https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/found-1969-shelby-gt500-pilot-test-car
Pilot Plant car! Thats super rare! 390 engine Holy Cows
So Cool. They should a Reality Show of their Shop.
Duck Dynasty meets Mark Worman?
Sooners or Later?
Okie pilots?
So, is the 390 still in this car? I assume someone (Smith?) did yank them and put in 428s before they were sold to the public?
I do wish they would video document and share all the cool stuff they are going to find with this car!
- Phillip
These types of cars were never sold to public. I did get a 428CJ and it was donated to a school
ohhh, this is one of those cars donated to the school -
- Phillip
NICE..........whats the story on how it came to light?
^^^ yes - when and how did the school get rid of it, etc.
- Phillip
Kurt Knoll (mention in video) found the car in a lot owned by the school in 1980 something and bought it from them for $6500
I was able to speak to his sister several times.
Should'nt donations cars to schools have commitment to salvaged them at resales ?
Patrick
so, lots of questions - I guess some of which will be revealed hopefully.
I assume Mr. Knoll is a "public" figure who ended up owning this car? ;D
- Phillip
Not sure if I understand. Kurt approached them and the College decided it could sell him the car. Kurt has since passed away.
This car is supposed to be at MCACN in Chicago
Quote from: Shelbypat on September 20, 2023, 03:25:01 PMShould'nt donations cars to schools have commitment to salvaged them at resales ?
Generally in the past they were gifted without any restrictions. We bought several cars from Chaffey College race car program - the best was Paul Newman's Ford Escort for $2,000. They raced it until they ran out of spares then sold it off.
Quote from: Coralsnake on September 20, 2023, 03:34:51 PM
Not sure if I understand. Kurt approached them and the College decided it could sell him the car. Kurt has since passed away.
Just how a college is able to decide that a car that was supposed to never have been sold to the public ends up being sold to the public - and thank God they could/did!
Fascinating part of the story, to me at least...
Once restored can it be registered and driven on the street?
- Phillip
It has a valid title. Not sure if its going to restored yet. I think the original idea was it not be sold, but after several changes at the college, things change, decades later it was sold as an asset
Very kool !
This is a pretty significant car. Not on par with Lil Red, but almost as significant
thats RAD.
Some of these cars lose a feature or two when they get restored,.....particularly PROTOYPES.
Here is a photo of the car when it was at Montcalm Community College in mid-michigan. This photo appears in the Shelby American #49.
In hopes of keeping this story accurate - the car originally had a 390 4-speed. That was changed out within the first couple of months of the car's life and replaced with a 428 CJ and an automatic. (This is shown in the Shelby Inventory documents from October 1968). The 390 is obviously long gone.
Thanks to former SAAC member Bill VanEss, the college sought legal advice on if the car could be auctioned off and since Shelby American was not an entity any longer - the college got the car titled and auctioned it off in May, 1985. Kurt Knoll purchased the car with 27,000 miles on it and has had the car ever since. The car still has basically the same mileage on it as it did in 1985 (and the wind tunnel fixture checking marks in the paint.)
Mr. Knoll passed away last year. I was able to see the car for the first time this past February though had been aware of it since 2001. (And it was less than 10 miles from my house) I also spent many hours with the car this summer - gathering the parts that had been taken off of it over the years by Mr. Knoll. I look forward to seeing what Jason does with this car - refresh or restore. I am thinking this might be a good time to possibly write an article about the car for the Shelby American Magazine.
Lowell
Thanks for your work on this car Lowell
Thanks Pete - It was an honor to have been included as a "resource" for the family
To help all interested to understand how the car ended up at Montcalm Community College - the college is located 20 miles directly up the road north of Ionia, MI (home of AO Smith and the Shelby garage operations in 1968 -1969)
The awesome thing from a Shelby historical perspective is that both the 1967 prototype GT500 that was donated to the Michigan Training Unit Prison (Ionia, MI) for shop class purposes and the 1969 prototype 100029 donated to the college were NOT destroyed and still exist today. That could have easily been a different scenario for either vehicle.
On a side note - I have a car friend who still lives in Ionia, MI who attended the college when the Shelby was in the shop class and he got to rebuild the transmission back in the day. How cool is that!!
What an amazing story. Thanks for sharing
For what ever reason it appears that more of the pilot plant cars still are around. Not sure if they built more of them or just gave them to different institutions rather than destroying them like earlier ones.
Great and interesting find will be interesting to see what features and "one" off parts they share
Quote from: 67st102 on September 20, 2023, 06:10:24 PM
Here is a photo of the car when it was at Montcalm Community College in mid-michigan. This photo appears in the Shelby American #49.
In hopes of keeping this story accurate - the car originally had a 390 4-speed. That was changed out within the first couple of months of the car's life and replaced with a 428 CJ and an automatic. (This is shown in the Shelby Inventory documents from October 1968). The 390 is obviously long gone.
Thanks to former SAAC member Bill VanEss, the college sought legal advice on if the car could be auctioned off and since Shelby American was not an entity any longer - the college got the car titled and auctioned it off in May, 1985. Kurt Knoll purchased the car with 27,000 miles on it and has had the car ever since. The car still has basically the same mileage on it as it did in 1985 (and the wind tunnel fixture checking marks in the paint.)
