Inside, the look is vintage '65 GT350, starting with the wood wheel. This one is a LeCarra, which looks at home in a Shelby. The Shelby pod in the center of the dash is a great place to mount the tach and oil pressure gauges. To modernize the look, Bob went with white faces, even for the horizontal speedometer. the new seats are the biggest improvement inside. He related, "I did the Hot Rod Power Tour last year. After about three hours on the road in the original '65 seats, my back was killing me." For this latest trip to Tulsa and the Mid-America Ford and Shelby Performance Car Show, Bob switched to Scat Procar seats. He told us, "It was a six-hour drive from our home in Bonner Springs, Kansas, to Tulsa, and I got out and felt great. They just hug you in there."
Hidden from view is a street-model roll bar, which permits rear seat access. Bob has it setup so he can attach shoulder harnesses.
Under the tunnel is a C4 automatic. Bob told us the automatic is wife-friendly. "I catch more crap from my car buddies about having an automatic. I went automatic because my wife refuses to learn how to drive a five-speed. And she drives this car quite a bit and loves it."
Bob's build was making a whole lot of sense. We've emphasized the fun theme here, but this is a serious build-up. Bob explained his philosophy with a pretty catchy theme: "If you're going to put stripes on the car, you better be able to back them up."
How's this for back-up? "While we primarily drive and show the car, it has run a best of 13.91 at 106 in the quarter-mile, and we have autocrossed it once just for kicks." Shelby would be proud.