Hey guys!
I bought 5S345 some time ago. The car is mostly unrestored and has a pretty interesting early history. In short, the car was delivered as a lemon to the first owner. Lots of mechanical issues far and above what were the typical issues often experienced in early 65 ownership. One of the many significant issues was a complaint that the the rear end of the car was very noisy. The first owner started complaining of the issues right when the car was delivered, he complained to the selling dealer (McCoy Ford in Anaheim) and received no help. He then complained to Shelby American and received no response.
As a last ditch effort, he wrote Henry Ford II and HF2 wrote him back in a letter which I still have. HF2 put the Los Angeles DSO on the case to investigate the selling dealership (they had also not performed any of the agreed upon terms of the car's sale when they sold him the car which included not striping the car when it was supposed to be included in the purchase) and he also cc'd Shelby American's Dante Cardone on the car's issues. This, obviously, led to Shelby American being more open to providing assistance ;D
In the weeks that followed, McCoy Ford lost their Shelby American franchise.. the 3 65 GT350s they received in their first shipment would be the only SAI cars they ever sold.. and the car was sent to Mel Burns Ford where they striped the car but refused to cover any of the extensive mechanical issues with the car because they claimed that a car with the sort of issues it had could not have possibly been delivered in that condition.
As a result, the car was taken back to Shelby American under the care of Chuck Cantwell and Harry Neumann. Harry was Shelby American's head of Service and Warranty. They brought the back to the factory, sorted out the various issues, and redelivered the car to the first owner. After that, the original owner followed up in a glowing letter to HF2 about the great service he received at SAI.
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When I bought the car, it had this carpeted package tray in it. Under that package tray it was packed with yellow foam similar to that which is seen under the package trays of carryover cars... except every spare square inch of space was packed to the gills with the foam.
When I first saw the tray carpeted, I knew I had seen something like this before but couldn't put my finger on where I saw it. Of course, as should be expected, when I have shown this tray to a lot of people, the gut reaction is that the carpeting was obviously put on by a prior owner. Fair assumption- it's obviously out of the ordinary.
But was it put in at the factory?
Have any of you ever seen a carpeted package tray like this in a 65 GT350 prior to restoration?
In my humble opinion, we as a hobby get jaded into thinking we have learned all there is to learn about these cars. There are so many instances that come to mind where owners are trying to justify something on their car as "factory" when it clearly is not. At the same time, I think it is also important to maintain an open mind towards the fact that there is probably still plenty left to be learned about the cars we all love.
What do you guys think? Have any of you seen cars with similarly carpeted package trays?
Kind regards,
Vern
The HF2 Letter, for all the paperwork nerds
Good idea as carpet would help keeping beer cooler from sliding around ya thank
Quote from: Special Ed on February 17, 2026, 06:20:37 PMGood idea as carpet would help keeping beer cooler from sliding around ya thank
I was thinking the carpet would be better and keep your skin from sticking to the slick package tray when you were laying in the back with your girl friend on a hot summer night.;)
:o
Would have been nice if they had designed a hinge into it so all your beer and other goodies could be stored underneath it, Eddie-BOY!
Yes and your 8-tracks and weed!!
Bob, I'm still contemplating your response to this subject that you deleted?
Roy
Someone put a lot of work into that carpet. Maybe it was added to muffle the noise from the rear? Maybe they added the rear speakers for the same purpose.
Have you asked Chuck if he remembers the car?
Quote from: KR Convertible on February 17, 2026, 08:57:21 PMSomeone put a lot of work into that carpet. Maybe it was added to muffle the noise from the rear? Maybe they added the rear speakers for the same purpose.
Have you asked Chuck if he remembers the car?
Rear speakers were for a blaupunkt Am-Fm.. the 3rd owner was an associate composure for the Las Vegas symphony in the 1970s and 80s from what I understand.. speakers and radio were added post-1970.