Mr. Knoll passed away last year. I was able to see the car for the first time this past February though had been aware of it since 2001. (And it was less than 10 miles from my house) I also spent many hours with the car this summer - gathering the parts that had been taken off of it over the years by Mr. Knoll. I look forward to seeing what Jason does with this car - refresh or restore. I am thinking this might be a good time to possibly write an article about the car for the Shelby American Magazine.
Lowell
Naive question....
Since the 428 CJ was already in production why was a 390 4-speed used as a pilot plant car only to be changed out to a 428 CJ, A/T later anyway?
Quote from: s2ms on September 20, 2023, 10:27:48 PM
Naive question....
Since the 428 CJ was already in production why was a 390 4-speed used as a pilot plant car only to be changed out to a 428 CJ, A/T later anyway?
Don't know that the engines in the pilot plant cars were ever replaced and the cheaper and possibly easier to get 390 was close enough for the evaluation of how the cars would be built at the regular car production plants. As I understand that was the purpose of the pilot plant was to "test", experiment and confirm the steps and order of assembly so having the exact same engine as the production car was not necessary. Often these cars were also used in advertising before they were destroyed or deposed of. That is my understanding from Ford some employees I've talked to and from Ford documentation and books that include some details of the pilot plants and the over all planning and assembly process
Its a good question, not sure of the answer.
Quote from: 67st102 on September 20, 2023, 06:39:53 PM
Thanks Pete - It was an honor to have been included as a "resource" for the family
To help all interested to understand how the car ended up at Montcalm Community College - the college is located 20 miles directly up the road north of Ionia, MI (home of AO Smith and the Shelby garage operations in 1968 -1969)
The awesome thing from a Shelby historical perspective is that both the 1967 prototype GT500 that was donated to the Michigan Training Unit Prison (Ionia, MI) for shop class purposes and the 1969 prototype 100029 donated to the college were NOT destroyed and still exist today. That could have easily been a different scenario for either vehicle.
On a side note - I have a car friend who still lives in Ionia, MI who attended the college when the Shelby was in the shop class and he got to rebuild the transmission back in the day. How cool is that!!
I have a former coworker who lives in Lake Odessa(transferred to one of our Lansing facilities a few months ago) who is into cars and building custom 4x4 pickups. A real gear head. I kept telling him to look in every garage and barn out there as there might be cars like this in his area. My Chairman at work lives in St. Johns not far from the college. I always instill on him to look for cars also.
An nice 7 page article by Al Rogers with a lot of great photos will be out soon. Just a heads up.
Old Cars Weekly - October 15, 2023 edition.
This magazine is available through subscription only - with a digital subscription option available.
Quote from: Coralsnake on September 20, 2023, 01:58:16 PM
https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/found-1969-shelby-gt500-pilot-test-car
Pilot Plant car! Thats super rare! 390 engine Holy Cows
Pete,
So who is doing the restoration?
Bill
Pretty sure its going to appear "as is" for a while. Car is schedule to be in Chicago in ten days
Last time I heard Billups Restorations will put it back to together and sympathetically restore. I think there is a lot of oem paint there
That could change.
Here are a few photos of the car at its 37 year storage location in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Per Pete's comment, there is a lot of original paint on the car (including wind tunnel fixture marks).
There are plenty of shiny restored red Shelbys out there. But how many 1969 pilot plant cars with original red paint and original white stripes are out there? This will be an awesome barn find display vehicle at the upcoming MCACN show. Thanks to the new owner and Billups Restorations for sharing it in this "as found" condition with all of us.
Lowell
Quote from: 67st102 on November 09, 2023, 01:47:33 PM
Here are a few photos of the car at its 37 year storage location in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Per Pete's comment, there is a lot of original paint on the car (including wind tunnel fixture marks).
There are plenty of shiny restored red Shelbys out there. But how many 1969 pilot plant cars with original red paint and original white stripes are out there? This will be an awesome barn find display vehicle at the upcoming MCACN show. Thanks to the new owner and Billups Restorations for sharing it in this "as found" condition with all of us.
Lowell
Production were gold stripes on red as I'm sure you know so how many in white? Was this the only one? I've painted 2 70 Shelbys red(my vert is an original red car) and white is by far the best color on it so I put white stripes on both cars. I never understood gold stripes on red and Gulf Stream Aqua cars.
Great question...cant be very many. Since this is a prototype, its safe to say it was done before the decision was taken.
so does anyone know what kind of work they did on the car when they had it?
There are some notes out there, but I don't recall right now
The scratched "x" marks were thought to be for measuring the body? (Shown above)
Pete, or someone used the hood as a workbench when they cut apart a cardboard box.
Quote from: Side-Oilers on November 09, 2023, 07:10:46 PM
Pete, or someone used the hood as a workbench when they cut apart a cardboard box.
I've seen this car in person and the marks in the paint are precise and done for some specific purpose; not accidental.
Another fascinating piece of history exists.
I would encourage the owner to NOT restore the car, what an amazing find filled with history! Once restored all that will be lost.
+1 on not restoring-away the historical uniqueness.
Please see the link below to the on-line Old Cars Weekly article by Al Rogers.
There are some great photos and information in this article. Check it out.
https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/found-a-special-shelby-in-a-stable
Lowell, Thanks for posting the link and your help in getting the car to the right persons' to take care of it moving forward!
Good to hear from you and take care.
2 days away. Pete is the car going to be there for sure?
Thats what Im told.