The allure of prototype cars escaping their date with death is one of the best stories in automotive folklore, and the discovery of a Mustang used by Carroll Shelby as a rolling test bed in a Texas field is one of the best ones yet. The car known as “Little Red,” which was ordered to be crushed by Ford, never was, and has recently been discovered after missing for decades. Find the story here on Fox News, and thanks to Barn Finds readers Patrick S. and Scot R. for the find.
Little Red and its prototype sibling “The Green Hornet” were used by Shelby and his team to evaluate different drivetrain and suspension options. Little Red primarily operated with a supercharged V8 paired to a three-speed automatic transmission. The Green Hornet tinkered with an independent rear suspension which remains on the car today. That car has also been discovered and subsequently restored, but Little Red evaded Mustang hunters.
That’s because they were using the wrong serial numbers. Unlike production cars, the experimental Shelbys didn’t use Shelby-issued VINs but rather standard Ford VINs. The team searching for the car got access to the Ford-derived numbers and soon discovered that Little Red had been sold by a Colorado dealership and then the hunt began. It made a trip to Wyoming, lived in a shipping container where thieves swiped parts off of it, and then ended up in Texas to rot in a field.
Though the engine and fenders are removed (and the article doesn’t clarify whether the engine was found on the property), the trademark Shelby badges were still on the roof pillar. Mustang specialist Kevin Marti joined the expedition team and confirmed it is the long-thought-crushed Little Red. With such little information available, the team that discovered the car is looking for any photos or information about how it was originally configured, and has set up a website documenting the rescue and restoration.
This is fascinating and so cool that another piece of automotive history was saved. I am beginning to believe that whoever was supposed to be manning the crusher for these Ford, GM, AMC and Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth experimental vehicles, was paid off handsomely.
It looks like a stripped California Special to me.
Well, yes it sort of is. The GT/CS package was an almost exact copy of the body mods on Little Red and the Green Hornet. The west coast sales manager borrowed Little Red from Shelby and showed it Lee Accoca as an idea for show room draw. Accoca apparently said “make that” and thus the CS was born.
I saw there is a California Special for sale here in Mexico but was very disappointed to see it has a 6 cylinder engine in it.
I might have been interested, even at the high price, it it had the V8.
“Iaccoca.” With an I. Read his book, a brilliant man who reigned during turbulent times.
The car in the old picture does not have the reflector on the rear quarter, but the found car does.
Weird.
It’s possible that it had to be updated to ’68 standards before it could be sold to the public. Or it may have been updated to ’68 for other various “prototype” duties.
We don’t know what that price was.
Also the value of a car is not dependent on how much money a person has.
In a capitalist system you can bet it does!
LAB3, the value doesn’t change. The asking price does.
Miguel,
I have to disagree with you. Value is arbitrary. A rich person has the resources to value something more than a person of modest means, and decides how much he wants the object, and how much he will spend to acquire the object.
The website looks like an attempt to boost the value of the car in a future B-J auction. Check out the verbiage:
“Finding Little Red is the discovery of a lifetime”
“One of the most sought-after and elusive vehicles in postwar history”
“March 3rd will be forever etched in the history books” (the day it was discovered)
“This will be one of the greatest stories of automotive history ever told.”
Hahahaha. True. What a load of garbage. Thanks. You just save me the waste of time clicking on the link.
Hey Miguel,
If the Shelby went back to a Ford Dealer for sale, the rear reflector was installed as it was required by law in 1968 under a Federal Safety Act. All 1968 model cars were required to have additional side lighting or reflectors.
It also looks alot like a 1968 California Special to me as well.
But the car was Vin’d a 1967 model, so they would have had no reason to put that reflector on the car.
The write up says it was a 1967 model.
It was a ’67, modified as a styling excersise, later used to create both the GT/CS and the Shelby convertible.
Don’t forget about the High Country Mustang.
I wonder why only two areas of the country got those models.
@Miguel don’t forget the Kansas City area got the Twister model.
I sent this article a few days ago to some friends in Detroit who were going to the Woodward Dream Cruise and we got a message Saturday that the car was there in Mustang Alley. Wish I had went ahead and went up to the cruise just to see this car in person.
Looks like it lived outside that shipping container for a long time. Too bad other than the badging everything Shelby is missing from the car. Doghouse should be easy enough to acquire but what about those grille lights and other goodies. 3-D printer to the rescue!
It’s definitely a ‘67, as it has those twin, one-year-only, little (fake) vent coves before each rear wheel.
Love Those Wheels. I’ve Been Looking For A Set For A Long Time, They Were Called SPYDER. Sweet Pony but without the engine, It’s Just Another Pony.
The wheels from the original photo, or what the car has on it now Sam? What’s on it now looks like MOPAR wheels from the late 70s, perhaps Barracuda?
Spyder or Spider. Used to be pretty common at the Pull A Parts maybe 25-30 years ago. Check AKH Vintage Wheels website under “mopar.” Surely whomever tackles the restoration on this Mustang will take those off and maybe you can buy ’em!
Made by Motor Wheel. That’s the first thing I noticed. I’m surprised they’re still on the car!
Jackson is essentially just another flipper,albeit a wealthy high profile one.
His cars always have stories ‘o plenty,and” Mr. No Reserve “ places ridiculously high reserves on his own cars. The Green Hornet failed to make reserve,iirc high bid was over 2 million,which was likely from his buddies anyways.
I would like to know where it was found in north Texas. My cousins lived about 60 miles northeast of Dallas. I wonder if it was under their noses all those years they lived there.
