1965 Shelby GT350

It wasn't the first. There were musclecars long before the Shelby GT350 put tire to tarmac. The Pontiac GTO beat it to market by a year, the vicious 409- powered Chevy Bel Air debuted in 1961, and the fuelie 'Vette appeared way back in 1957. Likewise, Carroll Shelby's modified Mustang never set a lasting high mark for performance. There were larger-engined and faster-accelerating cars built during the GT350's production lifetime of 1965-1970. In fact, Shelby created many of the faster ones himself. So how can we have the audacity to suggest that the '65 GT350 might be the best musclecar ever? Read on.

What began on April 17, 1964, was simply Ford's best runaway sales success since the Model T. More than 100,000 Mustangs sold during their first four months on the market. However, by August of that year, Ford's marketing execs felt that the magic sales bubble was about to burst. They feared being on the hook with huge numbers of Mustangs that had no buyers.

Someone mentioned Shelby's name. It seemed a natural. The pugnacious Texan had worked wonders with the Ford-engined Cobra project and had kicked tail on almost every road circuit across the globe. So what could he do with a chance to modify a limited run of Mustangs? Race a few of them to build an image and sell some to the public at Ford dealers--right next to the regular Mustangs. With big bags of FoMoCo development money poised to arrive at his door, Shelby gladly agreed.

His first call was to the Sports Car Club of America. Its B-Production class seemed perfect for the Mustang's size and power, though existing rules stipulated that only two-seat cars were allowed. That was no sweat--undo a couple of fasteners and the rear seat could be tossed out. What was next? The cars could only be campaigned with either modified engines or modified suspension, not both. In other words, the production suspension would have to be stout enough to handle the high-horsepower engines that Shelby planned to install in his racing versions. That seemed doable too. Lastly, the SCCA demanded that at least 100 production versions of each of the eligible race models be completed to meet homologation requirements.

Shelby-destined Mustangs began life on regular Ford production lines, but they were assembled without hoods, grilles, rear seats, exhaust systems, or emblems. Items scrounged from Ford's parts bins included a Borg-Warner close-ratio four-speed, a Detroit Locker differential, 11-inch front disc brakes, larger drums at the rear and special bracing under the hood. The cars arrived at Shelby-American's Los Angeles facility with stock 289-inch, 271-horse V-8s, but they were soon treated to the Texan's recipe of a cast-aluminum oil pan and valve covers, tri-Y headers, glasspack mufflers (exiting to the side of the car just forward of the rear wheels), and a healthy 715-cfm Holley four-barrel on a Cobra aluminum intake. An open-element air cleaner ducted to the fiberglass hoodscoop. Engine output was 306hp at 6,000 rpm, 0-60 mph times came in at 6.8 seconds, the quarter-mile happened in 15 flat at 91 mph, and top speed was close to 135 mph.

Chassis improvements included relocating the front-suspension mounting points and installing Koni shocks, traction bars, larger antirollbars, and special Goodyear Blue Dot tires on 15-inch steel or aluminum wheels. A quote from Motor Trend magazine's original test of the GT350 (May '65) stated: "Handling is much improved over even the best-handling, kit-equipped, normal Mustang. There's so much cornering force that the idiot light came on and the gauge wavered due to oil surge in the sump."

A total of 562 Shelby GT350s were built in 1965, 37 of which were the lightweight race or "R-model" cars. But is this machine the fastest musclecar ever? Not by a long shot. The best handling? It's certainly close to the top. The best looking? You be the judge. Simply put, what makes the '65 Shelby GT350 a strong contender for "best musclecar ever" is that there's a bona fide race record to back it up, not merely catchy phrases from an advertising copywriter's pen. Before all you foamy-mouthed Z28 and Boss 302 lovers start with the poison-pen letters, let us point out that the GT350 won races with a mechanical setup closer to that of its street versions than any of the famous SCCA Trans-Am series Camaros, Firebirds, Barracudas, Challengers, or Javelins could ever boast. The GT350 accomplished its Mustang-image-building task flawlessly, led directly to the creation of the Boss 302 and Mach 1 models, and positioned Carroll Shelby as the man to lead Ford's huge motorsports push, which included a two-time win at Le Mans. If that doesn't rank the GT350 among the best, then you tell us what would.