1967 Mustang GT 500 Facts
Retired race car driver Carroll Shelby was at the peak of his custom high-performance car building prowess when he introduced in late 1966 the 1967 Mustang GT 500. The magic touch he applied to the 1965 to 1967 Shelby Mustangs forever altered the dynamics of muscle-car competition. The 1967 GT500 served as Shelby’s crowning glory of producing perhaps the best muscle of the 1960s. Today, the 1967 Mustang GT 500 commands about $150,000 at auction.
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History
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Shelby’s idea of street performance was to stuff a large, specially tuned V-8 engine into a small sports car or production car. For his sports car dreams, Shelby created the 1961 to 1967 Cobra, in which a 289- or 427-cubic-inch V-8 engine was stuffed into the British-made AC Ace sports car. Shelby applied the same principle to the Ford Mustang by giving it a bigger engine, tuned suspension and lighter components--such as a fiberglass hood--to create a street-legal, high-performance car that also could be driven in race competition, according to Conceptcarz.com.
GT 350 to GT 500
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For 1967, Shelby first developed the Mustang GT 350, powered by a 305-horsepower 289-cubic-inch V-8, which could hit 0-60 mph in 7.1 seconds. He immediately followed with something larger. For the 1967 GT 500, Shelby decided to equip the Mustang with the 428-cubic-inch Police Interceptor V-8, which ultimately outran any previous Shelby Mustang, but also had some handling problems.
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Features
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The 1965 Shelby Mustang was a true performance car, as it was stripped-down for weight-saving measures. Following customer complaints of its Spartan interior and lack of amenities, the 1966 and 1967 Mustangs featured more of the comforts of a production car. The 1967 GT 500 featured a fiberglass hood with hood pins, power steering and brakes, factory air conditioning, a deluxe black interior, the full Shelby gauge package, 140-mph speedometer, 8000-rpm tachometer and a rollbar with shoulder harnesses.
Size
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The GT 500 sat on a 108-inch wheelbase and was 186.6 inches long and 51.6 inches tall. Its curb weight was 3,709 lbs. The GT 350 had a weight distribution of 53 percent in front and 47 percent in the rear. The GT 500’s larger engine, however, shifted its weight to a 56.4/43.6 ratio, which was not well supported by the existing suspension. The skewed weight distribution severely affected handling on curves, but had no impact on straight-line racing.
Under the Hood
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Handling issues aside, the only thing that mattered was the powerplant. The GT 500 was equipped with the 355-horsepower, 428-cubic-inch V-8, called the Police Interceptor. The 428s could be tuned to generate in excess of 500 horsepower. The Mustang featured a medium-rise aluminum intake manifold with dual 650 CFM Holley carburetors. The 428 was mated to the C-6 Ford automatic or the Ford Toploader four-speed transmission.
Performance and Production
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Acceleration was the GT 500’s strong point. It could reach 0-60 mph in just 4.8 seconds and cover the quarter mile in 13.6 seconds at 106 mph. Top speed was 133 mph. In all, total production of the GT 500 was 2,048 units, far outstripping the production of the GT 350, which was 1,175 units.
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References
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