SAAC Forum

a repost of a private correspondence regarding this offering:

"....almost unbelievably, all of the photos have been very cleverly cropped so as preclude almost all of the shelby specific 'checking points'. these subtle points are usually showcased or specifically mentioned in this 300-500k 1965 shelby `S resale world.

a 65 is rated on:
-original drivetrain;
-original sheetmetal;
-original 65 shelby-specific parts;
-original month-specific hardware fasteners; and ... for the BIG money (500k+)
-original inferior parts which were soon thrown away by original owners due to being functionally inferior so therefore are now incredibly 'collectible' due to numerical rarity.

I mean who the F kept a 'W-MO 3-65 dated G-2 stamped' two row 17" radiator? or a 4 blade HiPo fan? or a 3939S 'button top' fuel pump? all useless. now worth $$$$$$$$

anyway on this car absolutely no information is offered. just some standard hot-rod mag generic shelby gibble. no mention of the serialized original engine, no mention of original (date-coded) sheetmetal/glass, no chassis or suspension photos. wa-wa-WHAT??
if it's not mentioned its most probably not there. this thing is being pushed at a high end auction.

what little can be seen is merely 'ok'. I mean it presents well but the cropped engine pic shows the wrong fuel pump, the omission of the shelby specific fasteners atop the shock tower caps, a repop oil filler cap (w/o factory dimples--a collectible) and no way of verifying the heads, intake, block, carb, dist, front cover, etc.

the interior pic show the wrong shifter handle and no way of seeing the dash and the all-important horn switch. cant see anything.

now it would be really something if it had all of its sheetmetal, drivetrain and the suspension was concours... and there is a chance that it may.  but this is the Mecum. not that Mecum is the pinnacle,  but the promoters know enough generically on how to present a high end car if it does indeed have its bona fides."

The engines were assembled at Cleveland as mentioned, trained to Milpitas. Similar to the sheet metal. The cars, roller and drivetrain were assembled at the San Jose plant and trucked to SAI. I have not heard nor not heard of a holding area (?).
However I do know that 38 cars arrived in one day, which was statistically singular, with the dated components as noted. McNamara's protégés were efficient, however I remain impressed, logistically, that an engine assembled on the 28th In Ohio, trained, accepted, sorted, installed, thence trucked was on property at LAX on the 9th.

This may be the most complicated simple question ever asked!
The short answer is: SAI's use of the term 'order' date. SAI seemingly used that date to suggest when a car was ordered by a customer (usually a dealer). That date often times was months after the car was completed at SAI and completely unrelated the car's Ford or SAI build date.
The long answer is: for instance on my 65 the block was cast:5D19. The engine was assembled:5D28 in Cleveland.
The cars sheet metal is all 2/3 week April and arrived at the airport on 5/09. This would suggest that the car had been completed and they were awaiting engines, especially since 5/09 is apparently the largest single shipment of Mustangs to SAI (38) spanning 5S229-5S375. These 38 sequential Fords entered work immediately (5/10) and were then interspersed with another 108 other Mustangs as 5S375 entered work on 6/03.
The real delamination of 'order' date to block casting number begins here. In cases such as mine, which is not atypical, the car was an HPM demo and was not sold for months. It's order date bore no relationship to it's block casting date.
Hope this helps.

Quote from: Bob Gaines on August 26, 2020, 03:34:58 PM
I hope that gbart14 is looking for more then validation only of what is found on his car is original . Some owners feel strongly that just because a part is found on their car in the present 55 years after the fact that it must be original to their car even though they were not present for all of the goings on.   

^^THIS^^
The curse of owning a 1965 Shelby, hey how about these 15 x 5.5 KH wheels?

apparently all under 4500 rpm. racing motor???

AW, you're alright Vern, no matter what they say about you!

~SA

These pictures are rich in detail, thank you for posting.

Obviously an early Venice car(s).
At first blush, some of the differences from cars such as mine (mid LAX car):
-shock/shock tower bolts;
-oil press idiot light w metallic vice fabric oil press line;
-mis-matched LeMans bar hardware;
-both painted and unpainted hose clamps;
-tailpipe hanger;
It is also refreshing to see the alternator properly clocked, a common 'restoration' error.
Looks like the side exhaust were painted black.
Covina never looked better, so dead now.

I bet there are scores more....

Great day for the Atzbach collection.
Regarding 6S002, that looks like an alloy water pump (?).
Was that car built from a mid 65 production Mustang??
I could hardly imagine a restoration error at this level of finish.

This thread is query concerning 'Evans waterless coolant'.
Evans NPG coolant (non-aqueous propylene glycol) and its employment is not rocket science, but it operates on completely different physics laws than water or ethlyene glycol and related additives. It can be easily understood by one simple reading.
Because it is neither water, ethelyne glycol (and related enhancers) based, most of the conventional 'wisdom' regarding OEM cooling system hardware, cooling and media behavior is nonsensical in relation to the OP's question.
Without knowing what it is, good-bad-or indifferent, we end up with a conflated attestation thread like this!

For the lazy old iron on this site: no.
Evans NPG is efficacious. It is based upon reducing superheated skin surface boiling adjacent to the combustion chamber utilizing nucleate boiling. This can near eliminate localized boiling and resultant 'black death' (aluminium thermal piston expansion/ sleeve scuffing -dead hole). With it you do not run a thermostat. Pessurization and temperature are meaningless when employing Evans NPG. It works.
Not really applicable in normally aspirated applications, save for certain off-roaders or esoteric military applications such as the recon teams/ MARSOC who use it.

Seem strait cut in this period pic.

Trying to keep it factual here.
Opinion, over documentation and scholarship, has really hurt the 65 community over the years.
Switchover was at 340. 562 were produced.

When people start talking rare or desirable, run for the hills!

Hmm,  the 'this one is rare' game.
Aren't the front mounted battery 1965 GT-350s factually the 'rare' ones?
Just going off of the production numbers....silly me!

Sure would be nice if this thread concentrated on those who died in the line of duty.

Very cool pic of Ak Miller (center in dark blazer).

As I recall the Ford Custom Caravan of Cars started off early 60s w customs, but by 1964 was centered more around Ak And the Total Performance theme.
On that rig w the Cobra are:
-a Jeffries custom Falcon;
-a Winfield Econoline;
-an Alexander Bros Galaxie custom; and
-an awesome R code 64 Galaxie (note L/W grille).