Origin of the KR moniker?

[Bob Gaines]

It should be noted that Carroll Shelby had a history of bending the facts to match his version of the story.

Thats how the original Cobras got built.

I just said I heard him tell the story first hand not that CS didn't embellished the truth. At the same setting he explained that he legally he was able to finish the run on the SC Cobras paperwork wise and that when he announced that he was the reporters didn't understand the concept and though he meant the he had unused frames someplace. He chuckled and said he liked the reporters story better and said that he would have deniability so he didn't correct them. You have to give him credit for being a good promoter.  The real truth on the KR story is most likely a combination of different stories.

[Coralsnake]

Didnt he tell Ford he had AC chassis' and tell AC he had aquired Fords support, when neither was true?

[FL SAAC]

Didnt he tell Ford he had AC chassis' and tell AC he had aquired Fords support, when neither was true?

Not admissible, hearsay...lol

[dggilbert]

Sorry sometimes my tablet has a demon with it's autofill, we have a love hate relationship and yes the sceen is all cracked. So did Tasca borrow KR or did Tasca come up with it and not trademark it, not like they were looking to manufacture it, the KR8 was a one off build why would he trademark it. But Tasca did call it the KR8 in 67 and Shelby didn't until after the CJ release in 68. Is that when Shelby looked into trademark possibilities? I would if I was looking to manufacture a model with a specific  name, wouldn't that be standard procedure?

[gt350hr]

Google is our friend.

https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hmn/2016/03/1968-Shelby-G-T--500-KR/3749522.html

    Brian,
       I read the article and was left wondering how many were produced with the optional "4.25" gear ratio?   More "I saw it on the internet" bad information.

[Coralsnake]

The article is covered with inaccuracies...

Here is another.

Wait... 335 hp? A typo? Nope, more like a bald-faced lie in an attempt to make the ultimate Mustang cheaper to insure. No one was fooled, however, and conservative estimates put the engine at a hair over 400 hp with a whopping 440-lb.ft. of torque.

An often repeated inaccuracy. Build a totally stock 428cj and run it on a dyno.....

There were NO optional rear axles...KRs received 3.50 axles or 3.00 if they had AC.

There is more...like the functional rear scoops? Cougar tail lights? Has this guy ever seen a 1968 Shelby?

Its very frustrating that we have more information available to us now and these inaccuracies are perpetuated by lazy writers.

So, far no one has taken the bait of the original poster....I'm still waiting....

[dggilbert]

It started early with the KR8. The pics in the Nov 67 article aren't even a 428PI that went to Dearborn its Lloyd Ruby's GT40 427 Tunnel Port motor. The idea of the article was to highlight the motor not a 67 coupe with a 427TP dry deck race engine. On the flip side there aren't many pics of that motor but that want the idea. I read some versions of how things went down in his years at Tasca and he laughs and tells me to get off the site, its too bad because like you said there are ways to get the story right.

[Wedgeman]

OMG..suppose they had stuck with Ruby's 427......could we have had the 1968 Shelby GT500TP........... ...?

[Coralsnake]

Who is telling you to leave their site?

[gt350hr]

It's just that Tasca used KR in 67 with Bob Sr's 67 Mustang my father put the 428PI in with 427 med riser in and they called it the King of the Road in 68 or KR8 which Ford turned into the Cobra Jet. Not long after the KR8 not coincidentally Carrol put the 428PI in the gt500kr and after the CJ came out Shelby followed suit with theGT500KR armed with the 428CJ. Don't know which came first but it seems like Shelby was following Tasca's lead in several instances I've presented. He was no stranger to the 777 East Prov dealership and my father considered him a friend. Was your conversation with Carrol in 67 and was the KR moniker on loan to Tasca because they were friends or the other way around? Not doubting what Carrol told you but I've never read anything with the Bopper acknowledged Carrol for the KR moniker and it wouldn't be like Bob Sr not to acknowledge that and take credit for it in the many articles that have been writtenabout the KR8.

   Note that very early press releases for the '68 Shelbys  listed a 427/425 hp engine as a "new option" and was later revised to be a 427/400 hp. Both were "before" the cars were available and we all know NEITHER happened. These press releases were out in late August/early Sept IIRC. The KR moniker could have come from a toilet break or conversation with Bob Sr , who really knows? Both are probably looking down and laughing at us over such trivia. CS never understood the trivia interest but was sharp enough to capitalize on it and fuel the trivia fires to his advantage. He told the National Hot Rod Association GT500's had aluminum driveshafts and radiators  "on paper" and singed his name as fact. "What are they going to do to me?" was his response to me when I asked.
     Randy

[dggilbert]

There was also a release that the 427 was an option in the 68 Mustang but it was determined that it was too expensive and the KR8 testing opened up a much cheaper option. As it was the 427s that went into other Fords, granted limited, my father says all you had to do was miss a shift and it was getting dropped off by a tow truck. The CCOturned out to be a much more durable engine.

[gt350cs]

I always thought that Carroll got the name from Roger Miller. Seems reasonable to me....

[gt350hr]

There was also a release that the 427 was an option in the 68 Mustang but it was determined that it was too expensive and the KR8 testing opened up a much cheaper option. As it was the 427s that went into other Fords, granted limited, my father says all you had to do was miss a shift and it was getting dropped off by a tow truck. The CCOturned out to be a much more durable engine.

   I know , I lived it too. Senior citizens now were teenagers then. Drivers license and cash got you fast cars. I was already running 11's in '68.

[dggilbert]

Ok, I figured it out, Shelby inspired bye Roger Miller, said Bob call that car you're building KR , to honor my man Roger, but don't get attached to it because that car you're building that will become the Cobra Jet is the engine I'm waiting for so I can call my next car the GT500KR that is after I put the engine you put in the the car I let you borrow KR for in my GT500 waiting all the while for that CJ engine to come out so I could take back that KR I loaned you so I can call my new car the GT500KR. WOW, I'm done, enough said. That's a lot of hoops to jump thrust!

[dggilbert]

For those with an open mind. Home page CJ  Registry,  engine information, 1st article bye Bill Barr the lead on the CJ project. Seems to imply Carrol followed Tasca's lead with the 428PI then the 428CJ. And what a coincidence Bob Jr totaled the KR8 possibly leading to the Bopper handing it off to Shelby for the GT500KR.