Lane Collectibles 1965 Shelby GT350R #98B- Ken Miles- Ltd Ed of 1020

Carroll Shelby has always been a brilliant promoter! And when it came to staging the racing debut of his new Ford Mustang/Shelby GT350 in February 1965, what better way to assure a successful launch than to send his first production race car along with his best driver to race at a local event in front of the adoring “hometown crowd”. And that’s exactly what he did!

Although he’d moved his operations to Southern California, no one could ever separate Shelby from his roots in Texas. And so Shelby’s team towed his new Shelby GT350R to an SCCA event at the Green Valley Raceway on the outskirts of Fort Worth on Valentine’s Day (February 14), 1965. Sporting “Terlingua Racing Team” badges on its fenders, the Wimbledon White with blue stripes GT350R, driven by the incredibly talented Ken Miles, won its first B-Production race beating its target competitors: the Chevrolet Corvettes.

Ford had asked Shelby to develop the new Mustang into a performance vehicle to attract potential buyers that were interested in acceleration and handling in a tidy package…… the group that, at that time, didn’t have much to consider beyond the Corvette if they were intent on “buying American”. Shelby American had a lot of projects going at that time: the Cobra roadster and coupe, so hot rodding Ford’s new Mustang appears to have been somewhat of a stepchild. Nonetheless, modifications were developed that would reduce chassis flex and lower the vehicle’s center of gravity. If they were going to compete against the Corvette in B Production, they would have to convert the four-seat Mustang into a two-seat sports car, so out went the back seat in favor of a package tray that extended from behind the front buckets to just before the back edge of the hatchback window.

I’m tickled to see Lane finally make this car! In my opinion, this car, 5R002, is the most significant of all the racing GT350R’s. Shelby’s first racing GT350R with his signature #98 and the iconic white with blue stripes and the Terlingua Racing Team badge; the way Miles drove it in its first race…..this is definitely the one to have! Lane has done a beautiful job executing this car. They’ve done a lot of GT350R’s by now, but I like this one the best, it’s certainly the most historic. The paint is a beautiful lustrous white with metallic blue racing stripes. There are four #98 roundels on the car and the Terlingua Racing Team crest proudly rides each fender at the base of the windshield post.

The interior is pure functionality with two seats: the driver’s racing bucket and the (somewhat) stock passenger’s seat. The door panels are flat panels and the nylon straps to raise the windows are there. Should I pull on them to see if they really raise the lightweight window……. maybe I better not! When you look under the hood, you’ll see the 289 with the Holley and the funnel-like “velocity stack” directing air from the hood scoop down into the carb. The steel fuel line from the engine-mounted mechanical fuel pump to the Holley is there as are the oil lines running from the engine to the apron-mounted oil cooler. Turning this beauty over, you see the headers bringing the exhaust into two long pipes exiting in front of the rear wheel. You also see the high-capacity oil pan Shelby added to improve engine life.

In talking to Eric Trapp, it seems as though the production run of cars coming from this tooling is close to coming to an end. They’ve done most of the really significant cars and it would be appropriate to save the best for last. I wish they would make some more ’66 GT350R’s with the Plexiglas rear quarter windows (the Edelbrock sisters are the only ones made, I believe). But that’s for Eric and his team to decide. If you don’t have one of these beauties, yet, you’re in luck ‘cause these are still available from Legacy Motors or your favorite retailer. Grab one before they’re gone! You won’t be sorry…….. I gua-ron-tee!

-Bill Bennett