One of the many sketches that McHose brought to Shelby’s LAX location to help him design the 1967 GT500. After this successful test, Ford set about styling their new car. This converted 1965 GT350 R was the first GT500 prototype, although when it was built it, the GT500 moniker had not been created, so it was known as only as 428 GT350, says Kolasa. The car was tested only once at Willow Springs before being shipped off to Ford in Dearborn, Michigan.įord ran it on their test track, “and it turned times only bettered by Dan Gurney in a GT40,” says Shelby American Auto Club Historian, Greg Kolasa. The big engine wouldn’t fit inside the car without heavy body modifications, and Cantwell recounts that Shelby’s master fabricator, Jerry Schwarz, built that car. All that structure work was to fit the big engine (427 or 390, or 428).” ahead of the windshield),” says Cantwell, “We used the ’65 fenders and hood. “Ford sent us new ‘67 front structure (sub frame, engine compartment side panels, radiator support structure, spring towers, engine mounts, etc. the GT350R), chassis number 5R537, that would be heavily modified to cradle the large 427 engine.Ĭharlie McHose was lent the “Development Prototype” 1965 GT350 as his commuter by Carroll Shelby when he was sent from Ford to work on the 1967 Shelby Mustangs. Ford knew that the Mustang’s body needed to grow to accommodate the bigger engine’s size, but before they finalized the 1967 body, they tasked Shelby American with building a prototype out of an older, smaller-bodied unsold 1965 GT350 Competition model (a.k.a. He recalls the monumental task of modifying a Mustang to fit Ford’s broader engine. Despite Shelby’s familiarity installing the massive engine into other Fords, wedging it in-between the shock towers of a Mustang would take an entire recreation in order to make it fit.Ĭhuck Cantwell was the Project Engineer of both the 1965 GT350 and the 1967 GT500 programs. It had immense horsepower and bullet-proof reliability.

That powerplant ruled NASCAR, added muscle to the 427 Cobra, and transformed the Ford GT’s into a world beater. The engine that seemed ideal was the famed Ford 427 big-block race engine.

Carroll Shelby loved horsepower, and after he led Ford to victory in the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans, both he and Ford started building a new Mustang that could offer more power than the previous Shelby Mustang GT350, capitalize on their European racing success, and answer competitors like Chevrolet with a big-block powered pony car.

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