1969 Shelby GT500 Muscle Car Of The Week Episode 364

1969 Shelby GT500 Muscle Car Of The Week Episode 364

Amidst the awesome display of Shebys at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals, it can be hard to spot a standout. But this amazing Royal Maroon 1969 Shelby GT500 deserves far more attention than the low-key color suggests.

First off, until it recently entered The Brothers Collection, this was only a 3-owner car, and it’s wearing all it’s original sheet metal down to the floors. It was discovered in amazingly complete condition, with many typically discarded bits still intact, like the original emissions equipment. However, although it was a nice find, the car was treated to a show-quality restoration to bring it up to the far nicer than new condition you see here.

‘69 GT500s are definitely worthy cars of the love, too… and this one is rocking the original, VIN-stamped 428 Cobra Jet V8 that flips out over 335 HP and 440 ft. lbs of Polyglass melting torque. It’s hooked to the numbers-matching 4-speed, close-ratio gearbox that exits to the 9-inch Traction-Lok rear loaded with 3.55:1 gears. Power disc brakes bring the steed to a stop, and power steering helps the driver swing the sport suspension through the curves.

It’s a driver’s machine, with white, high-backed buckets up front and a rear seat that folds flat… because this ain’t a car for back seat drivers. The color combination is really sharp, and the dash is drizzled with the proper Shelby monikers on the horn and passenger side panel. A 2 gauge console pod sits at the head of the console and 4-speed shifter, but this car does not have slow-me-downs like air conditioning or power windows. We do like the red footwell carpeting, which was shared with 1969 Mach 1 Mustangs.

The history is nearly as important as the car, and this one boasts with it’s own personal library of cool documents and artifacts, ranging from the original Shelby special order card, the Shelby invoice, 2 build sheets, a Marti report, and even a copy of a hand-written listing of 1969 GT500 VINS and their shipping dates. This one is one of the first 100 built, by the way.

The unique look is thanks to a stack of Shelby-specific fiberglass body panels, including the front bumper, grille, headlights, elongated fenders, and the wild 5-NACA duct hood. The rear features special quarter extensions and deck spoiler, specific tail pan, and the cool T-bird style tail lights over a center exhaust. Quarter panel scoops and stripes enhance the profile.

Cars like these are the main reason to go visit the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals show, where there are always cool representative rides from The Brothers Collection on hand. The fact that there’s a whole building full of them at the MCACN show should push any muscle-car fan’s needle deep into the red.

Thanks for checking it out, we’ll be back next time with something else cool from The Brothers Collection on Muscle Car Of The Week!


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#shelbygt500 #Musclecar #V8TV

[Duececoupe]

1969 was a good year, a damn good year!

[deadmetal]

That may we'll be the most beautiful machine I've ever seen.

[mrjuvy]

Bought mine new in March 1970, just getting it back on the road again. Changed the color to gulf stream aqua with white stripes ( GT 350)

[SuspenseESCAPEremastered]

I had one of these back in the 80's - the floor and body panels that weren't fiberglass were full of rust holes! Still, it was a cool car.

[stenvau]

This car has been my dream car since i was 12 years old. Hoping to get one in the future. If all are driving only electric cars and you take this out they will drop their jaws.

[andrewipp]

Shelby’s weren’t subtle in their styling but they had plenty of muscle to back up their look...burgundy with a white interior combination is very different for muscle /pony cars, it wasn’t an exterior color you saw too often for the hero cars, still a extremely cool ride!

[onefastcyclist]

Very fine '69 500 well presented! The 428 Cobra Jet was closer to 375hp (gross HP) and generated acceleration numbers accordingly. However, the car was eclipsed by the Boss 429 in '69

[mikepantel]

"Poly glass melting torque" Those were the days.

[AlainHubert]

Nice car but, @1:08 it looks like that trunk lid doesn't line up well at all, and there's some sign of rather poor bodywork patching having been done under that paint from the reflection in it (looks like the trunk key lock might have been moved from the trunk lid to the body, and the hole patched up at one point?).

[noneedmen]

Ha! I'm the 302 like. Me and my dad, he's 70, are restoring a run of the mill 69 fastback and while a Shelby would be a dream come true I'm perfectly happy to be working on such a clean example. Thanks for the content.

[DieselCat]

The only thing cooler than all these awesome classic muscle cars is this awesome channel...happy 4th...stay well, stay safe.

[ricknelson]

I was 12 when this car was built and I remember walking past a Ford dealership every day to and from school
There was an Acapulco blue gt500 on the showroom floor I would stop, stare and probably drool every day. I ended up owning a 1969 GT350 when I was a senior in high school I paid $2500 for it and later sold it for $4000. Back then 69 & 70"s were not considered real Shelby's

[LS]

I knew someone who had a ‘68 GT500 but because of his prosthetic leg he traded it for the GT350. Awesome cars. Thanks for sharing it! 👍🏻👍🏻🇺🇸

[shanebrbich]

In my opinion these are the best GT500!
The only thing missing is a Boss 429 power plant!
In my opinion
👍🇦🇺

[stefanmayr]

Simply an icon.
Thanks for showing and Greetings from Austria 👍👍🇦🇹😎

[MechanicalTrader]

a memorable representation of fantastic engineering & mechanical expertise!

[BrewBlaster]

I always thought theses car looked more like an AMC than a Ford.

[briansmith]

When camera goes over the trunk bodywork does looks so good? Level one I believe did restoration? Any comments on paint?

[joshrandall]

Beautiful car. One of my favorites. 335hp? My Genesis G70 has 365hp. We live in the age of horsepower!

[wpcampbell]

The 69 was probably the best year for Mustang, Shelby's, and the Lincoln Mercury Ford family of vehicles. They were undoubtedly some of the nicest body styles, the best motor choices, and had they not used the fake woodgrain on the dashboards of many of those cars, the muscle cars by Ford in 1969 would have looked the part inside and out. Fake wood grain doesn't scream "high tech awesomeness, " and it's not very luxurious, either. So what were the design teams thinking with that crap?! It's basically the only pet peeve anyone can have with auto makers. Since wood adds a ton of weight, and isn't durable like steel, it doesn't project speed or maneuverability like a black jet cockpit made of titanium, does it?
And airlines moved away from wood paneling immediately upon finding aluminum. Who was the holdover who believed wood grain has any place in the automotive industry?