The car was found just outside Weatherford, Texas on rural property, about 40 miles west of Ft Worth, Texas!
Just another pony? LOL. It’s hugely historically significant, and it’s that provenance that gives it monetary value as well. Just reading the list of people involved in this, I’m more than satisfied that it’s the real thing, and I’ll be interested to follow the restoration. They’ve got the resources to do this correctly, and it’ll be great fun to see . Are they hyping it? Of course. So what? That doesn’t lessen the significance in any way.
If some of you would just let go of that affected, faux-world-weary cynicism, you’d probably get a lot more enjoyment from stuff like this, even if it’s not at your own particular collector level.
I read an article on the Dallas morning news web page that said the engine and transmission were stolen from the car, prior to being put in the shipping container.
I only live 20 miles from where it was found, wish I had known!
Intriguing find! Classic Cars, and Hemmings also have a great article about the find too! I am curious as to what it will be valued at?
Thank God for Texas…..is that too much ? Maybe they should have called that Mike guy from that show that shells out big bucks for old hippie vans. Wounder if it was on the Studebaker Farm property that’s being cleared out in Weatherford ?
Not on the Studebaker field. I drove passed that car 5 days a week for 3 years. From the hwy it looked just like another wreck siting in a field.
It is amazing to me how Shelby gets all the credit for the cars but did pretty much nothing but try to sell them. I personally talked with Gale Halderman about the Shelby. If you do not know who he is you do not know Mustangs. When asked directly in a crowd of over 100 people at a Mustang show here is what he said. Question I asked. “What involvement did Carol Shelby have in the aesthetics or look of the Shelby Mustang?” Mr. Halderman’s answer. ” Carol Shelby would show up in Dearborn with his girl friend, come to the design center where a prototype would be on display. He would walk around the car a couple times and just say it looks good.” He never made any design suggestions or had any input into the design.
So also at the same meeting there were two Ford engineers and also Lee Holman of Holman Moody. Lee stated that his dad was asked by Ford to see what he could do to make the new Falcon be more exciting. They put in 221 and 260 did suspension and performance mods and took to Europe and won everything. When 1964 came around Ford ask Holman & Moody to send Carol Shelby one of their Falcons so he would know what to do to the Mustang. Shelby copied all modifications from the Holman Moody Falcon.
When Ford got fed up with Shelby in 1967 they sent Holman & Moody to California and they cleaned out the Shelby facility. Shelby owned ZERO Ford owned 100%. Ford then started to produce the cars in the Ford factory since Shelby could not do his part of the bargain. This is 100% fact not fiction and is first hand not passed down. Can be verified with Mr. Halderman. Shelby was a chicken farmer and car salesman and not an engineer for automobiles for sure. How he gets so much credit for doing so much is a mystery to me. BTW I think a Holman Moody Fairlane won at La Mann’s in 1964 not a Shelby. Holman Moody built the GT-40 no Shelby which lots think he did. I wish people would get this cleared up so correct people get the credit.
I’m sure that there is some element of truth in the things you state, but there are always (at least) two sides to every story and we’re talking about events of fifty years ago, with children of those who were involved at the time. I’m sure that Mr. Shelby and his descendants would have their own “100% facts” version of events.
And not to put too fine a point on it, but your references to “Carol Shelby”, “Holman Moody”, and “La Manns” cast some doubt on the persuasiveness of your argument.
Finally, if your wish is for the “correct people” to “get the credit”, sadly, you’d have to rewrite the history books about pretty much everything that ever happened (in this arena and every other one).
All I suggest is you come to Charlotte next April and you ask the man in person that made the first sketches of the Mustang sitting at his dinner table late one night. Gale Halderman was not a kid he worked on the design of the 1957 Ford and his design for the Mustang won out in the competition. Go back and watch the 50th. annaversary show Jay Leno did for the Mustang and he shows the original sketch Gale did. He himself did the hand lettering on the 1964 1/2 Mustang Indy pace car. He did the drivers side and 3-M came in and copied and made the transfers for the passenger side and all the other cars. H&M built the engine in that car so it could do the minimum 120 to pace the race.
As far as Lee Holman being a kid. His job when the GT-40’s went to Europe was to take the cars on track and bed in the brakes. Ford gave his dad early released of the Mustang and his drive to school car was serial # 22. He lived in was there in person so it is not hear say or somebody told somebody. I got the information straight from him. Why do you think Ford pulled everything out of the Shelby facility in California? He was unable to do what he said, poor sales and high costs. Ford could do the same thing he did a less cost on the regular Ford assembly lines. So please do come to Charlotte to the Mustang Owner’s Museum for the Grand Opening in April 2019 and YOU ask the people who were there the questions and you get it first hand. It will be videoed and played in the museum in the future. They already have done several with different people involved. It is fact no fiction that Holman & Moody sent Shelby a modified Falcon to copy for the Shelby Mustang. Ford had little confidence in his or his peoples ability to deliver. I would not say anything that I did not know to be straight from the source and that source is Gale Halderman and Lee Holman in April of 2017.
It will be a great 55 th. Ann for the Mustang with the new 40,000 sq. ft. museum and a full track day at the Charlotte speedway. There will be lots of interesting cars for sure. I have offered my original one owner Mustang with 32 factory installed options to be displayed if they want.
Come to Charlotte and take the truth home.
Had the pleasure of looking at this up close. Can’t wait to follow the progress as they restore it.