Why can't pp/owners just leave a car like this alone and enjoy it is as a nice driver-and then put it up for sale in the same condition-would probably bring close to 100k. Way too easy-quick grab the wrench and start tearing her down...
Hi there. As the seller of this particular Shelby, allow me to address that. This car was NOT a nice driver. Yes it ran and drove, and technically could have been kept on the road as such. But not many people actually enjoy driving around a very worn out, rough car that needs everything. Especially so when you have to pay high five figures for it.
This car had a 427 side-oiler with Cobra Jet heads and a Galaxie C6 with no reverse installed in it when my customer bought it. Original drivetrain long gone. Had a leaking head gasket, among many fluid leaks. Original carb, distributor, radiator, fan shroud all missing. Front end fiberglass badly damaged. Whole car totally worn out, suspension was ragged, interior was very rough with an absolutely shredded driver’s seat. Windshield and back window leaked. And had typical California daily driver rust in the passenger floor and trunk dropdowns as a result. Had a poor quality exterior-only paint job at some point in its life, and the paint was just trash. Not in any way savable or “survivor” quality. I feel like the before pictures made that abundantly clear, but I can only assume people just aren’t looking closely at them. This car was way rougher than anybody would ever consider a “survivor”. Just because something runs and drives does not automatically make it a survivor. Believe me, I’m a big fan of leaving clean original survivors alone. This was NOT a candidate by any rational definition.
All that aside.. the original goal for the project was to build a “holy grail” type keeper for the owner.. a real Shelby, built his way. Lots of modifications to take advantage of lots of improvements in technology over the last 55 years. However, a superior car came along that immediately became the replacement holy grail: A Special Yellow four speed KR. We switched our focus to the KR, and this 500 suddenly went to the back burner. Well, fast forward a couple odd years, and the realities of timeframes and finished value meant the owner no longer wanted to finish this car.
The point made above about some folks not being able to afford a finished car is 100% true. It’s a lot easier for some folks to hand over five figures and spend a few years working on it than hand over well into the six figure range for a properly finished car. But there’s also the equally valid point that some people just want to build their own car. Either to build it the way they want, or to just know it was done right. So yes, as said above, projects like this usually sell for more than the sum of their parts - as this one just did today finally.
Further, sometimes the car you want simply isn’t available finished. A car equivalent to the Special Yellow KR I’m building for him now simply does not exist in the market that I have seen. The huge majority are bone stock restorations, and that’s not what he’s looking for. So if you’re going to build it your way, why start with a finished car? Conversely, why try to save $10-15k on the purchase price by buying a RUSTY bucket that will cost $30k just in metal work before it even enters the body shop? A lot of people don’t make these calculations. The fact is that this car needs almost no metal work, which will save cost and time in the restoration process.
