1967 Shelby Trans AM cars

wcampbell_old · March 24, 2007 at 5:54 AM

I was reading in the SAAC registry that Shelby ordered a couple dozen white '67 coupes with the HIPO to be built as racers for the 1967 season. The coupes where pretty much like a standard car (including full interior). Some raced; some didn't, but it made me wonder if these cars have surfaced over the years and if any are still out there waiting to be restored. Would love to get my hands on one of them left for dead and restore the thing. Anyone heard of such things out there? just curious...

rr64_old · March 24, 2007 at 7:05 AM

Shelby did prepare racing coupes for themselves and customers in 1966 and 1967. I don't know a lot about them but 1966 cars were very much like a two door hard top versions of street (Group I) and race (Group II) 1965 GT350s. The 1967 versions started the evolution to racers that looked something like production cars. The detailed booklet Ford published for the Group II Mustang and GT40 engines in 1967 lists many unique race only parts available; engine block up. I have seen pictures of the four bolt main C6FE blocks (also used in GT40 MKIs), the Ford booklet shows the unique head gaskets for the version of heads with copper seal rings around the combustion chambers, I have never seen any of the connecting rods, Shelby use to sell the Deves® piston rings out of their parts department, Shelby sold the intake manifolds (several versions between 1966 and 1967 based on what appears to be three casting patterns in two plumbing designs) through catalog and magazine advertisement channels (with street carburetors, not the trick factory racer jobs made from BJ/BK 427 engine carburetors), and Shelby and Ford sold countless C7FE camshafts. I don’t think the C6FE cylinder heads in all the 1967 versions (three that I know of including two different casting patterns that use the same engineering number) were ever commonly available.

I don’t have a car but I did recently purchased the works matched and serial numbered cylinder head assemblies with the mating matched ports smoothed passages (complete except for a piece of rubber fuel hose and three hose clamps) induction system from one of the cars that was wadded up racing. I have wanted to play with a set up like this since the 1960s and this is the first intact set up I have come across in all those years.

BoS_old · March 24, 2007 at 12:08 PM

In 1967, Shelby Grop II #8 was driven by

Bo Ljungfeldt in Sweden. In the early 80's

I tried to find it buy couldn't. In the end of the 80's

a friend of mine was offered to buy a 67 HiPo from Norway

for $5K without correct engine and he turned it down.

Of course, neither the seller nor the buyer knew that

it was a fact a Shelby prepared race car.

After beng used in Sweden in 67, this car went to Ford of Denmark

and later to Ford of Norway, raced in both countries.

Guess the current owner in Norway got really exited when

he learnt his street registered car was actually a Shelby

race car.

/Bo

a

6F07KGT · March 25, 2007 at 7:56 PM

The Code Key liveried car is owned by a member of Norcal SAAC and he runs it in the vintage races on the west coast. It is white with black interior.

mustangmann_old · March 27, 2007 at 10:44 PM

These Trans-Am (also known as group II or A-Sedan) Shelby Coupes are indeed very rare. There were 16 built in 1966, and 26 built in 1967. They were all Wimbledon White, with Black interiors. The SCCA A-Sedan rules mandated full interiors, all glass, and stock bodies (no fiberglass). The idea was to race showroom stock cars. I know of several of these cars, two are in my town, and owned by the same person (one 66 and one 67)! Be prepared to be surprised. There have not been many recent sales of these cars to gauge a value from. With the Boss T/A cars recently selling for near $500k, I am sure the early cars will not be far behind. It all depends on history and condition. Also, Shelby won the Trans-Am championship in 1966 and 1967.

Ken

BIGERMIKE_old · March 30, 2007 at 1:52 PM

Was it in late 67 when they started using the 302 tunnel port engine in them.

SixT5HiPo · March 30, 2007 at 5:42 PM

The "Tunnelport 302" was developed as the 1967 Trans-Am season saw the 302ci Z-28 Camaro outpowering the Ford 289 HiPo Mustangs, but losing to Ford by a slim margin. According to some accounts, superior driver experience probably gave Ford the victory in spite of Camaro's horsepower advantage. As a result, developmment of the Tunnelport engine was started during the '67 racing season, and they were first used in the 1968 race season. After a season opening victory over Camaro by a whopping 64 laps at the 24 hour Daytona endurance race, problems surfaced with the Tunnelport that caused Ford major grief. The primary issue was a tendency to reduced oiling capacity at high RPM's, and for the rest of the Trans Am season, many of the Ford Tunnelport cars were forced to drop out of races with blown engines.

