While the official figures claimed that the 1968 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 pumped out 355 horsepower, the reality with the car was slightly different. It is claimed that these figures were grossly underestimated, and a figure as high as 420 hp has been touted. Regardless of the truth, the result was one very potent vehicle. This example represents a restoration project for someone, but they will at least be starting from a pretty solid base. Located in Monterey, California, you will find the Shelby listed for sale here on eBay. Bidding currently sits at $30,300, but the reserve hasn’t been met. A BIN option is also available at a cool $70,000.
When it was new, this GT500 would have been a subtle car finished in its original Wimbledon White. There isn’t a lot of that white left today, and the other thing that there isn’t a lot of is rust. The floors look really solid, as does the frame. There is some corrosion visible around the front torque boxes, but this appears to be little more than surface corrosion. There are quite a few of the external trim and chrome items that appear to be missing, but thankfully, high-quality reproduction items remain readily available. It appears that the distinctive Shelby wheels are also missing, so replacements for these will also need to be sourced.
The engine bay was the business end of the deal with a GT500 because it was here that you found the amazing 428ci Police Interceptor V8. While this was rated at 355 hp, the reality was that this pumped out significantly more power than that. With the 1968 model being considered as more of a Grand Tourer than a muscle car, this one was fitted with a C6 automatic transmission, along with power steering and power front disc brakes. The correct engine block is included with the car, along with the correct transmission. The owner also believes that they may have a correct set of cylinder heads, but the remaining components and ancillary parts will need to be sourced as part of the restoration process. There are also several good interior trim components included with the car, although a headliner, carpet, dash pad, door panels, and numerous other small pieces will all need to be added to the shopping list.
There is no doubt that this 1968 Shelby GT500 has a load of potential as a project car, but there is also going to be a lot of work in store for the next owner. One real positive to extract from it is the fact that the next owner is not going to face the trauma and expense of having to undertake rust repairs before they commence the actual restoration process. However, given the fact that nice examples will easily command six-figure prices, it would seem as though it will be well worth the effort. Actually, forget what the car could be worth, and think about how much fun it would be to drive. Maybe that’s what would make it worth the effort.
Maybe another 50 or 60 would finish it, but probably not.
Do any of us know what those engines produced in power today? With all our technology I just don’t understand why we guess the horsepower. Sad this wasn’t a KR model.
I’ve heard that they purposely underestimated the horsepower to avoid bigger car insurance bills for the buyer.
Again, I’ll preface this statement by saying I wasn’t standing in the dyno room. But the collective literature and direct word from some of the local machinists in my area have discussed muscle car engine lore many times. And although these motors were often times maybe underated in terms of actual power for insurance reasons. It wasn’t by a drastic amount in most cases. Most often these motors made slightly or substantially less than the factory rating as very few were built to the factory “blueprint specs” due to assembly line inefficiency. It was the magazine test cars of the era that recieved the special love of a good tune and careful assembly that made real power. A friend of mine has a true stock ’68 440 Magnum that was freshened with all the original pieces as it had 26k original miles with exception of rings and bearings of course. That particular motor made 364 h.p. and 476 ft. pounds on a dyno. I imagine a Ford 428 CJ or a 427 Chevy etc were not much different. Time tends to idealize our memories.
I have no doubt this combination only produced 355hp. At 2200 RPM.
I believe the 428 was actually factory rated at 335 h.p. Maybe it was a bit more but I’d be willing to bet it wasn’t the 400 h.p. some people believe it to be even at redline.
This “underrated HP claim” seems to be a sticky one. The sixties and seventies muscle car horsepower claims were and still are exaggerated. Fine do not believe me, but read some articles, This was 1st google hit:
https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2013/08/13/horsepower
And I am a Boss 302 owner so I should be biased to push numbers up. I just do not see the point
I hope the “we have correct engine block “ means its an engine that is 90 days prior or equal to
build date on Marti report..
Why no dash shots also showing tilt away steering wheel?
The BIN is high for what needs to be done to complete. This is the less desirable automatic (but agree desirable just not the highest resale as the manuals) .
I see the marti which is nice and hope the buyer checks the firewall, trunk drip tray and various other sections listing the vin on trim tag .
Mustang fords are super cool and Shelby is the holy grail if all match up….
Good luck to the deep pockets buyer who when finished might say “I should of-bought one together which would have been cheaper”.
wonder how much a dual quad intake manifold would cost? My guess is a lot!
The 68 Shelby did not come with a dual quad. That was 67 only. It didn’t matter if it was a GT500 or a GT500KR.
Another smart seller take the money and run.
Wow!!! Half a car in pieces for 70 large!!!!
All I can say is wow!!!
I have been around a lot of Big Block Mustangs in my day…scratching my head on this car being a true Gt 500…the shock towers don’t have the reinforcement plates….
I blame barrett jackson for these people and their crazy prices! Ever since they came around, every person that has a rusted out muscle car on three wheels thinks they’re setting on a gold mine.
PLE agree 100%
Have noticed that prices are down even on the ultra rare cars.30 to 50 grand can get you a decent ride. The high dollar ones will never see a highway.
Via a friend whose family owns a bunch of car dealerships, I bought an exec drive GT350 straight from Ford early in the month w/2k miles. For not even $48k…prices are falling because the desire to pay so much for essentially a valuable toy is waning. Nothing produced in that muscle car era can hold a candle to a modern Mustang GT or Camaro SS. While they are neat to see, the buy in cost, the utility factor, the performance & livability factors have people starting to pass on them
Prices were quite low this past weekend at Mecum. LS6 Chevelle struggles to $43,000. Huh? Seller is smart. Get his money and laugh going to the bank. Too many of these cars for sale. Not all that rare. Plenty missing from this car. At least another $50K to finish. And the really sad part, when done nobody drives them. Afraid of a teenager texting her useless boyfriend driving mommy’s 3 ton Suburban will crash into a $100,000 resto. Can’t say I blame them.
Yup- and when I can get a hold of a GT350 for less than $50k out-the-door (I have a friend), why pay $70k (or even close) for something that will take thousands upon thousands more to get running? Then you can’t use it much, performance is far lower, safety, et cetera- people are just starting to say “Meh”
Greed hasn’t effected people much…
At one time this would have made a nice shell for a drag car, there’s so much unnecessary items=weight already stripped out. The cobra jet was a better runner, oddly rated at 335 h.p, than the police interceptor Shelby dolled up…I guess. Can’t believe any of the advertised horsepower ratings from back then, the NHRA didn’t believe Ford either and refactored it somewhat higher for stock class drag racing. Insurance purposes, surely a reason too, plus the government looking into tougher safety requirements. Boasting 400 plus horsepower in mass produced cars probably wasn’t a good idea for several reasons.
In my day that thing would be squished. Do you realize how much work and expense are required to make that into a car again?
Good luck finding all the correct parts and not going broke.
BTW I had a 68 Fastback with a 428 SCJ auto. It was a rusty piece of crap I pieced together. Monster torque in that motor.
needs 1000000 work there nuts 5000 more like it