While make and model obviously play guiding roles in the value of a used car, there are additional factors that can impact a vehicle’s valuation such as rarity, lineage and pedigree, race history, and of course, a good story. Once in a blue moon, however, we stumble across automotive examples that manage to tick each one of these boxes. And such is the case with the absolutely stunning, competition-used, factory-built 1969 Shelby GT350 Fastback race car.
Originally leaving the factory wearing a coat of Silver Jade, this 1969 specimen was first purchased in Hayward, California over the summer of 1969. Sadly, the car was stolen shortly after going home with its original owner. By the time it was recovered, the car had been wrecked, leading the owner’s insurance company to cash him out. The car was then purchased by a Bay Area-based Shelby enthusiast who opted to drop a Boss 302 engine into the thing, before fitting it with a roll cage, competition wheels, and a set of lightweight Maier fiberglass bodywork adorned in a new coat of Grabber Green paint — everything needed to take on SCCA B Production class competition.
Campaigned from 1973 to 1975, this ’69 Shelby specimen would then trade hands again, this time purchased by another family in California that proceeded jettison the car’s Boss 302 mill in favor of a 351 Cleveland lump, a set of 15” wheels, and modified bodywork complete with flared fenders and a coat of Sapphire Blue paint in preparation for GT1 class competition. By 1980, the Shelby was put into storage where it would remain until 1994, when a restoration was then undertaken that wouldn’t be completed until 2012 — resulting in the immaculate condition the GT350 is now in. At the heart of the car is now a 437-hp Boss 302 V-8 that was built by Skip Govia Racing Engines and treated to a complete tear-down and rebuild in 2020. In total, over $141,000 has gone into this examples upkeep and restoration.
Expected to fetch between $200,000 and $300,000, this 1969 Shelby GT350 ‘B Production’ Fastback is scheduled to take its turn crossing the auction block at RM Sotheby’s upcoming Phoenix, Arizona 2024 sale at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa on Thursday, 25 January 2024.
