The 54-Year Journey Of The Rare Shelby Gt500 Mustang Fastback

The year 1968 represented a high point for Shelby American. Under the leadership of Carroll Shelby, in six years the company had risen from practically nothing to one of the world’s premier limited-production, high-performance manufacturers. Fifty-four years later, the 1968 Shelby GT500 is one of the most coveted collector cars from the muscle car era.

Shelby Rising

After an illustrious driving career crowned by a win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959, Carroll Shelby began transitioning to car building for health reasons. Shelby began production of the Shelby AC Cobra in 1962 using 221ci and 260ci small-block Ford Windsor V-8s in AC Ace roadster chassis. Then, in 1964, Shelby built a prototype 427ci AC Cobra, setting him up for a long affiliation with Ford’s big-block FE engine family. Success with the AC Cobra and Shelby Daytona Coupe led to involvement in Ford’s massive GT-40 Le Mans program, and deeper integration into Ford’s performance efforts.

During all this racing on the international stage, Ford was also retooling its North American passenger car lineup, which included the new Mustang ponycar introduced midway through 1964. Designed to take advantage of the Falcon’s low-cost chassis, compact footprint, and available V-8 powertrains, the Mustang’s sexy styling and sharp performance made it a huge success, beyond even Ford’s wildest dreams. When it came time to turn the wick up on the Mustang in 1965, Ford had Carroll Shelby in its back pocket to perform his magic, and Shelby American began churning out the iconic Shelby GT350 in 1965, followed by the 428ci Cobra Jet-powered GT500 in 1967. The GT500 was built by Shelby American through the 1968 model year, before Ford took over production of all Shelby models in 1969.

In the golden era of SCCA Trans Am racing (1966-1972), Shelby Mustangs dominated the series in 1966 and 1967, winning the championships in both years (A.J. Foyt in 1966 and Jerry Titus in 1967). Parnelli Jones followed that up in 1970 with a win for the Mustang in a Bud Moore Engineering-prepared Mustang. Like many kids growing up in the era, your author had an HO-scale Aurora slot car racetrack—a kit that featured Shelby Mustang GT350s on the box. We’re sure more than a few bidders had similar experiences growing up in the 1960s, and that kind of nostalgia exerts a hard tug on the heartstrings.

What’s A 1968 Shelby GT500 Worth?

Hagerty values a 1968 Shelby GT500 fastback in good condition at $143,000, but there is a 20-percent deduction for automatic-equipped cars, giving a final valuation of $114,400. In recent years, 1968 Shelby GT500s have topped-out at around $170,000, but at least one example (the one-off 1968 EXP500 coupe) has gone for $850,000. Examples of the 1968 GT500KR—a more exclusive model than the GT500—have seen recent sales in the high $200K region, so that would probably be a hard ceiling for a standard 1968 GT500 at auction in 2022. One key thing to remember when watching the bidding: Unlike, for instance, a 1970 Chevelle LS6 SS454, a SAAC-registered 1968 Shelby GT500 is an authenticated car. Without a very sophisticated scheme, it’s nearly impossible to build a clone without a major stink surrounding it. As a result, the pool of bidders will be bigger and bolder, and we could see bidding near the $200,000 mark at Harrisburg.

Shelby GT500 #00565 History

Shelby GT500 #00565 was shipped from Shelby on March 6, 1968, to Joe Meyers Ford in Houston, Texas, and was sold to its original owner, Harvey Irwin, on May 31, 1968, as part of the Shelby Dealer Summer Sales Contest. It had an MSRP of $5,269.53. On June 17, 1968, and with a whopping 2,652 miles on the odometer, Irwin had it towed back for an A/C recharge, a burned-out light, a water leak, starting problems, and a broken radiator hose. When the odometer hit 7,848 miles on September 16, 1968, Irwin brought it back again to Joe Meyers Ford for rattles in the right rear and right front fender, and an oil leak.

Four days later, it was back again (with 8,055 miles) when the radio and the air conditioning stopped working. Then, on October 16, 1968, at 9,453 miles, the glovebox was repaired. (It still looks a little tweaked in the photos.) Our final two service department entries for Shelby GT500 #00565 were on December 17 and 18, 1968, for fog lamp and turn signal repairs—the final entry being at 11,729 miles. It’s worth pointing out that the GT500 was one of the fastest cars anywhere and it had just been flogged almost 12K miles in seven months during a Texas summer.