT, powered by Cobra”. As we all know, this new car from Shelby way back then, is what we now know as the GT350. The article, by Ed Leslie, gave readers an early glimpse into the beautiful car we all enjoy.
The Co-Publishers of CP&AW at the time of the article were Bill Finefrock and Russ Goebel. They must have kept a close eye on this new creation from Shelby, and thought it was pretty amazing, as CP&AW purchased two 1966 GT350’s directly from Shelby 10 months later. GT350 cars VIN 6S289 and 6S290 were delivered to CP&AW’s San Francisco office via Shelby’s trailer on November 5, 1965.
Russ drove 6S289 and Bill drove 6S290.
More than 50 years ago, in August, 1967, my parents (mom) purchased 6S289 from CP&AW.
Nearly 53 years after the Mustang GT article was published, in September 2017, the same publication, AUTOWEEK (formally Completion Press and AutoWeek), published an article about 6S289, their former GT350.
In 2016, Russ and his wife joined me (and 6S289) at the Cobra Experience (SAAC-43 Friday Night Social location) Cobra Day car show. They hadn’t seen 6S289 since the photo shoot (photo in earlier post) taken in 2007 – nine years earlier.
To make the continuing story even sweeter, Russ and I communicate quite regularly and my wife and I plan to spend our 30th Anniversary with Russ and his wife at their Inn later this year.
Photo 1 – COMPETITION PRESS and AUTO WEEK December 26, 1964 issue cover
Photo 2 – Mustang GT Test article from December 26, 1964 CP&AW issue
Photo 3 – AUTOWEEK September 18, 2017 issue cover. I shot the photo of the AutoWeek key chain my parents received over 50 years ago (when they bought 6S289) displayed on the hood of 6S289.
Photo 4 – 6S289 article (partial) in September 18, 2017 AUTOWEEK issue