SRG \ 1967 \ Reference

Factory Supercharged '67 Shelby GT Cars

There were 34 cars documented as having a Cobra (Paxton) Supercharger installed at Shelby American before being sold.

1967 shelby gt factory-supercharged cars paint pie chart

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33 of the cars were 'retail' GT 350 units with 4-speed transmissions.

One car, #0121, a Black GT350 with C-4 automatic transmission was used for testing and engineering by Shelby American's vendor, ACSCO. ACSCO's founder, Tom McIntyre, said that their focus was to get the factory vacuum-operated automatic transmission to operate with a supercharged engine. Tom added that they blew up the car's first engine and sent it back to Shelby. Shelby replaced the blown engine and sent it back for more engineering work. After the California Shelby program concluded, Tom tried to purchase the car, circa 1968, but FoMoCo wasn't receptive and refused to sell it. As of today, #0121 remains unaccounted for.

Unfortunately, Acapulco Blue #2365 did not survive. This is the only car from the train derailment that hasn't been accounted for today. According to past interviews, this car was so badly damaged that it wasn't able to be driven. It is possible that it fell off the top of the railcar and landed upside down. Based on the previous research by Anthony Di Labio, a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer was used to bury the car alongside the tracks where the derailment occurred.

In addition to the 34 documented factory-supercharged cars, it appears that there were at least two (2) engineering cars that were fitted with a blower; one GT 350 and one GT 500. Based on the SRG's research, these cars are #0003 and #0131, respectively. There may have been others ... research is never complete.

It is possible that the Paxton setup, with gauges, was added to #0003 at Ford's NAAO building in Dearborn while serving as a '68 engineering car. It would explain why #0003's fixed asset valuation was approximately +$677 more than any comparable GT 350 company car and why it still wears a prototype "Cobra Jet" emblem (red background) on the passenger dashboard.

#0131 is the only GT 500 known to have been supercharged by Shelby American; at first with two (2) 4bbl carburetors and two (2) blowers (nicknamed "Big Red"). Later, when used for '68 model year engineering, #0131 was reduced to a single 4bbl caburetor with a single blower, and snarkily renamed "Little Red" by Fred Goodell.

Notes:

All factory-supercharged cars had black (A) trim.
All factory-supercharged cars were sold through Shelby-franchised dealers.

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