In 1967, after their impressive performance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans the previous year, Carroll Shelby and the Ford team unveiled the Mustang-based GT500. This new Shelby model joined the GT350 and was engineered around a heavily modified Police Interceptor 428-cid V-8 that produced 355 hp. Designed with a focus on high performance and durability, the GT500 quickly set young hearts beating faster.
While Ford and Shelby’s partnership is well known, it’s lesser known that Shelby also served as Goodyear’s West Coast distributor during this era. Seizing a marketing opportunity, Shelby asked his chief engineer, Fred Goodell, to create a special GT500 for a Goodyear promotion for the debut of its new Thunderbolt tire. Goodell chose a Wimbledon White GT500 (serial number 67402F4A00544, aka “0544”) and extensively modified it, installing a lightweight race 427-cid V-8 similar to the Le Mans-winning GT40 Mk II engine. Upgrades to the 427 included aluminum heads, Le Mans connecting rods, a forged crankshaft, aluminum water pump, performance exhaust, external oil cooler, remote oil filter and advanced cooling systems. The engine was built to sustain 6,000 rpm for lengthy periods in endurance racing. This special Shelby GT500, 0544, was dubbed “Super Snake.”
a forged crankshaft and an aluminum water pump. Courtesy of Freeze Frame Image LLC
The Wimbledon White Super Snake visually stood out with custom chrome headlamp trim and unique blue Le Mans stripes. For demonstrations of the new 7.75-15 Goodyear Thunderbolt whitewall tires, and its performance prowess, it was fitted with Shelby’s attractive 10-spoke aluminum wheels.
Contemporary evaluations of the Super Snake estimated its output between 520 and 650 hp — an extraordinary figure for its time, and still impressive today. To accommodate this power, engineers strengthened the chassis by installing stiffer springs and shocks, traction bars, a Detroit Locker differential for improved torque distribution and reinforced front brakes with braided lines. These modifications were crucial for maintaining safety and stability at high speeds, particularly during testing on Goodyear’s San Angelo proving grounds which included a five-mile oval track where Shelby showcased the car’s abilities to Time and Life magazine journalists. There, he exhibited the car reaching speeds past the 170-mph mark. Goodell also performed a 500-mile endurance test with the car, averaging 142 mph. Carroll Shelby started the test behind the wheel, then handed the keys to Goodell, who completed the drive. The nitrogen-filled Thunderbolt tires retained 97 percent of their tread, underscoring their durability and the car’s engineering excellence through their enhanced rigidity and heat resistance.
While the tire tests and Super Snake’s performance were impressive, the car’s market prospects remained uncertain. The Thunderbolt test sought not only to assess tire durability, but also to promote the possibility of Shelby American building GT500s equipped with 427 engines.
Don McCain, who was the Shelby American Sales Manager, is known as the Godfather of the Super Snake. He partnered with Carroll Shelby in 1964 to launch Shelby dealerships across the United States, and later worked at Dana Chevrolet, Cragar, Edelbrock and Ford. While at Shelby American, McCain became intimately familiar with the Super Snake project and confirmed that, “Shelby American intended this as a market study to determine whether the 427 Mustang could be sold instead of the 428 engines previously used in GT500s.”
After its testing in San Angelo, the Super Snake headed back to California for display at Mel Burns Ford in Long Beach, Calif. It was then that McCain heartily assessed the car’s mass production possibilities, but its cost — more than twice that of a standard GT500 due to its special 427 engine, which would have priced it even higher than a Ferrari 275 GTS/4 NART Spyder — made production impractical. Even a plan for 50 427-powered Super Snake GT500s without the Le Mans modifications made the cars too costly and only a few 427s were built.
From Mel Burns Ford, the original Super Snake was sold for $5,000 to two airline pilots who used it for recreational racing. Over the years, the Super Snake changed hands several times, eventually landing with collector Richard Ellis who restored the car to its original specifications. To authentically restore the car, Ellis sourced authentic items such as a Rotunda fire extinguisher, NOS Shelby 10-spoke wheels and original Goodyear Thunderbolt tires. Ellis was thrilled when an acquaintance found original Thunderbolt tires in an East Coast warehouse to complete the restoration.
Ellis’ persistence on faithfully returning the Super Snake to its 1967 test configuration was rewarded when, in 2019, the 1967 Shelby GT500 Super Snake broke its previous auction record by exceeding its 2013 sale price of $1.3 million to sell for a jaw-dropping $2.2 million at the Mecum Kissimmee sale. As the only example ever built, it is revered by collectors and regarded as the “Holy Grail” of Shelby Mustangs. Its uniqueness separates it from other famous Shelbys, and today, it’s part of the Shelby American Collection (shelbyamericancollection.org) in Boulder, Colo.
At the 2009 Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals (MCACN) in Rosemont, Ill., McCain emphasized the Super Snake’s role as an innovative and exclusive vehicle with notable historical significance. With the support and guidance of Bob Ashton, Managing Member of MCACN, I had the privilege of interviewing McCain at this event. It was McCain’s first time encountering the Super Snake in decades. Upon approaching the Shelby, McCain paused, examined the vehicle, opened the driver’s side door, took a seat, and reached beneath the dashboard, where he identified a clay molded impression made during the original development of the Super Snake in 1967. Smiling, he addressed Ellis and myself and remarked, “Yes, she’s, my girl.
“...If I only knew that the car was going to be what it is today...” McCain continued to ponder. “It’s one remarkable automobile.”
