Carroll Shelby, the famous Texas racing driver turned car tuner, is probably most well-known for his modified Mustangs that bear his name. The recent Hollywood movie, Ford v Ferrari, should more aptly be named Shelby v Ferrari, since it was Shelby’s engineering that beat Ferrari at Le Mans; Ford just bankrolled the competition. He made some iconic fast cars in his life, and when you spend your whole life making amazing feats of engineering like the GT40 and Cobra, some of your other work tends to be underappreciated. Shelby had a stint at Chrysler, doing what he does best, and gave the world the likes of one of the seminal hot hatchbacks in the Omni GLH and GLH-S, the Shelby Dakota pickup truck, and this 1991 Shelby Daytona (not to be confused with the other Daytona) here on craigslist. Special thanks to Pat L for letting us know about it!
By all accounts, the car looks like brand new, even without considering its age. The seller says that they’re the original owners, and I can believe that. They allude to its life as a show car in a museum, and I’d be curious to know more about that. Different museums take care of their cars differently, and while this car looks exceptional, it is a thirty-year-old Chrysler product. A 2.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder drives the front wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox, and that’s a recipe for guaranteed fun driving.
Inside, like anything, could probably benefit from a good detail, but everything is in its right place and the seller says that it still retains some of its new car smell. I’d want to smell for myself to believe it, but really if the only downside is that a thirty-year-old car doesn’t smell like new anymore, I’m not complaining. The dashboard is free from cracks, the velour seats still look like new, all of the trim is where it should be.
It’s said in the description that it’s ready to run and drive as it is, and from the looks of the pictures, I believe it. If you were to look at buying this seriously, I’d make sure the headlights still go up and down, and as always, do your due diligence researching common problems with a Shelby Daytona. If all goes well, though, this might just be your ticket to early-90s turbocharged hatchback nostalgia that just doesn’t exist anymore.
These were hot cars. I preferred the rims and interiors of the 88-89, but that’s minor. $12,500 seems a little high for this, but I’m admittedly out of touch with current values. It’s certainly not sitting in a museum currently. Someone will have a blast with this.
I’d go maybe 10K, maybe……I like it!
A 2.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder drives the front wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox, and that’s a recipe for guaranteed torque steer!
I test drove one of these new in early 1991…it was one of those cars that felt faster than it actually was…with lots of torque steer as Al Pearson mentioned…it was a blast to drive…then I came to my senses and bought a Mustang LX 5.0…for about the same amount as the Daytona, as I recall…
Yeah, but u can’t get a 5.0 Mustang manual with 64,000 miles in THAT good a condition nowdays for near 10K
Still better off with the Mustang, even at twice the price.
Mustangs are everywhere. For tooling around town and having fun, this car is far more interesting, to me anyway.
I thought the Shelbys of that era were Stage 2 intercooled 2.2s. Don’t get me wrong, the lower HP but longer stroke (plus balanced) 2.5 turbo was a good choice. I liked the interior of the earlier models better. Actually, if I could find a non turbo 2.5 in an earlier model in this condition, I might just buy it, even at my late age. Can’t take it with you, and the grandkids who inherit it, won’t kill themselves in it. (not to mention, the head gasket problem was less on the non turbo models)
We loved our black on black ’86 Shelby Daytona Turbo Z. 5 speed, fat rims and tires, enough cows in the interior to make a herd out of and really fast for what it wasn’t supposed to be. Torque steer wasn’t a problem as the fat rubber didn’t give as much as a thinner wheel/tire combination but the learning process on getting into the turbo on high speed corners was interesting and fun. Nice car here.
By 1991, Shelby had been involved with the Dodge Omni/Charger, Daytona, Lancer, Shadow, and Dakota. Seems as though Shelby would apply his name to just about anything if the price was right. I was at Shelby American’s shop/museum in Las Vegas a couple months ago. It’s telling that there are no Chrysler-based Shelbys on display.
That is because CS is dead and the people who run it now want to go for the image of the Ferrari Vs Ford era. A lot of smug snob appeal sells stuff in the gift shop. Read any old interviews with the man himself and he was damned proud of the stuff he did with Chrysler. He liked that what his people produced there was attainable for the everyday man, not just the rich, plus it was cutting edge performance for the day in those types of cars. It is easy to get extra ordinary performance if you are selling to investment bankers, but to do it at a price for the average man is a real accomplishment.
That’s because they rotate the displays. They have all the Mopar vehicles you were just unlucky enough to show up when all the Stang trash was out front. 5.0 Mustang!!! Thanks for the laughs!
Oh, you’re so right! How I longed to see some cheap, Chrysler economy car with decals slapped all over it instead of the Shelby Green Hornet prototype! It was such a disappointment. I’ll try to pick up the pieces of my shattered life and move on.
As for CS being proud of his Chrysler garbage, of course he was! No great salesman like Shelby ever admits his mistakes.
It soooo cracks me up how Craigslist Seller’s get sooooo torqued up on the simple question “Is it still for sale?”.. A reasonable question, I mean how many times have you called about a car for sale…and it HAS been sold but the ad is still posted…. hahahaha
Anyway, these are very fun cars to drive. Inexpensive. Reliable. It is interesting how the engine looks very used for just 64k miles. Not sure about the values of these but the market always speaks one way or another. Great colors.
Cheers.
Have you ever tried selling anything on Facebook Marketplace? You will get dozens of “is this still available” and then no responses after saying yes…
Yes I have. Why would that bother you so much. You respond back on line, takes just a few seconds tops. Geezzzz
Well, after responding to dozens of messages in one day, it can get tiring.
That is because they rotate the displays. The museum has all the Mopar cars. You were just unlucky enough to be there when the Ford trash was up front. 5.0 Stang lololol thanks for the laughs!
Located in Bluefield, WV
I’m not sure because it’s not in the listing. This might be a VNT ( variable nozzle turbo) rare.. I’ve only seen one of those in person when I bought it in beckley WV. It also looks like it’s wheels are the Shelby Fiberride wheels. Fiberglass reinforced wheels, also rare. If these guesses are right the parts alone are well worth it!