[Bob Gaines]

Originally Posted by bitzman

Glad to hear from a former owner. I too, twinge, if I am asked about one of my old cars, such as the gullwing Mercedes I sold for $2500....

Did that '69 Shelby have a Boss 302 engine number?

Did you ever talk to the engineer that originally bought it from Ford?

The part about sneaking it out in sheep
's clothing rings true to me from prior stories I know about from growing up in Detroit. For instance, I know a GM designer who bought a DeTomaso Mangusta from GM for peanuts because experimental cars are required to be put on open bid but the time he was bidding on it, no one knew what a DeTomaso Mangusta was so he got it cheap. So if there was nobody championing the car in the car disposal group, highlighting its unusual equipment, then the odds are he got a deal.

But on the other hand, to get a good price at a future auction, I think there will have to
be some correspondence regarding the Shelby id original to the car and the Boss 302 engine designation when built to bolster the car's pedigree. It's a bit like thoroughbred horses. If you can't document who the horse's parents are, then it is not a thoroughbred.

As I said in my earlier post,it is what it is. A earlier post of this thread has even listed the VIN number. Any person not familiar with Shelby Ford VIN's if they take the time (you can't twist their arm ) using any number of Ford Mustang VIN/Data plate decoder books should be able to decipher the VIN and tell what it is. The G Boss 302 engine code- the only one in the SAAC Shelby Registry by the way ( and in there since 1997) and it has the 48 before the consecutive production number in the VIN which only Shelby's had . The Marty report which are based on Ford Documents states the same information. There isn't much stronger provenence then that. The VIN is the most compelling of the provenence. But I guess if you had a notorized vintage photo of CS standing next to the car with a open hood showing a Boss 302 sticker on the ram air lid and in one hand making the OK gesture and the other hand holding a sign with the VIN number would be the ultimate provenence. Even in the silly hypothetcal scenerio the VIN would be a big part of the provenence to identify the car then and now.