The Shelby American (Fall 2021)

f you ever wondered how some- one becomes an expert in a cer- tain aspect of these cars, Pete Disher is a good example. Around 1988 he realized that a small number of 1968 Shelbys were ordered in colors other than standard ones. He was in- trigued by this and started to look into it. On his own. All it took was some in- quisitiveness and some determination. It isn’t likely that a dozen people will become interested in one vague facet or subject relating to these cars but if they do, sooner or later, one will rise above all the rest as a result of sheer doggedness. Pete Disher became interested in Shelbys a little over a dozen years after organized enthusiasm took hold, proving that you need not have been around on Day One to be- come an expert in one area. Or sev- eral. He bought his first Shelby, a 1968 GT500KR, in 1987. His first Mus- tang had been a ‘73 Grande, about three years before that. It served to whet his appetite for something with a little more style and perform- ance. Something like a Shelby. He had already been reading about them and doing some research and that was the direction he knew he wanted to go. He originally started out looking for a big block 1967 model. At that point, he re- calls, he wasn’t real knowledgeable about the cars. He just knew he wanted one. DISHER: I was pretty limited to cars which were in the area. I probably looked at three or four cars locally, and I ended up buying a 1968 GT500KR. SAAC: That’s usually the way it starts. When you initially get inter- ested in Shelbys and you decide to buy one you limit yourself to the cars avail- able in your area. You don’t realize you can go across the whole country to find a Shelby. The thought of buying a car long-distance sometimes scares first- timers. DISHER: I probably would have been better off doing that. [ Laughs. ] SAAC: Was it your daily driver? DISHER: No, it was a second car. It was basically a hobby car. I’d been in- volved with Mustangs before that, but in 1987 the prices started to become inflated. From the time I started looking at the cars, from the end of the summer until I actually bought a car the prices had nearly doubled. I think there was a stock market crash around that time and it drove the prices of cars like Shelbys to go bonkers. I ended up buying a half- finished project car and relied on the person who sold me the car to be honest. After he went to prison I figured out that probably hadn’t been such a good idea. { Laughs. ] SAAC: First-time buyers tend to be naive. DISHER: Exactly. That car led me to gather a lot of information that was necessary to put the it back to- gether. I went to some of the more well-known names in the Shelby world – names you would probably recognize – and tried to get informa- tion and they weren’t real forthcom- The SHELBY AMERICAN Fall 2021 33 –Rick Kopec How did he become the go - to guy on 1968 special colors engineering cars and Conelec fuel injection ? All it took was desire , dedication and diligence . I