2023 Shelby Mustang Centennial Edition on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Unrestored 1969 Shelby GT500 one of many classic barn finds going to auction

We love a good barn find here at Autoblog. We like that there's a palpable excitement and sense of mystery surrounding barn finds. Each case has its own uniqueness to it, and this latest discovery is no different: an unrestored, one-owner 1969 Shelby GT500 with just 8,531 miles on it.
In the case of this particular barn find, many of the typical questions have already been answered. For example, we know who owned it - his name was Larry Brown. He recently passed away, and as he had no wife or children to inherit the estate, the car he purchased at Pennsylvania Ford dealer in May of 1969, will be auctioned off by Ron Gilligan Auctioneers.
The car was fastidiously maintained, having never been driven in the rain. In fact, Brown never even washed it, out of fear of it rusting. According to the auction website, the last time this car saw water was probably when it was detailed ahead of being delivered to Brown. If that doesn't sound like a fanatical sense of maintenance on the part of this GT500's owner, this next part will. The interior has been treated to a similarly painstaking attempt at preservation, with garbage bags covering the seats and two layers of floor mats over the carpets. The result is a car that, aesthetically, is in remarkable shape considering it's spent so long in a barn.

Classic Recreations Shelby GT350CR

If you've got an itch for a classic Mustang Fastback, you may want to give Classic Recreations a call. The Oklahoma-based company, which has made a name for itself building award-winning muscle cars licensed by Shelby, recently handed me the keys to its latest creation - a prototype 1966 Shelby GT350CR (serial number SCR350-00P) with a nitrous-injected 427-cubic-inch small-block Ford Racing engine sending power to its rear wheels through a Tremec five-speed manual gearbox. Yeah, it's the sort of machinery that whets my appetite.
As you might suspect by looking at the company's name, the team starts with a standard stock 1966 Mustang Fastback and then tears it down to the chassis in preparation for a full rebuild into what they call a Shelby GT350CR. This particular restoration includes the fitment of the aforementioned 7.0-liter V8 with BBK Long Tube ceramic-coated headers, Magnaflow mufflers, coil-over suspension and rack-and-pinion power steering. Stopping power is provided by Wilwood brakes, in the form of four-piston calipers over ventilated and cross-drilled iron rotors, and the mechanical upgrades are finished off with four brightly polished 18-inch aluminum wheels wrapped in BF Goodrich g-Force T/A tires (245/45ZR18 front and 275/35ZR18 rear).
Inside the passenger compartment, occupants are treated to Carroll Shelby Scat Rally Series 1000 seats, five-point Camlock belts, three-spoke aluminum woodgrain steering wheel with tilt column, a full complement of gauges and full carpeting. An Old Air Products air conditioning system blows ice-cold breezes, and a powerful audio system with external amp and subwoofer ensure a sweet background track to the V8's wild bellow.

Turn up your speakers for this Shelby-powered Sunbeam Tiger and friends

Most of us are never going to be like Jay Leno and drive a new car every day. However, it's possibly affordable to collect a handful of vintage rides, especially if you look a touch off the beaten path. In recent video, Petrolicious highlights Hans Abrahams, who is doing just that. He has three 1960s, European classics that love to be driven.
The absolute star of the trio is a 1966 Sunbeam Tiger. In the cabin, it has the meaty growl of a muscle car, but outside it has a little of the raspiness of period European cars. Abrahams says its mostly original except for its Ford 289-cubic-inch (4.7-liter) V8 with Shelby parts, producing around 273 horsepower. He says it's a bit difficult to maintain and hard to keep cool, but when you hear it, you know the trouble is worth it.
Next up, is Abrahams' 1965 MGB that is a bit of a monster in its own right. It lacks the Tiger's oomph under the hood, but it's loud enough to blow out Petrolicious' microphone. It's still a very cool little roadster.