1965 Shelby GT350 R

Race cars have always been weapons for a battle, complex mechanisms that allowed talented humans to compete for pleasure and glory

by Thor Thorson

It is impossible to define a Shelby GT350 R any better than the Shelby American Automobile Club’s 1997 Registry does. “The competition model was the car the GT350 started out to be. Unlike any other production car, from which racing versions are made by modifying street versions, the street model GT350 was created by detuning the racing model.” There were only 36 R-models built, and they are the fire-breathing, Corvette-beating, heart and soul of the Shelby Mustang lineage. All were Wimbledon White with blue stripes and they all ran like Jack The Bear. They were immediately successful in achieving their intended purpose, dominating SCCA B/Production racing in their first season and nearly obliterating other marques and models from the annual SCCA runoffs, then known as the American Road Racing Championship, for the next three years. The production cars and all the R-models were specially built in sequence at Ford’s San Jose, California, factory in...