Muscle Car History: 1967-68 Shelby GT-500

Let's face it, some enthusiasts like their muscle cars raw, some like them with a healthy dose of seasonings and side dishes. And sometimes a machine's recipe evolves from one style to the other.

That was certainly the case with one of ex-racer Carroll Shelby's most famous cars. For 1965, he began production of hopped-up Mustangs at his shop in California. For those first couple years, his 'Stangs, called GT-350s, were barely-disguised competition tools.

With a stiff road-racing suspension setup, high-strung small-block V8, and lack of a backseat on which to haul buddies, those original GT-350s weren't a popular pick with the burger-joint crowd. And that was fine with Ford, at least at first -- Shelby's cooperation on the Mustang was initially sought to give competition credibility to Ford's pioneering pony car, which GT-350s did handily by winning sports-car races.

But starting with the '67 model year, Ford began expecting Shelby's machines to speak to a more mainstream performance crowd -- the typical muscle-car buyer. Signaling this shift toward street appeal over race-track prowess were mandatory power steering and power brakes, along with a number of optional comfort and convenience features, including air conditioning, tilt steering wheel, and tinted glass.

And, perhaps most importantly, a backseat was now standard.

But despite the added weight of such amenities, Shelby's machines hadn't lost their bite. Although the base GT-350's V8 was now somewhat tamer, that model for '67 was joined by the new GT- 500, powered by a torquey 428-cid big-block V8 rated at 360 hp.

For '68, the GT-500 packed an even bigger wallop, with the midyear introduction of the GT-500KR "King of the Road," which had a 428 that was some 40 hp stouter yet. Also that year, the Shelby Mustang's fastback bodystyle was joined by a convertible, to further appeal to the boulevard cruising set.

Development and production of Shelbys continued along similar lines into the next generation of Mustangs, ending in 1970.

Today, muscle-car fans are divided on which of the Shelby Mustangs are the greatest -- the almost race-ready early versions, or the punchier, plusher, more street-appropriate later ones. It really comes down to personal preference. Those with a road racing bent almost invariably gravitate to the early Shelbys, while those who like tire burning, drag racing street performance favor the later ones.

Regardless, any flavor of Shelby Mustang is counted among the great performance cars, a fact clearly reflected in the hefty prices these cars command nowadays.