Think hard before adding stripes, especially to a Mustang. Because once you do that, you’ll have to go further to make the car look like a Shelby, or you’ll just have a car with stripes and have to deal with the “Why’d you do that?” vibes at car shows. The owner of this 1968 Mustang, available here on eBay, decided to go the Shelby route, but he’s run out of motivation, or money, along the way and now is ready to move his project on from its current sitting spot in Laurel, Maryland. If you want it, you’ve got the week to think about it. It is currently bid to $20,100 with the reserve not yet.
The car is not a Shelby, but from taillights to brake ducts to hood to stripes, it kind of looks like one. The current owner calls it a “Shelby tribute.” What’s that? It’s like a clone. OK, so what’s a clone? A car that replicates an existing more expensive model. (You don’t clone “down,” or at least, I’ve never seen it.) So you take a 6-cylinder Mustang and clone a GT by putting a 289 in it, changing the size of the wheels, putting various exterior equipment on it, and so on. A true clone will be honestly represented (that is, not sold as authentic), but it will look convincingly like an authentic whatever-it-is (GT in our example). What’s a “tribute,” then? There’s no scientific definition of one, so I’m gonna give you my impression: a “tribute” is an unconvincing clone. OK, too judgey. A tribute is a car that has a shadow look of something it’s not, without being obliged to get things right in every aspect. It reminds you of something, more or less, but clearly is not that thing. This car is at least a tribute, and it might become a clone in the right hands. But it needs a lot of massaging in the meantime.
First, someone’s gotta get it running. The engine code says the car came with a C-code 289-2V, but it’s being furnished with 428 Cobra Jet. Could be, but the ad also says, “Engine ran great” without bothering to explain where and when. On a dyno? In the last project car it sat in? In this car (not likely). While we’re on that, where did the 146,000-mile claim come from? Why am I asking these questions? Because of problem number two. The engine is just sitting in place. There are no other mechanicals under the hood. It would be great to have something whereby the car could be steered. And stopped. Perhaps cooled. Maybe powered—there’s no alternator at the moment. Get these needs solved, and you have much more to do. Your tribute needs lights, wipers, and other items. And it either misses chrome like around the rear window or someone has painted trim there and elsewhere black or body color.
So is this car 85% complete, as is claimed in the ad? Might be, but the nitty gritty 15% remains for the next owner. Someday this car might remind someone of a Shelby. Right now, all it reminds you is that it’s a long winter away from being ready to drive. If that engine goes like stink, this might not be a bad package. But don’t’ spend too much, because you’re never going to have a real Shelby. To say it a different way: But for an unfortunate set of stripes and some brake ducts, this would be a really, really nice fastback, with an interior as snazzy as the exterior. But as a Shelby-shadow, it’s trapped in a corner looking for the right buyer, a much narrower market than had it simply been restored.
Tribute is the more polite way to represent a clone. It was getting almost nasty from the real mostly muscle car owners. Have to remember in the 60’s identification wasn’t so black and white, some cars were options basically. To appease the owners and buyers of the of real say SS Chevelle crowd, the word tribute was coined and everything was wonderful. So now your not cloning the car you have a tribute to the car. Easy peasy, decent article but guessing the author hasn’t been around as long as some of us, that’s ok.
At one time in the not to distance past you could look at the style and badging of a car and know what it was.
Now the first thing you think is “is it real”. To bad.
sell that big engine and put it a good 289 and finish it. Could be a great looking car. Not even sure if that ridiculous engine will even fit, but I’m far from an expert on these.
What engine do you think came in a a Shelby gt 500?
Tunnel vision to the driver’s side of the engine bay. Where the master cylinder would be, shock tower and the engine looks exactly like the pain in the butt portion of Shelby GT500KR I worked on years ago.
Tribute, clone argg!
I still have mixed feelings about some of the rebodied Ferraris I worked on.
The problem is that for the most part all the car we grew up loving are now out of our reach price wise. So, what to do? If your like me you build your car the way you want to. I have a base 69 camaro couple but I love the look of a z28 so, I built mine with z stripes front and rear spoilers, a cow hood and lastly rs heahlights conversion. But, the one thing I won’t do is put on the z28 or RS emblems, I’m not going to a car gathering and answer over and over ” is a real z28?”
Yes it needs lots of work, that steering wheel is nice but not for this car.
Search “fireball roberts tribute car” on Google. You should see a number of pictures of a #22 1964 Galaxie 500. Purple paint, correct graphics, 6-point roll cage, single seat… and a rarely displayed 289 under the hood. Never represented as anything but a tribute but had enough people asking, “Was this really Fireball’s car?” To me, a great compliment to my time, effort, and appreciation of the famous driver it represented. So, I’d like to think that “tribute” doesn’t have to mean “poorly represented.”
I personally would never do a tribute car if I was not able to do it so correctly as to only be identifiable as a tribute by the vin number, but I’m picky like that. Having said that, I would never put down anyone else’s build either. Anyone who puts in the time and money to build their own car deserves at least a thumbs up. I’ve seen some hideous cars out there. It’s hard to do sometimes but I’ve learned that just a smile and “right on” is vague enough not to hurt feelings. Gotta be careful not to become a snob. The car enthusiast world generally has better character than that.
“Tribute” or “Clone” – just words. This is a “Restomod”. If it’s your car, build what you want. If it was wrong to dress the exterior like a Shelby, the parts to do so wouldn’t be available. If I owned a 1st gen Mustang, I’d do the mods because IMHO, a Shelby is a better looking car. But definitely put a 289/302 in it.
They need to prove that is a real 428 CJ. Based on the pictures the bolt pattern doesn’t look like 16 bolts so they are not CJ heads, the intake is aftermarket, no oil cooler, which all makes me bet this is just a regular 428 or a dressed up 390.
Perhaps the author should check out the thousands of “Eleanor” Mustang fastbacks that are running around the country. With 6 figure asking prices. I can’t tell you how many folks that have wanted to buy my ’68 Fastback, for cheap, so they can create their “tribute” car.