This ’68 Shelby GT500 KR is one that got away—and it’s probably just as well
What’s that thing I’ve read? Something about how you’re not really dead until the last person to say your name has also left the planet?
My dad’s been gone since 1996, and we four kids still remember him with great affection and more frequency than you’d expect given it’s been, let’s see … 27 years now. The photo of him and my mom on the wall has been hanging there so long I no longer really notice it, and his photo smile never did really convey the man anyway.
Sometime in 1977, during my junior year at Ruskin High School, I was walking home—which might mean my Triumph Spitfire was either down for the count again or I hadn’t acquired it quite yet. I came to the corner of Red Bridge Road and Bennington Avenue and a stunning Shelby GT500 KR convertible was gleaming at me from the wrap-around driveway of the nicest, biggest house around, with its top down and a “For Sale” sign on the windshield: $6500. If the Shelby shown here, listed early this year on Bring A Trailer, isn’t that very car, I’ll eat the white convertible top.
The first sentence of the BaT ad reads: “This 1968 Shelby Mustang GT500 KR is one of 518 convertibles produced for the model year and was built on June 26, 1968. It was delivered to Paul’s Ford Sales of Kansas City, Missouri . . .”
Tall Paul’s Ford was only about a mile down the road, and it’s hard to imagine there being two of these in that skinflint part of KC. There were plenty of Mustangs around, already clapped out at 10 years old, thanks to winter salt and period modifications, but the perfect, unmolested GT500 KR I saw seemed to have nothing in common with them. It must have spent all its time in the garage, or I surely would have seen it before. At that time, I was more of a Camaro guy, but seeing it there for sale, I was suddenly willing to rethink.
In my mind’s eye, I think it was spring, because I remember the patches of snow on the driveway that set off the red paint, just like in the BaT ad. The convertible top was down to reveal the racy black roll bar that KRs came with.
Soon as Pops rolled in from work in his AMC Ambassador, I laid it on him. “Dad! You have to buy this Shelby Mustang GT500 KR convertible!” I knew he was shopping for a new car anyway. In those days, you kind of had to buy a new car every few years, as they rusted away beneath you.
“Mustang?” he said in his Alabama drawl. Dad was never a Ford guy, either.
As part of my pitch, I may even have told him it would be collectible, though I doubt I really had any such idea at the time. I just wanted to drive around in the thing—who wouldn’t? “Dad, it’s a 428 Cobra Jet! With A/C and a power top! And it’s red and looks brand new!”
“How much?” he asked.
“Only $6500!”
He took a long pull from his evening vodka tonic, fixed me with one eye and said, “There’s no way in hell I’m paying no sixty-five hundred dollars for no ten-year-old Mustang.” He liked to revert to the vernacular when making certain declarative points.
I think I knew that would be his reaction, but I had to put it out there anyway, just in case. We needed cars to drive, not to collect, and Dad had a history of buying vehicles that didn’t really lend themselves to emotional attachment. Maybe I did sense the KR would be collectible some day, because by 1977 Ford was slapping the Mustang name on some truly atrocious little automobiles, which made even us Chevy dudes long for the ’60s. But even back in ’77, if you shopped around you could find nice used Camaros and Chevelles and the like for around two grand. So $6500 really was a lot of money, even for a new car. And with four kids to feed on one income, we weren’t a wealthy family. Just wealthy enough to tithe to St. Mary’s every Sunday, though. It was a different time for sure, and Dad was a completely different, less materialistic animal than his oldest son. Must have been a Depression-era thing.
He wound up trading the Ambassador for a Plymouth Volare wagon with the slant-six, which Google tells me had a base price of $4241. Yet another hair shirt of a vehicle, produced in that terrible era when Detroit hadn’t uncorked the fuel-injection genie and was still trying to make carburetors work with emissions equipment. My poor dad was no mechanic; I learned by doing and may even have introduced him to interchangeable parts. Look, Dad, it’s easier to just buy a new carburetor than to take the whole car to Jerry’s Conoco all the time to try to make that one work.
I was excited as you’d expect when I got the red Triumph Spitfire, followed immediately by being crushed that it was all topped out at about 80 mph. How can a thing look so fast and . . . not be? I got rid of it and followed up with an $1800 hopped-up ’67 SS396 Chevelle, which turned out to be neither an SS nor hopped-up. I had to save up another $600 to get its engine rebuilt; then it really was a beast both of my parents feared. At 18, however, I lacked their grim imagination.
