This car was purchased by its first owner, Howard Erickson from Hi-Performance Motors in Los Angeles in November of 1965. The car was then sold to Robert Key of Laguna Hills, CA in 1975. Key along with Rick Kopec entered the car in the
1979 Cannonball Sea-to-shining-sea Memorial Trophy Dash.
The Cannonball was the brainchild of Brock Yates in response to the nationally mandated 55 MPH speed limit. The idea was to see who could drive from New York to Los Angeles in the shortest time (the record is 32 hours 52 min). Key and Kopec had the fastest time getting out of New York. They made the run into New Jersey in less than 20 minutes! They were stopped in New Jersey for speeding (clocked at 120 MPH!) Kopec tried to pass himself off as an off duty police officer and was handcuffed and taken to the station. After 4 hours of pleading, begging, and throwing themselves on the mercy of the court they were released with a citation for speeding (75 in a 55 MPH zone). They were stopped for speeding one more time in Pennsylvania and had a 2-hour delay in New Mexico when the brakes failed. They finally made it to LA 48 hours after they started finishing dead last. Yates says that Kopec was the only competitor accused of a felony during the commission of a Cannonball!
Shortly after the Cannonball the car was sold to Bud Williams, a Mustang enthusiast from Southern California. Bud had been involved in racing all of his adult life, and he’d just finished restoring a 1970 Shelby. He decided to restore the GT350 with the goal of winning a major concours and going head-to-head against Cobras and Corvettes, something a Mustang had not done up until that point. The event would be the 1983 Newport Beach Pantera invitational. The car was finished at 5:00 PM on Saturday June 26, 1983 and one day later it had taken first place in the American Sports Car class!
Bud entrusted the restoration to famed drag racer Art Chrisman and his son. The car was disassembled right down to the last nut and bolt. The body was in excellent condition but the hood had seen better days. Bud brought in Steve Davis (who is one of the best sheet metal men in the race car business) to make a very special hood for the car. Starting with a New Old Stock (NOS) hood, Davis separated the outer skin from the inner structure, and then hand formed the hood scoop exactly to the shape of the stock Shelby unit. All the paint was done at Chrisman’s shop and particular attention was given to the layout of the Shelby stripes to ensure that they were exactly to Shelby specifications.
Nothing was left untouched. All hardware was either replaced with new or re-plated. All chassis components, inner front fender panels, export brace, Monte Carlo bar, driveshaft, etc were all powder coated. All the brake lines were replaced with new stainless steel lines. All of the fuel and oil lines were replaced with stainless braided racing hoses. The exhaust system was custom fabricated to duplicate the original in stainless steel.
Bud wanted the car to be a better than the original Shelby. He decided to replace the stock drum brake rear end with a disc brake equipped Lincoln 9” rear end. This was a simple bolt in operation with only slight modifications needed to the emergency brake cables. The front brakes were also upgraded Lincoln units.
Chrisman built a very strong and reliable 310 horsepower 289. He left the external mostly stock with the exception of polishing the aluminum parts. A custom radiator was built to improve cooling.
The interior was restored to 100-point perfection by Len Barnett of Thornton Upholstery in Santa Ana. If an original part was not perfect, it was either rebuilt or replaced with a NOS part.
The attention to detail on this car is unmatched. In addition to the Pantera Newport show win, Williams won his class at the 1984 “Concours De Nice” presented by the Cobra Owners Club of Orange County and the 1987 Regency Concours. The car was also featured in the Feb 1987 issue of “Mustang”, the January 1984 issue of “Sports Car Graphic”, and the March 1986 issue of “Classic Sports Cars”.
