This Auctioned '67 Shelby Mustang Was Actually Owned By Carroll Shelby Himself

A 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500 , a car that defined Carroll Shelby's legacy, was recently put up for auction on Bring a Trailer and has a particularly notable claim to fame: it was actually owned by Carroll Shelby. This particular car, which was located in Greece, did not meet the reserve for the auction, with the high bid reaching 226,000 Euros. An interesting modification to the car, done after Shelby purchased it in 1999, was a period-correct aftermarket air conditioning system, added so he  could drive it comfortably in Las Vegas, Nevada, where his business was located. 

Shelby owned the car during the period when he and his business partner, Stephen Becker, were engaged in buying and reselling Shelby cars for fast profits. According to correspondence between Stephen Becker and the the registrar of the Shelby American Auto Club that came with the car, Shelby drove the car for around six months, and then sold it to an owner of multiple new car dealerships located in Kansas for his collection of muscle cars. Becker bought the car back later, after receiving a call from the owner stating that he had broken his foot on a skiing trip and would not be able to drive a manual transmission for a year or more. 

In 2011, the car was acquired by its present owner and exported to Greece, where it became part of another collection. Its documentation included a National Shelby Registry certificate, a Shelby Auto American Club certificate, and an Elite Marti Report. 

All 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500s came from Shelby equipped with a 428 cubic-inch Police Interceptor V8 with two four-barrel carburetors, which produced 335 hp. They also featured heavy-duty springs all around, a front anti-roll bar, fender extensions, two sets of air scoops, a rear spoiler of the ducktail type, and a ram-air hood made of fiberglass. 

Back in the day, Car and Driver tested the performance of a model with a three-speed automatic, getting a 0-60 mph time of 6.5 seconds and a quarter-mile time of 15.0 seconds at 95 mph. Top speed was estimated at 128 mph. 

The example that went up for auction on Bring a Trailer came with a four-speed manual transmission, and was equipped with additional options including the Extra Cooling Package, 15-inch aluminum wheels with 10 spokes, the Courtesy Lighting and Interior Décor groups, power steering, front disc brakes, a fold-down rear seat, AM-FM radio, and a heavy-duty battery. In addition to the air conditioning, Shelby added a set of headers for the engine, in typical Caroll Shelby fashion. He actually based most of his cars on existing production vehicles — there was only one he built from the ground-up.

Current values for the 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500 on Classic.com shows that vehicles in original condition sold over the past six months have ranged in price from a low of $165,000 to a high of $368,500.