Authentic Shelby Mustangs have always been and will always be gold. Competition cars with a genuine race history are even more special. This car is just such a Mustang. In 1966, Shelby American constructed sixteen Mustangs to compete in the Sports Car Club of America’s Group II series. This was better known as the Trans-American Sedan Championship, or Trans-Am. Trans-Am actually consisted of two series, one for professional drivers and one for amateurs, and of course proved to be wildly popular. The Group II Shelbys were mechanically very similar to the B-Production GT350R and featured the Shelby-built 289, close ratio Borg-Warner four-speed, Koni shocks, and enlarged fuel tank.
This car was the twelfth of those sixteen Shelby Mustangs built for Group II, and was able to rack up valuable championship points in Ford’s drive to finish on top in the 1966 Trans-Am series. In that year the car won at Green Valley, Texas and at Continental Divide, in addition to being featured on the cover of Sports Car Graphic‘s December issue. It enjoyed a fruitful competition career, including an A/Sedan lap record at Lake Afton in 1968, until 1969. After it, like all competitive race cars, passed into obsolescence, the Shelby sat in a Texas garage for almost thirty years before being restored to its 1966 specifications, making it one of only nine known examples left.
Today, it wears the white and blue proudly, and features the signatures of Shelby himself and original owner/driver John McComb. Find the 1966 Shelby Group II Mustang here at the Mecum Kissimmee auction taking place between January 18th and 27th, 2013.