I have asked Chuck about the first owner and if he had any memory of a car coming back to the factory like this. He said he did not remember it. I imagine it was something he likely handed off to Harry Neumann pretty quickly when he became apprised of the issues. At the end of the day, sorting out a street car for a random customer was probably not of great importance to a guy like Chuck. Right around that time he would have been full bore into executing the 66 Trans Am effort.
Off-topic side note: the car has original R-Model shoulder harnesses in it and had an R Model fire extinguisher mounted on the trans tunnel as well. Paxton supercharger installed in the first week of April 1966 at the speed shop "EngineMasters" in Garden Grove. Also had magnesium American GTs on it prior to going back to SAI. In specific, the harnesses hardware holes in the floor are punched just like on a Group 2/R Model.
When I got 345, I started to ask around about carpeted package trays and was pretty quickly told by Craig Conley and Curt Vogt that there was a belief the carpeted package trays, though rare, did originate from the factory. The reason for certain cars having these carpeted trays was not known. I asked them if they were aware of specific cars which retained their carpeted trays and the first subject car which was mentioned by Curt was 5S179, currently owned by Jim Cruden.
This car is unrestored. As you will see from the pictures of this car (attached) the carpeted tray is very similar in some regards to what is in 345 but also different at the same time. Same piping and type of carpet, same seam line just short of the spare tire hold down hole, same curvature of the piping near the front screw in areas of the tray. But a fully carpeted "cove", additional piping at the seam line, and it clearly had a different shaped pad over the hold down hole prior to it seemingly coming off
My car, 5S131, is documented as being a factory carpeted package tray car. Somewhere it says one of six factory cars. I have the documentation in my files.
Quote from: Rickmustang on February 17, 2026, 10:11:31 PMMy car, 5S131, is documented as being a factory carpeted package tray car. Somewhere it says one of six factory cars. I have the documentation in my files.
Nice Rick! Hard to believe I didn't know this about your car after knowing you for so long... so cool!
Here is another picture of what is believed to be another factory carpeted package tray. This piece is obviously not currently on the car but it is retained with the car. The car was restored without the carpet on the tray because it was figured that justifying the carpet was going to be a constant uphill battle.
The serial number is 5S087 and the car was/is a remarkably complete and original car prior to restoration. Every significant part remained on the car prior to a recent restoration. As you can see, very similar to the carpet in 345 but with no "pad" around the spare hardware hole.
This car was bought by Craig Conley from its long term owner and restored by Craig as as well as Kit Sparks.
Kind regards,
Vern
Interesting subject, thanks for sharing... now we're going to have to deal with a whole slew of '65's showing up in SAAC concours with rear carpet! ;) ;D
Quote from: CharlesTurner on Today at 12:37:06 AMInteresting subject, thanks for sharing... now we're going to have to deal with a whole slew of '65's showing up in SAAC concours with rear carpet! ;) ;D
Imagine if some troublemaker showed up with a carpeted shelf, black painted cragars, and white Tri-ys.......
Prior to getting 345, I had heard about carpeted package trays here and there but it was certainly never a focus, just something I knew might have been an oddity of some kind.
Two days ago, John Brown called to say that he was reading back through some Shelby American meeting minutes and found mention of the carpeted package trays.
March 30, 1965- Phil Remington starts to investigate the possibility of adding carpet to the package trays in order to quiet the cars down
April 7- Confirmed that Remington had carpet placed on the shelf of a "PR car"
Cost was around $4 per... no minimum order quantity, 6-8 week lead time (perhaps this lead time was a big part of why this didn't become a standard factory feature)
You'll note at the same time Remington was working on relocated the horn switch which was difficult to reach. He never ended up finding a solution for that. Both problems were solved in 66 when both items were effectively taken out of production cars... at least in the case of package trays after the carryovers were made.
One aspect of the factory putting carpeting on package trays which is undisputed is on prototype cars.
