BIFF'S RAP

THE SHELBY STORY

Part III The 1967 Shelby Mustangs

Ford redesigned the Mustang to accommodate a big block in 1967 and Carroll Shelby redesigned the Shelby. The emphasis was more on styling and appearance than all out performance. The '67 GT-350 came with the now well established 289/306 horsepower small block and a new GT-500 428" Big block. 1967 would also be the last year Shelby Mustangs would be produced at the Airplane Hangar building of the Shelby-American plant in Los Angeles, CA. The lease was up. Good quality fiberglass was also hard to find and California was a long way from Detroit. Production was moved to the A. O. Smith assembly plant in Ionia, Michigan, for 1968.

The '67 Shelby had a longer nose piece with a unique grille that was set off with a new Shelby coiled Cobra emblem located on the left side of the grill. New 7-inch driving lights were located side-by-side in the center of the grill, but due to several states making this illegal, they were later moved to the outboard areas of the grille. The hood was designed with a scoop that split the air as the center crease of the hood was incorporated into the molded hood scoop. Louvers next to the hood scoop let everyone know that the car had air conditioning. The side intake scoops were designed to funnel air to the brakes. The side scoops on the upper quarter were used to draw air out of the cockpit of the car. The idea for the scoops came from the GT-40. A coiled snake emblem appeared above the side stripes on the front rear fender. The dealer once again was responsible for the LeMans stripes. The taillights were taken from a 1967 Cougar. A rear spoiler was incorporated into the rear trunk lid. The rear of the Shelby was finished with a pop-open fuel cap with the coiled snake on it and a coiled snake emblem was located on the upper right corner of the spoiler.

The interior was deluxe Mustang with a new 8000 RPM tachometer and a 140 MPH speedometer finishing out the dash. A roll bar was standard equipment but now featured an inertia-reel shoulder harness seat belt. Due to poor serviceability and the higher torque, the heavy-duty C-6 automatic replaced the C-4 in the GT-500. Once again, a Paxton supercharger was offered on the GT-350 for added muscle. Earlier in the production, a 427 was offered as a GT-500 for special dealer promotions. Special wheels were designed for the `67 with 15" all aluminum center "star-mag" by Kelsey-Hayes. Also offered were 15" 10-spoke aluminum wheels. The 1967 is a much sought after Shelby with its combination of style and performance....Biff

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