A few short years after we didn’t buy the Mustang, the Army sent me to California, then Colorado, Texas, and Germany. When I finished school, I landed a job at Cycle magazine that moved me to California for good. I started my own family and may have made it back to KC six or 10 times in the next few decades, two of them for my parents’ funerals. One of our regular reminiscences was the red Mustang we didn’t buy. I’d tell my dad what it was currently worth (that it sold in February for $211,000 tells me I might have been on to something). He’d counter with something along the lines of: “You would’ve wrapped it around a telephone pole anyway.” He wasn’t wrong. But first I would have installed headers, glasspacks, traction bars, air shocks, and fuzzy dice.
I’m convinced that BaT Shelby GT500 KR was our GT500 KR, and seeing it pop up on my computer screen was like seeing Dad’s young ghost. That night, I dreamt of the two of us rolling down Red Bridge Road in it with the top down.
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That is the same color as the ’69 GT500 convertible I almost bought in the spring of ’73, though it was not a KR, and the top was black. With what the local Ford dealer was asking for it, and what they were offering for trade-in on my Boss 302 (which had a 289 2bbl under the hood at the time) I calculated I probably could have kept up the payments, possibly could have bout enough fuel for the 428, but being about a month shy of 21 years old at the time, I undoubtably would have gone bankrupt trying to buy insurance for it.
way back in 1989 i was working for a small car lot called a.c. motors . we bought , sold and restored mustangs, camaro s ,corvettes, 50’s and 60’s cars. the owner got a lead on a 68 shelby 500gt kr conv. 4spd car . i hooked up the trailer to the shop suburban and drove 2 days to wi. it needed paint , carpet , top and lots of tlc . bought it for 25k . and returned it to co. back then they were bringing about 80k . i was looking forward to doing the car but the boss cut a deal with a dealership in kansas city and flipped it for 32k . i was mad at him for weeks . always wondered where it ended up .
In ’80, was making great money as development mgr of Planned Unit Developments in Miami. I went to the Excalibur dealership in Ft Laud, as my dream car. Was told not enough money, however referred me to an auto broker with an “80 Vette L82, burgundy w/white interior and glass tops. It turns out was my lifetime 3rd fav car. After the Excalibur, I never could afford, and my new “05 SSR bought off showroom floor ( Chevrolet Test Track at EPCOT, Disney World) of employer, Which I’ve had 18yrs now, is my Sunday Driver, and totally disagree with critics of SSRs. Everytime I drive that SSR, someone is either taking a Pic of it, or asks what it is! One day, now that I’m retired and still hoping for Lottery winning…I”ll buy the Excalibur, maybe drop in a new Vette engine, and have it as my “Saturday Driver”…ha!
Mine was a glossy black Maserati Ghibli, around 2001 or 2002, in front of a paint store on a commercial strip in Edmonton, Alberta. It was in perfect shape in and out, for CDN$22,000. Clean as a whistle — though who knows what kind of maintenance or repairs it needed. I passed as it was an automatic, which I did not want to drive. I had two little kids and two mortgages and did not have the financial headroom or the space for speculative purchases — whatever I bought had to be something I would drive for at least part of the year. Also a 1966 Maserati Quattroporte around the same time for US$6500, though it was on eBay and I did not actually see it, just bid on it and missed it because I was too slow. I have missed out on a few lesser cars, as we probably all have, but none hurt as much as those two. My desire to own a Maserati has now been entirely outpaced by the market.
Around 1970 in my home town of Madera, there was a Kurtis midget with a V8 60 flathead for sale. The car came with numerous spares but Mr. Burtincini would not sell his 110 OFFY engine with it. We had saved $6,000 for a down payment on our first home and he wanted $1,000 for the Kurtis. It was white with red numerals and a red interior. There wasn’t even a dime sized ding in the aluminum body.
At 6’ – 5” there was no way I would ever fit in the Kurtis, but even back then I knew it would increase in value. Well, we bought our first home and somebody else got the Kurtis.
Seven houses later, we have way more equity, just no Kurtis midget…
17 years old, just wrecked a 1965 Impala SS doing the things that all 17 year olds do to cars, and was in need of a new ride. I was not brand loyal at the time, so anything would do. These are two that got away: 1975, Used car lot…Woburn, MA…went to look at the exact Shelby in this article except it was Lime Green/Lime/Gold in color. Tag was $850.00, passed it up, it was a bit worn out to be used as a daily driver. Next weekend, Manchester, NH…another used car lot. Went to look at an advertised 1969 Chevelle and sitting next to the office building was an Alpine White, 440 six bbl, 4 speed, bucket seat Superbird. Four flat tires and, again, needed some work. A mindblowing $500.00 ! Ended up getting a 1967 GTX, 440 auto w/air from Cali at an Army base near Bedford, MA for $850.00. Owned it for 22 years. Because of that car, I became a die hard Mopar guy “FOR EVER”! Then that one got away in 1997…kick myself every day !
