Happy Thursday everyone, Big_Blocker back again for another installment of Muscle Car of the Week and this week we jump back into the mid-1960’s for a look at the birth of an American legend: The 1965 Ford Shelby GT350. Hit the jump to read more on the high-revving Stang that Carroll Shelby tuned to perfection in ‘65.

The Ford Mustang was introduced in 1964 and received some of the biggest first year sales in history selling over 260,000 units in the first year. Although the Mustang was an immediate sensation with young kids looking to cruise around in a hot little pony car on a Friday night, it wasn’t an overly powerful car what with its modest 289 V8 that made 225 horsepower. Ford watched Chevrolet Chevelle’s and Pontiac GTO’s cleaning up the streets while Shelby Cobra’s owned the track in 1964 and decided it was time to make the Mustang a formidable opponent for any challenger. In mid-1964, Ford announced their “Total Performance” campaign in which they planned to pump $$$ into the Mustang and enter it into the SCCA’s (Sports Car Club of America) sports car class, an intention that was immediately refused by the SCCA who sought to remain independent of manufacturer influence. Still eager for a performance image for the Mustang, Ford turned to Carroll Shelby, an up-and-coming racer from Venice, California to work with the SCCA to get the Mustang race-ready.

After negotiations with SCCA officials, Shelby came up with a formula to get the Mustang up to par with performance standards for the day. The formula called for removing the rear seat, bigger brakes, higher horsepower and a better suspension, all of which kept the Stang in the production car arena which was mandatory for homologation into SCCA classes. Shelby was given 5 months to modify the minimum 100 Mustangs before the start of the SCCA season. With the help of other Ford personal such as Chuck Cantwell who did a large part of the work, the 1965 Ford Mustang coded Shelby GT350 was born.

In order to keep factory warranties from being voided, the standard 289 engine block was used in the GT350. The internals were all ‘massaged’ in such a way as to crank out an impressive 306 horsepower in street version and could be tuned all the way up to 360 in a race-ready coupe. Once the hood was popped one could see this car was all business as a large export brace connected both sides of the engine compartment to stiffen the nose of the car at high speeds. The beefed up racing-inspired suspension held the GT350 on the track and made it one of the most formidable handling cars on the street. The deleted rear seat helped reduce weight but made it a bother if you had more than one passenger that needed transportation. A buyer-beware was inherent in each car as these were intended to race and were loud, hot beasts on the road. It certainly took a skilled driver to maneuver one around a road course.

These were expensive mothers right off the showroom floor, a brand new GT350 could set you back over $4,500 back in 1965, no small amount by any means. However, if you were fortunate enough to drive one, you know how a real factory race car feels when it revs up and hits peak horsepower. Hope you enjoyed a look at the GT350, Big_Blocker out.