There’s a little bit of irony to this 1969 Shelby GT500 convertible, as Carroll Shelby owned it for 39 years, but he never had anything to do with its creation. If you recall, Ford took its ball from Shelby’s Venice, California operation and handled the complete build starting with the 1968s. With the Mustang’s 1969 redesign, Ford created the most distinctive Shelby of them all.
Image courtesy of Jim Campisano
Shelby fans certainly find the older models more romantic, but there’s no doubt that the 1969s (and the reserialized 1970s) have a look that hit it out of the park. In fact, if you squint a bit, you can see how Ford was inspired to design the 1971-73 Mustang.
Image courtesy of Jim Campisano
This convertible — one of 335 GT500s built for 1969 — was originally built in a triple-white scheme (I’m guessing with blue stripes). Carroll wanted a red car, so when he pulled it from Ford’s fleet, he had it repainted. He also made several modifications (some when new, some over the years), including repainting the block and heads red during a rebuild of the 428 Cobra Jet, Cobra Le Mans valve covers, aluminum intake, chrome air cleaner, and aluminum oil pan, among others.
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