Because of frequent failures, the Shelby team, who was supplied these engines specifically for Trans Am racing, asked Ford if they could substitute the more reliable 289's to finish the season. Ford refused their requests. This ultimately cost Ford an embarassing finish for 1968, well behind upstart Chevrolet and the Z-28 Camaro, with a disappointing 105 vs 63 point upset in GM's favor. This ultimately led to the creation of the BOSS 302 in time for 1969, and the rest is history!

BIGERMIKE_old · March 31, 2007 at 12:14 PM

Hi Gene

I did not know that about the oiling problem. Those ran dual quad set up.

Thanks

Mike

SixT5HiPo · April 1, 2007 at 8:02 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>

... Those ran dual quad set up.

That's right, Mike. They were twin 540 cfm Holley's on a high-rise aluminum manifold.

6F07KGT · April 8, 2007 at 11:55 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>

Because of frequent failures, the Shelby team, who was supplied these engines specifically for Trans Am racing, asked Ford if they could substitute the more reliable 289's to finish the season. Ford refused their requests. <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>

One of the times Shelby spoke at one of our NorCal events he mentioned the issues with the Ford built tunnel port engines. The Ford guys resented Shelby's accomplimants or rather the accolades when Ford received none when the cars won. Shelby said the engines came to them sealed with an attached dyno sheet showing what that particular engine had produced. Shelby's team was supposed to drop in the engine and go. They were not supposed to inspect or modify it in any way.

Well, one time an engine wouldn't start, so Shelby's team started tearing it down to find the cause. The engine either had no rocker arms or no nuts on the studs.(I can't remember which.)

Shelby said they called the Ford boys to ask about the dyno numbers etc, leading the guys on until he told them something to the effect of "the damn thing is missing the valvetrain, so we know you didn't dyno it." Shelby said after that they were able to work on the engines and they became much more reliable on race day.

SixT5HiPo · April 8, 2007 at 9:04 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>

One of the times Shelby spoke at one of our NorCal events he mentioned the issues with the Ford built tunnel port engines... Shelby said the engines came to them sealed with an attached dyno sheet showing what that particular engine had produced. Shelby's team was supposed to drop in the engine and go. They were not supposed to inspect or modify it in any way.

Very interesting post...It falls in line with other accounts of the "Tunnelport era". Shelby's organization apparently built (blueprinted) the racing 289's that were victorious in the first two Trans Am seasons in 1966 and 1967. Although Ford was backing Shelby, it was not in an open way. Shelby fielded winning 289 powered Mustangs for the Teringua Racing Team as a front for the Ford Motor Company during the first two Trans Am seasons.

Ford decided to drop the "Terlingua" front and put it's full support into the Trans Am for 1968. This was a direct response to the Camaro challenge from Chevrolet, which was aimed squarely at Ford, and Mustang in particular. Since the Z-28 Camaro outpowered the 289 Mustangs, Ford's Engine and Foundry Division developed the semi-exotic Tunnelport 302 to beat the Camaro in the 1968 Trans Am. As Mitchell mentioned above, the Tunnelport engines were built by Ford, and supplied directly to Shelby.

This new racing small block engine was based on a special 4 bolt main bearing 302 block, and used a scaled-down version of Ford's NASCAR 427 Tunnelport heads. By placing the pushrods inside tubes that passed through the intake ports, the ports made a streamlined path to the cylinders, instead of bending around the pushrods. This made them breath far better than the stock 289 High Performance heads. Intake valves were enlarged to 2.12 inches, as were the exhaust valves at 1.54 inches. The potential for a considerable increase in horsepower over the "old reliable" 289 HiPo was apparent in the new design.

There was supposed to be a "street" version of this engine to satisfy the homologation rules, but it never happened. Instead, someone at the Engine Foundry Division discovered that with a few modifications, the new 351 Cleveland heads with huge, canted valves, would fit on the Tunnelport 302 4 bolt racing block. Thus, the BOSS 302 was born...

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