Hey Guys,
The other day Bob Gaines was here at the shop looking at GT350 #390 and we got to talking about parts needed to an eventual restoration on the car. The car retains its original "early" style brushed door inserts but, as with most all cars with their inserts, they are not going to be nice enough to reuse during the restoration.
WHAT CARS USED THIS STYLE OF DOOR INSERT?
These inserts have long been regarded as the "early" style of insert. However, a fairly recent post on the Shelby Research Group Facebook page had around 40 responses and seems to indicate that the preponderance of cars up till mid production generally had this style of "early" insert. Contrary to popular belief, these are not something unique to nothing but the "earliest cars". There is a lot of debate about where the cutoff point for these is and whether the "later" version was sprinkled in here and there during early to mid production. I am not here making this post to adjudicate that but you all can feel free to debate back and forth here on the thread :D my popcorn is popped and I am melting the butter as we speak!
During his visit, Bob explained to me that these earlier style brushed inserts were only reproduced in a small run by Burton Antique Auto Parts a few decades ago but that Burton was still the best supplier for the most correct appearing inserts... albeit what they currently sell are the "later" style. He encouraged me to give them a call regardless to get a set of those and at least ask about the early panels on the off chance they still had a set knocking around.
I called and here is what I found: Burton is now run by the daughter of Mr. Mort Burton... it is a real, small American business. They have a few guys in the shop and one guy in particular who makes these panels who is in his eighties and still going strong. This is the sort of business we should all feel good about supporting.
When I initially spoke to Mort's daughter, she agreed to take the pictures attached to this post to the gentleman who makes their inserts to inquire about the possibility of producing more of this style of insert. She called back the next day and said that they would be happy to do a slight modification to their tooling and produced a set for me but that they would really prefer to have more orders for the inserts so that the extra time spent was worth their while... which I think is more than reasonable.
My only question for them was "how many is too many?" and they said they would produce as many as I could find orders for... but that they didn't really want to produce them on a set by set basis over the years because of the complications of constantly changing the tooling. In addition, for reasons already posted above.. who knows how long a great company like Burton will even be making these panels. As time goes on, we are seeing less and less companies making a truly nice quality reproduction part.
Soooooooooooo... here's the details... the Price is $455/set plus shipping. This is the same price as they charge for their high quality "later" style inserts. I made two phone calls yesterday and already have 8 sets spoken for.
IF YOU WANT A SET... you need to reach out to me at vestes85@gmail.com or through PM on this forum or PM on Facebook. I need a name and an email to put together a final tally on the number of sets we'd like them to produce. I don't know how long I am going to plan to take names and emails before giving them the "go-ahead". Once I have what I think is a pretty decent pile of names and it feels like we have given everyone a chance to throw their hat in the ring, I'll share the list of names and emails with Burton and they will reach out to you to process your transaction and begin making our run of inserts.
Special Note: I know I'm a used car dealer and all... but I want to make clear that I am making approx $0 doing this. I'll be paying for my inserts just like all of you.. I am just thankful they are willing to make this additional run of them. Reason for saying that... accumulating this list and spearheading all this will take some time on my end. If you intend to be a PITA in any way, please feel free to not reach out... my day job compensates me for dealing with that sort of nonsense but when it comes to these inserts I am accepting no payment...therefore I am also not accepting any complaints 8)
Kind regards,
Vern
PS- shoutout to JD Kaltenbach for the nice example pictures attached!
These are so sorely needed. I have only seen a couple of the earlier style NOS panels in close to 45 years of parts scrounging. I was surprised to see the pattern to indicate that they were used for a little less then half of production. I had always thought much less. Thanks to Vern for spearheading getting these done and helping with the effort to get these to the cars that need them.
Thanks for making the effort and this possible Vern. This is how stuff gets done :)
As far as application period that will be interesting also
Thanks to Vern, Bob and Burtons for getting more of these to be made!!!
Suggest those needing these get them NOW - good stuff (very correct reproductions) are hard to find, sell quick and the prices rarely go down.
Quote from: JD on January 30, 2026, 02:16:11 PMSuggest those needing these get them NOW - good stuff (very correct reproductions) are hard to find, sell quick and the prices rarely go down.
Well said! I wont start doing 390 for a while, just going to drive it for a little bit... but I am buying as many parts as I can right now. Makes no sense to wait.
Over time you dont have to be Nostradamus to know the following...
Taxes will always go up
The dollar will be worth less
Reproduction Parts will be less prevalent and lower quality (hopefully with exceptions)
and in the words of Matthew McConaughey... "I get older.... but these Shelby Mustangs just stay the same" ;D
Vern
If I had a 67, I would grab them
Thanks go to Vern, Bob and Burton's Antique Auto for working to get a much needed part back in production.
20 sets requested so far! Fun to watch the orders roll in! 8)
I think Burton will be very pleased by the time we have a final number for them
Quote from: J_Speegle on January 30, 2026, 02:04:44 PMThanks for making the effort and this possible Vern. This is how stuff gets done :)
As far as application period that will be interesting also
+1 Yes, way to go Vern ... and Bob Gaines too ... and, of course Burton's! Great looking re-pops.
Fred
How will we know how to get a set?
Quote from: 67 GT350 on January 30, 2026, 09:23:01 PMHow will we know how to get a set?
Shoot me an email at vestes85@gmail.com and I'll be glad to add you to the order list.
Thanks!
Vern
I don't care what Nick says about you Vern...you're all right ;)
31 sets spoken for thus far...
This whole thing should serve as a reminder that we shouldn't merely assume that an MFG isn't willing to make something that they are not longer producing. Sometimes it's just a matter of asking nicely.