From the day it shipped out, Tim Howard’s Shelby was destined to have a vibrant story that future owners would restate for years. Its first journey from Shelby Automotive in Las Angeles to a dealership in Trenton, Indiana was short-lived when the delivery train derailed, damaging the vehicle’s right front quadrant. After a settlement was reached with Shelby Automotive, Southern Pacific Railroad became the owner of the vehicle and auctioned it off in Las Angeles.
A Ford dealer in Glendale, California purchased her and restored all of the damaged parts with new components. The original owner then purchased the car and remained the proud owner until his death in 2001.
Known for his history with classic Mustang restorations, Howard was contacted by a mutual friend of the original owner. He had previously converted a 1966 Mustang Fastback into a 1966 Shelby GT350 clone, but he’d always wanted a real Shelby—especially with only 51,000 original miles and being a numbers matching car. Despite his wife’s protest, Howard purchased the Shelby.
Verifying the Shelby’s history was the first part of the restoration, as Howard spent countless hours researching its unique tale. Since the original owner never joined the Shelby American Automobile Club and never entered her into the Registry, the vehicle is considered one of the “Lost Cars” among Shelby enthusiasts. As soon as the fateful train accident occurred, the vehicle was assumed to be lost forever.
To verify his Shelby’s authenticity with Ford, Howard had to sent in the vehicle’s Ford VIN, Shelby VIN, and engine number. The registrar, in true covert fashion, reported back that the three numbers were simply “correct,” not divulging any other details. This confirmed that his 1967 Shelby GT350 was a “numbers matching car.”
He began restoring the vehicle in 2002, and she wasn’t much for looks. Oxidation had consumed the paint, the tires were cracked, the interior was a mess and the brakes were shot.
The first step was stripping the paint, which revealed the extent of the damage sustained from the railroad accident years before. “We could see rippling of the right front lower firewall and front passenger floorboard,” says Howard. “The right front subframe member however was new, evidenced by the non-factory welds and its lack of rippling.”
Stripping the paint also revealed that none of the car panels, aside from the front floorboard, had ever been damaged or straightened. The paint shop wanted to straighten his floorboard, but he declined in order to preserve the history of his vehicle.
By analyzing the VINs, Howard was able to deduce that the entire front fascia, the hood, the bumper, the grill, the radiator, the right front subframe box and the right front fender outside and inner were all replaced after the train accident.
After an alignment check, the hood was lifted. Howard rebuilt the engine with a Probe 347 Stroker kit. He internally strengthened the C-4 transmission to withstand the power from the 1970 Boss internals which maintained the original transmission outer case and numbers.
He then had the original Magstar wheels rechromed and rebuilt and the original 9" differential was internally improved with the addition of positraction maintaining the original outer case and number tag.
Howard maintains that every inch of the vehicle was dealt with during restoration. “Every nut, bolt and part on this car was removed and refurbished (or improved) during the restoration,” he says. “Nothing was left undone including the conversion of the original clock to a quartz internal mechanism.
To top it all off, Carroll Shelby signed the dash and the original window sticker, which has the original Indiana dealership’s destination crossed out and "Los Angeles" written next to it.
The Shelby GT350 Mustang’s restoration was completed in 2005 and has since seen numerous car shows, always taking away some kind of trophy. She won "Best of Show" at the Sunset Ford Mustang Cobra Car Show, "Best Muscle Car" at the Oldies But Goodies Saugus Speedway Show, first place 1967 class at the "Snakes at the Peterson Museum Show" and Second Place in class last year at the Prestigious Palos Verdes Concourse de Elegance at the Donald Trump Country Club.
Howard grew up in a Ford family with its fair share of Customlines and Country Sedan Wagons. He built plastic models of Model Ts and As, sometimes mixing the parts to produce the ultimate hot rods. In the 80s, he began his restoration hobby with a Model A Ford Coupe and, since then, has owned a 1966 Mustang, 1967 Shelby Mustang, 1930 Model AA Ford Truck, 1925 Model T Depot Hack, 1926 Model T Touring Car, 1961 Mercedes 190b sedan, 1967 Mercedes 230S Sedan, 1961 Mercedes 180b Sedan, 1980 Jeep CJ7, 1952 Jeep M170 Military Ambulance, 1942 Chevrolet G506 US Army Truck, 1976 Cosworth Vega, 1978 Nissan 280Z and a 1984 Pontiac Fiero GT. Recently, he converted a new 2005 Mustang to a Shelby GT350. His latest acquisition, what he claims to be his favorite, is a 2005 Ford GT.
While he currently owns eight vehicles, Howard is no elitist. He is a retired public school teacher who purchases cars at a low price—usually on eBay—restores them, drives them, and sells them to fund his next project. He now works for a company called MotoArt (you may have seen them on the Discovery Channel’s “Wing Nuts”), converting old airplane parts into furniture and art sculptures. He’s acquired many of his skills from taking automotive technology night classes at a local community college in Torrance, California.
Be sure to hit up Tim on the boards-- his username is
Ford GT. And check out more photos of Tim Howard's Shelby GT350 in the
StangPlanet Featured Rides Gallery.
PHEW!
Linear Mode