In March-April of 1965 the factory was toying with the idea of adding carpeted package trays to quiet the interiors down. As they made prototype cars, they tested the idea. Instead of going with carpeted package trays, they instead phased out the existence of package trays outside of the odd car here and there after the carryovers.
Attached is a picture of the inside of the race shop,... Ken Miles sits in GT/108 with comedian Mort Sahl during his visit to the factory. Next to the GT40 sits a what I believe is 6S001 undergoing its conversion into a Shelby. Prototype package tray with carpeting on it sits on the roof ;D
Also attached is a picture of the package tray in 5S319. This car was Charles McHose's company car and was used as a 66 prototype. Also had design features which would become more associated with 67 Shelbys such as the Berry Plasti-Glass spoiler-ed trunklid.... carpeted package tray in the back.
Here is the image of Miles and Sahl in GT/108 cropped-in and sacrificing the lighter and foreground areas to better see the background items on S6001. The stock rear seat components look to be on the roof and under the Shelby "shelf". There is another car behind it as well.
Thanks for brightening that photo up, JD!
The car behind 6S001 is a group 2 coupe as you can see its a coupe trunk lid opened and the fuel tank vent tub is visible poking out of the trunk threshold.
Kind regards,
Vern
i see 289 badges and mustang badges on the mustang. Did shelby american pull these off and fill the holes on all shelbys?
Quote from: hertzz350 on Today at 12:35:40 PMi see 289 badges and mustang badges on the mustang. Did shelby american pull these off and fill the holes on all shelbys?
Shelby pulled them off and filled the holes of this specific car because it was not a assemblyline spec Shelby unit but a regular Mustang converted at SA because of logistic challenges at the time.
If that is indeed 6S001 then some earlier comments and write-ups will have to be corrected since they mention the base car being a GT which the car in the picture is clearly not - Different badging and the car had rocker panel molding as well as standard rear valance.
Quote from: Vernon Estes on February 17, 2026, 07:47:06 PMWould have been nice if they had designed a hinge into it so all your beer and other goodies could be stored underneath it, Eddie-BOY!
It was designed to save weight in a race car - thoughts like that are what led to the later ones being bloated luxo cruisers not the pure performance cars CS envisioned.
Quote from: 98SVT - was 06GT on Today at 01:39:30 PMQuote from: Vernon Estes on February 17, 2026, 07:47:06 PMWould have been nice if they had designed a hinge into it so all your beer and other goodies could be stored underneath it, Eddie-BOY!
It was designed to save weight in a race car - thoughts like that are what led to the later ones being bloated luxo cruisers not the pure performance cars CS envisioned.
I was making a joke in response to previous humor shared on the thread... just to be totally clear ;)
Quote from: Vernon Estes on Today at 01:54:25 PMQuote from: 98SVT - was 06GT on Today at 01:39:30 PMQuote from: Vernon Estes on February 17, 2026, 07:47:06 PMWould have been nice if they had designed a hinge into it so all your beer and other goodies could be stored underneath it, Eddie-BOY!
It was designed to save weight in a race car - thoughts like that are what led to the later ones being bloated luxo cruisers not the pure performance cars CS envisioned.
I was making a joke in response to previous humor shared on the thread... just to be totally clear ;)
True - but I couldn't resist the chance to get in a shot at the Ford "problem" (business model?) of taking good cars and turning them into big heavy luxo barges. Tbird and Mustang are 2 prime examples.
Thank you Bob.
Vern and all,
Always amazed on what shows up here. The carpet was/is faded enough to look like belongs to the car.
Whoever made it was wise to sew the edge trim on, and use a protector around the spare tire hold down.Very professional work, from an accurate pattern. Might be an idea to pick Howards brain to find out what he has "collected" over the years on this. Thanks for sharing it!
R.R.
I have to question - was the carpet (and foam?) install on 345 a day 2 mod done at the factory. The owner complained of noise and got the Deuce involved. I'm sure all the stops and budget were ignored to make the guy happy.