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The following paragraphs regarding the 1967 Convertible
Engineering Car appeared in Issue #53 (1988) of The Shelby
American.
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SAAC: |
There was also a prototype convertible built in
1967, wasn't there? |
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Goodell: |
Yes.
That car was also updated to 1968 specifications.
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SAAC: |
That
car is presently owned by a SAAC member. He
initially had a very difficult time convincing
everyone that it was a genuine 1967 Shelby. You can
imagine - everyone knows the convertibles weren't
built until 1968, and this car had a lot of 1968
parts on it. |
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Goodell: |
How
did he ever get that car? It was supposed to have
been scrapped.
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SAAC: |
Little
Red hasn't turned up yet. |
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Goodell: |
Little
Red was scrapped. I'm sure of that. The 'Green
Hornet' was, too.
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SAAC: |
The
'Green Hornet'? |
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Goodell: |
That's
what we called another prototype we built. It was
actually a California Special we bought from the
Ford Division. It had an experimental 428 Cobra Jet
engine with Cololec electronic fuel injection, a
Conolec high capacity fuel pump mounted in the gas
tank, a special automatic transmission, 4-wheel disc
brakes and '68 Shelby hood and nose, taillights, fog
lamps and insignia. It was painted Gold Lustre Green
lacquer with GTX 500 KR side stripes. This car
really moved out: it hit 157 MPH at Ford's Romeo
Proving Grounds. It would do zero to sixty in 5.7
seconds and zero to 100 in 11.4 seconds.
Here's a funny story about that [convertible] car.
When I moved to Southern California I lived in
Pacific Palisades, in an apartment complex called
the 'Polynesian Village'. We often had trouble
getting technical people out at Shelby American.
That was one of our worst problems. I got an
engineer from Dearborn and brought him out to do
some special work for us. He stayed at the
Polynesian Village and he took that convertible home
one night. The next morning, at about 6 o'clock, he
knocked on my door and said, 'Somebody stole the
car.' We went down to the space in the parking
garage where he had left it and it sure was gone.
Clean. I called the Los Angeles Police right away
and the auto recovery squad guy came out to
investigate. He said a car like that was probably
across the border by now. Low and behold, about three
or four days later they found it – up at the top of
Palos Verdes - stripped. And whoever did it was an
expert. They took the engine and they took
everything else off of the car but they didn't leave
a mark on that automobile. When they stole the radio
they disconnected all of the wires – they didn't cut
them. Everything was taken off very carefully. When
they took the wheels and tires they put the lug nuts
back on the studs. We never found out if it was a
gang or just a couple of individuals.
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SAAC: |
What
happened to the car after that? |
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Goodell: |
We
rebuilt it. But when we were finished with it, it
was scrapped.
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SAAC: |
Typically, what would happen to these experimental
cars - Shelbys with four wheel discs, sun roofs or
351 Cleveland engines? Would they be returned to
production specifications and sold as used cars? |
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Goodell: |
No,
they would be scrapped. I say that, but I never
really trusted the comptroller we had. He might have
sold them. I was told that 1967 convertible
prototype was scrapped but you say it is still
around. I never signed the scrap sheet so I don't
know for a fact if the comptroller did. He was a
penny-pincher from way back. But they were supposed
to be scrapped.
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