I remember the used 1964 AC Cobra for $2995 my father wouldn’t buy. In his best fatherly advice voice, he said, “WHAT THE “H” DO YOU WANT A CAR LIKE THAT FOR?” I know I answered truthfully when I said, “Gee, Dad, that car will be worth a lot of money someday.” But in his mind what he heard was, “Gee, Dad, I’m 16. I want to go kill myself driving this car like an immature fool.” He’s been gone for 23 years but I realized long before his passing the older I got, the smarter my father became. Remember that as parents. Don’t let your kid have a high performance car until they gain some maturity.
I lived a couple of miles from Tall Paul’s back then…long before the 435/71 interchange there is today. Saw lots of Shelbys on the roads around there back in those days. I can still sing the Tall Paul jingle… : )
Tall Paul, Taaaallll Paul…
We could have been neighbors. I lived at 95th and State Line in the middle 60s. We had a Mustang that could have been bought there.
Yep, I have one of those stories as well. In 1985 a friend of mine offered to sell me his all original, super clean, Petty Blue, 440 Six Pack, 4 Speed, Super Bird…. for $8,200…….Yea, I know. 500k now
In 1974 I was a senior in high school in Silicon Valley which was a hotbed for cars even back then and already on my 3rd or 4th car which I flipped for profit. Read an ad in the local paper “1967 Shelby AC Cobra, 427 side oiler, 4 speed top loader, excellent condition, low miles, always garaged”. I thought what the hell and called. A guy with a Texas drawl answered the phone and after a few pleasantries I asked about the car. It was, according to him, rarely driven, he was the second owner. As a 17 year old used to spending around $1,000 or less for a car the asking price of $7,000 took my breath away. As I gathered my composure and blurted out “that’s a LOT of money for a car”. He very kindly answered in a low key measured Texas drawl “son it’s a hell of a car”. Needless to say $7,000 might as well have been $7,000,000 to a 17 year old HS kid. I politely thanked him for his time and passed on purchasing what was and still is one of the most desirable collector cars of all time. And no it wasn’t Carroll Shelby on the other end of the phone …..but it could have been.
Reminds me of the time I could have purchased a GNX for the low, low price of $45k.
A good author writes good pieces. A great one brings back memories.
I have a threesome:
When we had our first gas shortage my best friend’s brother offered me his Corvette. 1967 fastback, 390hp 427, custom paint and side pipes, for $2500. I passed with the reasoning gas would soon be $1 per gallon!
About a decade later and after our second shortage, it was a 1970 AAR Cuda for $3000. Beautiful dark red 4 speed car. Reason for not buying – cream colored interior.
Finally, somewhere in the 90’s, price not recalled, a real Alpina B6 2.8. A BMW 320i based car with the bigger of the two six cylinders Alpina swapped in. Fjord Blue, full Alpina stripes, proper s/n, the full meal deal. My reason? Something to do with future lack of availability of the stripes from such a small company…
What’s that noise in the background? Not to worry, just me, kicking myself in the rear.
My Chrystal Ball has improved since then…
Mine was the pair of Boss 429 cars in 1977 for $7500. one ran other not but both were complete. Knew the owner he was going through a divorce wanted them gone but not to her.
Mine was a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird, 440 4-barrel, pistol grip 4 speed, black bench seat, orange paint with black vinyl roof, trailer hitch, some rust, ran OK. The year was 1986 and I was a poor college student in Rapid City, SD. The original owner would have sold it for $6500. My father would not loan me the money.
The year is 1964, I am fresh out of the French army. My father had a small repair shop near Paris one of his friend was selling a 1952 Ferrari 340 America by Ghia. I borrowed about the equivalent of $700 from my mother (my father disapproved). In order to wave some of the taxes the car had to be over 10years registered in France. The seller got a letter from the original owner (prince Rainier of Monaco) to certify the car was registered in 1953. This was a right hand drive coupe V12 3Webers 4 speed no synchromesh (double cutch up and down) Kept the car for about a month, Gas guzzler! Some guy showed up with a pocket of cash and I sold the car for $1400. Paid my mother back and bought a one way ticket to New York. I am now an American citizen in Hawaii and I own 5 class cars. I win!