Hello,
I have a 1969 GT350 that has a Paxton supercharger on it.
I know it has been on it for a long time, but not sure when it was installed.
I was told it was either installed by Shelby after the car was built, or it was dealer installed. I have the invoice from Shelby for the car, and the Paxton isnt mentioned
I was wondering if anyone could help date the Paxton by the Serial Number.
I appreciate any advice.
Shelby had nothing to do with the 69 cars, beyond a face in the ads. At that time he only had Shelby Racing Inc running a Boss 302 in TransAm. In 67-68 he TransAm and a McLaren M6 in CanAm for Ford - but that was an old design to the 1968 M8 and slower. Ford scrapped CanAm in 68 and early 69 they were no longer slipping blank checks under the door. Their TA involvement as well as the Shelby production was basically over. They put the bulk their race budget into NASCAR with Holman & Moody getting most of it. They also were running NHRA and most of those cars (were modified by) and parts supplied through Holman & Moody to teams.
Bottom line after Shelby winning LeMans for them in 1967 they were pretty much done with his services and what he could offer Ford. They honored their 3 year contract with him through the 1970 season and they parted ways.
Craig Conoley at Paradise Wheels is the Paxton guru and offers parts to whole kits. https://paradisewheels.biz/super-chargers
See if you can trace back through the owners to find when/who installed it. The Registrar may be able to help.
Shelby did not install Paxtons after 1967 and its unlikely the dealership did.
Quote from: dragginwagon on November 02, 2022, 05:22:33 PM
Hello,
I have a 1969 GT350 that has a Paxton supercharger on it.
I know it has been on it for a long time, but not sure when it was installed.
I was told it was either installed by Shelby after the car was built, or it was dealer installed. I have the invoice from Shelby for the car, and the Paxton isnt mentioned
I was wondering if anyone could help date the Paxton by the Serial Number.
I appreciate any advice.
Maybe you were told one thing however a much more likely scenario is past owner installed given various paxton install histories gathered by the SAAC registrar. Calling Craig Conley as has been suggested is your best course of action to date the blower .
Maybe the 1969 registrar has information on this car. You might want to check with the Vinman.
Don, thanks! how would I contact the Vinman?
Quote from: dragginwagon on November 02, 2022, 10:19:16 PM
Don, thanks! how would I contact the Vinman?
https://www.saacforum.com/index.php?board=7.0
Vincent Liska: vinman@infionline.net
The car was featured in Hemings special interest autos magazine in 1999.
In the article it says that the car is one of 2 supercharged 69 Shelbys known to exist in the SAAC
The owner in the article stated he purchased the car in 1994 with the Paxton on it.
Does anyone know if they made reproduction Paxton kits prior to 94?
I am just trying to track some history down on the car, and determine if it is possibly something special. The previous owners sure seemed to think so!
I figured I'd start by determining the date of the Paxton, that should help.
Any info is greatly appreciated.
I have attached a couple pics of the article where is talked about the blower.
Quote from: dragginwagon on November 03, 2022, 09:50:13 PM
The car was featured in Hemings special interest autos magazine in 1999.
In the article it says that the car is one of 2 supercharged 69 Shelbys known to exist in the SAAC
The owner in the article stated he purchased the car in 1994 with the Paxton on it.
Does anyone know if they made reproduction Paxton kits prior to 94?
I am just trying to track some history down on the car, and determine if it is possibly something special. The previous owners sure seemed to think so!
I figured I'd start by determining the date of the Paxton, that should help.
Any info is greatly appreciated.
I have attached a couple pics of the article where is talked about the blower.
Yes you could get Paxton kits prior to 94 . They were not reproductions but genuine. You bought them direct from Paxton
All Shelbys are special, but a previous owner almost certainly added the Paxton.
I think what you are going to find is a writer who didnt do his research and took some "artistic license" with the article
The important parts are "John theorizes..." and "John hasn't found a way to document his theory..."
There were no 1968 Shelbys with Paxtons, so the "leftover" parts is pure fantasy. Im also not sure the two dealerships mention were related?
I was able to reach Craig with paradise wheels, who informed me that the blower dated to late 1966-1967.
Its nice you have a vintage supercharger. That doesnt validate being installed by Shelby or the dealership.
The records from this period are quite good. A factory installation would have required documentation due to the warranty.
Although a dealership could have installed it, I still think that is unlikely
68 and later units tend to be white and the carb cap would most likely say Shelby, this is what Craig informed me when I bought a setup for my 68 Shelby, I have never seen an air intake box as pictured, factory installed would have a hose and round canister air cleaner
A previous owner almost certainly added it.Very cool period "accessory "and that alone makes the car special ;D
Quote from: Coralsnake on November 04, 2022, 09:03:03 AMThere were no 1968 Shelbys with Paxtons, so the "leftover" parts is pure fantasy. Im also not sure the two dealerships mention were related?
Shelby was also not a "small-scale speciality builder" anymore. Beginning in 1968 it was Shelby Automotive with all the power and production capability of Ford Motor Company. Any standard leftover parts were added back into Ford's massive parts distribution system when SA closed the airport facility in late 67. Anything CS kept could be found in his aftermarket parts catalogs.
The car was 25 years old when the first mention of the supercharger is found. As was mentioned if it had been added in 69 it would probably be a white one. I'll go with someone bought a used blower kit and added it when the car was 10-15 years old. The statement there were only 2 in SAAC means nothing.
In the 80s I loaned Paxton a set of SB Ford original mounts so they could duplicate them - their original patterns had been lost.
Jim Middlebrook was their engineer I dealt with at the time. He came up with a new centrifugal blower idea and started Vortech in 1990 around 2000 he purchased Paxton. He sold off the old ball drive blowers (that Craig Conley offers today) and uses the Paxton name on some of his blowers and kits today. As you can see his Paxton blowers now use the newer gear drive system.