Member Spotlight: Jim's 1967 Ford Shelby GT350 Tribute "Rebellious Shelby"

In 1991 Jim paid $500 for a 1967 Mustang fastback. It had been his best friend's sister's college car, and by then it was, in his words, the "RUSTANG" for sure. Thirty-five years later it sits on a lawn at Washington Crossing Historic Park, framed by a Revolutionary War fife and drum corps, wearing Dark Moss Green paint and Shelby GT350 bodywork. And this season it has been collecting trophies.

Jim's car, which he calls Rebellious Shelby, is one of the Feature Ready builds in The Garage at AutoShowList, the tier reserved for the most complete member profiles on the platform. The full build profile for Rebellious Shelby has the specs, a 13-photo gallery and the trophy case. Here's the story behind them.

Thirty Years of Small Projects

Most project cars that sit for decades never come back. This one sat in Jim's garage while he raised his kids, coached their soccer teams and, as he puts it, "life happened." The budget was very small for a long time, so the work came in small jobs. In between he researched the car and collected parts whenever the right ones turned up.

That slow stretch is what made the finished car possible. When Covid arrived, Jim went back to the project in earnest, restoring as much as he could himself with help from his brother. A friend recommended a body man who would come to Jim's garage to finish the metalwork and get the shell ready for paint. The car went into paint in late 2024, and reassembly started in early 2025. Today the main shell is mostly original, and every bolt-on component has been replaced or renewed. If your own car is in the "someday" years, our guide to planning a classic car restoration covers how to phase the work so it doesn't stall for good.

The Marti Report That Decided Everything

The turning point wasn't a part. It was a piece of paper. Kevin Marti's Marti Auto Works licenses Ford's own production records, and 1967 is the first model year those records cover. That makes a '67 the earliest Mustang whose factory build can be documented line by line. Jim's report came back as a one-of-one: a GT fastback in Dark Moss Green with Parchment interior, factory air conditioning, a 289 V8, an AM radio and the Fold Down Sport Deck rear seat.

That combination pointed straight at Shelby. According to Jim's research, Shelby American built four 1967 GT350s in Dark Moss Green with Parchment interiors. Three were automatics, and one, car #1159, had a four-speed Toploader manual. That's the car Jim chose to honor, out of 1,175 GT350s built for 1967. At that car's original owner's request, the dealer never added the over-the-top Le Mans stripes, so Jim's tribute doesn't have them either. The one place he departed on purpose is the wheels. #1159 shipped on Mag Star rims, and Jim preferred the Shelby 10-spoke. "While not a copy in every detail," he writes, "I have kept it as true to a tribute of an accurate GT350 with options that I picked on top of the Shelby America build."

A 289 Built in the Family

The factory rated the 1967 GT350's Hi-Po 289 at 306 horsepower. Jim's profile lists his at 331. He and his brother rebuilt it while his brother was working at Frank Bash Engines in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. The heads were ported and polished and fitted with bigger-than-stock valves (the profile now credits Lorenzo's Fast Flow Heads). The cam is a Wolverine Blue Racer. The rotating assembly was blueprinted and balanced with upgraded internals, and the four-speed Toploader was rebuilt through the shop's transmission contact.

The exhaust is local too: a 2-1/2-inch full stainless system from Pypes in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, with Race Pro mufflers. It also has 2-1/2-inch oval electric cutouts from Kindig-It Design, so the car can stay quiet on the road and open up when it's time to. All the Shelby-specific parts came from Tony Branda Shelby and Mustang Parts in Altoona.

Suspension That Earns the Name

This is where the build moves from tribute to driver. Up front is the Shelby/Arning drop, which lowers the upper control arm mounting points by one inch. Ford engineer Klaus Arning designed it and Shelby American used it on early GT350s. It doesn't lower the car much. Its real benefit is a higher roll center, so the car leans less in corners. Jim's car has custom alignment specs to suit, plus a rack-and-pinion conversion from Randall's Racks in British Columbia. The lower control arms are boxed with a steel reinforcement kit and located by Street or Track adjustable strut rods with Heim joints, with Viking adjustable coilovers.

The rear is a GT500-spec Ford 9-inch with a 3.25 Ford Motorsport posi on 4-1/2-leaf mid-eye springs from Street or Track. It also has Viking adjustable shocks and Cal-Tracs hardware. For brakes, the front keeps the 1967 Kelsey-Hayes four-piston calipers from the factory GT package. In back, an Eckler's disc conversion uses 1985 Buick Riviera calipers with slotted and cross-drilled rotors. The wheels are 17-inch versions of the Shelby 10-spoke on BFGoodrich Comp-2 tires in 245/45R17. His summary is short: "The car is very stable and very fun to drive!"

Comfort Hidden in a '67 Interior

Inside, the Parchment interior has Shelby-style seats and matching rear upholstery. The comforts are hidden. Classic Auto Air handles the air conditioning, and a RetroSound radio fits the original dash opening while adding Bluetooth, satellite radio, USB and auxiliary inputs. It feeds four JVC speakers and a Rockford Fosgate Punch 10-inch dual-voice-coil subwoofer, powered by two amplifiers in the trunk. From outside it all reads as 1967. Driving it is a different story.

Rebels, Redcoats and a Photo Shoot

The hero photo at the top of this page wasn't luck. Jim won it with an essay. The Rebels & Redcoats Classic Car Show at Washington Crossing Historic Park, on the Pennsylvania bank of the Delaware where Washington crossed in 1776, splits its field by the countries of the Revolutionary War: American and French cars on one side, British and German on the other. Proceeds support the Friends of Washington Crossing Park. Park photographer Brian Wagner challenged entrants to argue why their car best represented their side. Jim's answer:

"Well, I think the sight of any Shelby would drum up the feelings of rebellious behavior and Carroll Shelby himself was as rebellious as you could get. Against doctors' orders he was racing while taking nitroglycerin pills. He also pushed back on Ford corporate officials to become one of the most world famous, successful and widely recognized racing teams in American racing history. It is an American dream car, and besides, it's pretty damn good looking as well!"

The history holds up. Shelby had angina and raced with nitroglycerin tablets under his tongue, including in 1959, when he and Roy Salvadori won Le Mans for Aston Martin. The essay won the shoot, and the car got its name. Jim also notes that Wagner photographed "a beautiful Bentley" for the other side.

The 2026 Trophy Case

Jim started showing the car in 2025, before it was finished, and says he "did OK with the judging." Now that it's complete, he says the 2026 season "has been very good to me so far." The trophy case agrees:

• 1st Place, Mustangs Pre-2000s: Lansdale Under the Lights, 2026
• Club Choice Award: Roslyn Movin' On Cruisers, 2026
• Best Ford: Rockledge, Pa. Car Show, 2026

His show history also includes the Lansdale Catholic Caffeine & Chrome show on September 20. If you'd like to put your own car in front of judges like these, our breakdown of cruise-ins versus judged shows explains what each one rewards. If you're interested in Shelby history, a good Shelby GT350 history book fills in the rest of the 1967 story.

See the Full Build

Rebellious Shelby lives in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, in a region with a dense run of cruise nights and judged shows from spring through fall. The Pennsylvania car show calendar is the place to look for it. Specs, all 13 gallery photos and Jim's build story in his own words are on the 1967 Ford Shelby GT350 Tribute "Rebellious Shelby" profile page. For more member builds, browse The Garage, or check what's showing near you this weekend.

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