The last Shelby-built Shelby Mustang
The Mustang-based Shelby had been offered since 1965 as a GT350 performance car by Carroll Shelby, who had made a name for himself as a car producer beginning with the Shelby Cobra of 1962. By 1967, the Mustang-based Shelby was evolving into a different beast from the original 1965 model. It was based on the redesigned 1967 Mustang fastback body, which finally provided more room between the front shock towers for more cubes of Blue Oval power.
Since the 1967 Mustangs sported new styling, Shelby took the opportunity to better visually differentiate the Shelby from the Mustang. A 1967 GT350 was base-priced at $3,995 while a base-priced Mustang fastback started at $2,698, so the styling changes would help Shelby American justify its car’s higher price.
To keep development costs down while funds were devoted to appearance, Shelby American relied more on available Ford Motor Co. parts to improve handling and increase performance than install upgraded aftermarket components at a higher cost as it had in the past. The result was a more luxurious road car and less of a road course warrior.
Shelby styling for 1967 is largely credited to Ford designer Charlie McHose, who began styling the 1967 Shelby at Shelby American’s headquarters in a Los Angeles International Airport hanger in mid 1966. His goal, too, was to give Carroll Shelby’s pony cars more of their own image. McHose was later joined by his former instructor, Joe Farrer, and Carl Nasson, a Ford clay design mold expert. All three worked to give the 1967 Shelbys their sinister look. McHose sketched the designs; Farrer carved the parts to match a stripped Mustang fastback shell; and Nasson made the molds.
In the end, the 1967 Shelby was made to look leaner and meaner than a Mustang with a longer nose that incorporated four smaller headlamps, a functional dual-snorkel flat hood scoop and a different lower front valance with a larger opening. There were also side scoops on the fastback’s sail panels and on the rear side body coves, a full-width rear ducktail spoiler and new Mercury Cougar taillamps that required a different tail panel to be used on the Mustang body. These body components were fashioned out of fiberglass and fitted to Mustang bodies to create the Shelby’s unique look. However, the Mustang body shell supplied by Ford to Shelby American for design and construction of these components had been used for seat belt crash testing and was subtly tweaked, resulting in ill-fitting fiberglass parts for which the 1967 Shelby models remain notorious.
Shelby American wasn’t shy with the new Cobra emblem and mounted it on the front fenders. Courtesy of Freeze Frame Image LLC
Of the many body components that gave the Shelby more attitude than a standard Mustang, one of the most subtle but important is the side scoops. These scoops serve two purposes: they tied Ford-based performance cars to Ford’s Le Mans program via the GT 40 Mark II endurance racer, and they directed air through the body. The scoops behind the side window pulled air out of the cabin while the lower scoops directed air to rear wheels where they cooled the brakes, at least on early-build 1967 Shelbys (the functionality of the scoop ended when a flexible hose connecting the scoop to the inner rear fender was eliminated by Shelby American).
To maintain the Shelby mystique, all Mustang emblems were removed and replaced with new badges featuring a coiled cobra snake designed by McHose. The Shelby snake emblems continued in the interior, which was more plush than the Shelbys before it. Carroll Shelby insisted on installing a three-spoke steering wheel with a real wood rim and a Shelby horn button. Brushed aluminum accents on the instrument panel and door panels added to the plush interior, but it was the padded roll bar with inertia-reel shoulder harnesses borrowed from jet fighter ejection seats that were truly innovative (both the inertia-reel harnesses and padded rollbar are believed to be firsts in production automobiles). While Shelbys used most of the interior components of Mustang GTs, Cobra emblems were fitted to such places as the seatbelt release buttons. Shelbys also employed additional stainless and aluminum trim accents, and a 1966 Mustang Rally-Pac gauge housing hung under the instrument panel for Stewart-Warner oil pressure and ammeter gauges. Those gauges now monitored the rumblings of one of two available engines with different displacements, a first in the Mustang-based Shelby.
Shelby models could again be equipped with the hi-po 289-cid V-8 with solid lifters, an aluminum Cobra intake, aluminum valve covers and a chrome air cleaner. This engine was said to be good for 306 hp, as it had been in 1966, although the 289 now came with money-saving cast-iron exhaust manifolds rather than the better-flowing headers Shelby fit to 1966-and-earlier 289s. The 289 could be equipped with the standard 715-cfm Holley carburetor, or for $700 extra, a Paxton supercharger was available. When equipped with either type of 289, the cars continued the GT350 designation. For 1967, 1,175 GT350s were built.
Shelby ran with the additional space now found in the new Mustang body’s larger engine compartment and also fit the 428 Police Interceptor V-8 with hydraulic lifters under the hood. The engine was capped by dual four-venturi carburetors of 600 cfm. A full-race 427 side-oiler was also available, but at $2,000 extra, it was only fit in three 1967 Shelbys that year. Cars equipped with either the 427 or 428 were given a new designation — GT500 — which had nothing to do with the numbers behind either powerplant. However, it sounded big, and there were some big numbers behind the GT500. The 428-cid-powered cars had 355 hp and 420 lbs.-ft. of torque using dual four-barrel carburetors.
The base price of a 1967 Shelby GT500 was $4,195, and 2,048 were built. It would be the last Shelby built under the roof of Shelby American. For 1968, Ford Motor Co. moved all Shelby Mustang construction to Ionia, Mich., where the A.O. Smith Corp. would build the fiberglass Shelby body components, install and paint them and add the other Shelby ornamentation.
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