SAAC Forum

We drove our modified '65 Mustang fastback to The International Mustang Meet in Calgary back in 1982. Found our '67 GT500 at that show and have owned it ever since. Unfortunately I had to let go of the 65 fastback a couple years later to make room for a dependable family car, but it's since been replaced with a couple other toys.

Montana is just a good state for avoiding paying the sales tax on your purchase. There is no sales tax in Montana on most purchases, including vehicles. People start an LLC in Montana, register the car there, they may have to store it there for a year, then they can transfer the car to the state they live in and not pay the sales tax because they are just moving it from there property in Montana to the state they reside in fulltime. There are people who register their car in Montana through the LLC but don't store it there. They drive it around in their home state with Montana plates, but if your neighbor reports it you could be in trouble. Some states are cracking down on the Montana LLC program. If you've noticed collector cars with Montana plates at auctions, on TV shows, there's a good chance that's why. People do the same thing with high end motor homes as well.

I live in Montana so my California plates are just for show. When I purchased the car in '82 there were stickers piled on top of each other so I peeled them all off until I got to the first sticker from 1967. I've driven to shows with them on and have never been stopped for it, so I run with them occasionally.

I saw your car at the Eastern Ave Cars and Coffee and was hoping to visit with you, but by the time I came back around to your car you had left. Your car is absolutely beautiful. I love the black California plate with the stickers peeled back to 1969. My '67 GT500 is an original black plate California car that still had them on it when I bought it in 1982. I peeled the stickers back to '67. There was a '67 Corvette at Cars and Coffee on Eastern Avenue that also had black plates peeled back to 1967. Pretty cool to see.

I started my daughters out with Mustangs when they were in their teens, about twenty years ago now. I knew my wife wouldn't let me buy any more Mustangs for us so I convinced her the girls needed '65 Mustangs, and as they got older they fell in love with Foxbody's so they had to have one of those too. My hope was we would all go to shows together as they became adults but that hasn't exactly worked out. Now their busy with their own kids....At least I get to store them so it makes for a nice display in the garage.

Thanks for all of the info. I was always curious how they could sell Shelby's not being a Ford dealer, but now it makes sense. Were there other dealerships in other parts of the country that were not Ford franchises that Shelby American contracted to sell their vehicles?

Gene Ashton was the salesman who sold my car #589 to the original owner. Along the line somewhere someone posted a scan of his business card which was pretty cool. It would be interesting to know what became of him after HPM closed. That would have been my dream job as a car salesman....

I'm curious about High Performance Motors of El Segundo Ca. I've noticed that they sold a lot of Shelby Mustangs, mine was sold new there, but it haven't seen it said that they were a full line Ford dealer. I know Ford dealers had to have the Shelby franchise in order to have new Shelby products to sell, initially anyway, then that policy changed when the cars weren't moving the way they hoped they would. As I understand Carroll Shelby was a partner in High Performance Motors. Can someone shed more light on that particular dealership?

Well that brings up the age-old question, are Shelby's produced in 1968, 1969 1970 genuine Shelby products since they were built by Ford? My opinion, if they came from the factory with Shelby on the car they are Shelbys. Some may have more pedigree than others, but if you are going to say SVT produced GT500's aren't real Shelbys I think you are insinuating that neither are 68's, 69's and 70's. Just my opinion.

My favorites are more kind of "under the radar".... Badfinger, Ian Hunter, Mott The Hoople, Steve Forbert....

 A fellow Shelby enthusiast is fighting for his life after being severely burned when there was an explosion and fire while he was working on the water heater in his home. Gary Meuchel owns a '68 GT500 that he purchased back around 1976 and '67 GT500 #413 that he's owned for about 15 years. He owns Cherry Lane Motors in Lolo Mt, just south of Missoula where he specializes in the restoration of classic Ford vehicles. He and his shop were the subjects of a Car and Driver article written by John Phillips III a few years back. He was an annual attendee of the SAAC Does Vegas shows and the Team Shelby Vegas meets up until Carroll passed away. He and his wife are raising two of their grandkids, making this an even worse tragedy. If any of you feel like contributing to the GoFundMe account that has been set up for him that would be greatly appreciated. He's one of those guys who would drop what he was doing to help a friend, truly a great guy.

Here's a link to a news article about the accident - https://www.mtiindustries.com/man-hospitalized-with-severe-burns-after-gas-explosion-in-lolo/

Here's a link to the Car and Driver article - https://news.yahoo.com/john-phillips-thursday-nights-lolo-092100343.html

Link  to video of Gary in his '68 GT500 testing his line lock..... -https://youtu.be/LPhc0iP_1rw

Link to the GoFundMe account - https://gofund.me/d4152677

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Any help would be truly appreciated. His wife and daughter will have a lot on their hands  trying to keep his shop afloat, take care of kids and help Gary during his recovery.

I paid more than I should have for my '67 GT500. Thankfully that was in 1982. I paid 50% more than it sold for new! People thought I was nuts!

Very nice! I own it's twin, right down to the wheels, tires and Lemans stripes! #589 - Bought it in '82.

Put a new battery and voltage regulator in it a couple weeks ago, drove it to cars and coffee this morning.

I received my '67 Shelby Registry yesterday and going through it I was able to find a couple cars I had come across when I was looking for a Shelby about 40 years ago. Among them was a '67 GT350 from Spokane Wa,  and a '67 GT500 from Deer Lodge Mt, but there were a couple I was trying to find that I couldn't so I thought I would describe them and see if anyone else recalls these cars.

One was a red '67 GT500 that was in Rexburg Idaho, or one of the small towns in that area. Auto trans, A.C. with outboard lights. I remember the owner wanted $10,000 for it, which was a bit much at the time. I was told that the engine block had been replaced because it froze and cracked one winter. It was a very nice car. I was looking for a 4-speed without A.C. and it was out of my price range anyway, so I didn't pursue it.

Another one wasn't actually for sale, but I saw it driving down the streets of Missoula Mt and followed it to it's destination. It was a '67 GT350 with outboard lights, Lime Gold with a Boss 302 type of stripe that came down the bodysides and up over the hood. I believe it was a Colorado car, auto trans I think, with chrome headers. The owner was in town for a wedding.  Another very nice car at the time.

Do either of these cars ring a bell for anyone?

I hadn't heard that it had celebrity ownership history. Sounds like it had a bit of a tough life. Not as tough as Jim Morrison's GT500, but apparently those singers from the sixties were hard on their cars!