This ’66 Shelby GT350 Has Been Lovingly Maintained by Mark Lopez’s family for 46 Years

It was a cloudy East Bay area kind of day when I shook Mark Lopez’s hand and went to work burning these inspiring digital images of his ’66 Shelby GT350. The car had a fascinating story, and Mark presented it and the car so well. The original classic Shelby Mustangs of the ’60s have the advantage of rarity and real racing history on their side. They spanked Corvettes in Sports Car Club of America B-production competition nearly 50 years ago, and they enjoy a great legacy in the automotive world. Mix in the effervescent personality and character of the late Carroll Shelby and you have a formula for attention and plenty of it.

This particular GT350 was Publisher Russ Goebel’s daily driver for nearly two years.

In August 1967, Mark and Rick Lopez’s parents purchased 6S289 from Competition Press and used it as a daily driver for 10 years. It was driven on vacations down to Southern California, which Mark and Rick remember vividly. “Our dad drove the car at Sears Point Raceway the day of the first official race in December of nineteen sixty-eight,” Mark reflects, “then, in November of nineteen seventy-seven, it was placed in the family garage where it was stored and maintained for nearly twenty- eight years.”

Mark adds, “Over the years, my mom offered the car to me to get it restored, but I had other things going on at the time.” In July 2005, when Mark was at SAAC 30 with his son in Southern California, he brought the GT350’s glove box door for Carroll Shelby to sign. Shelby gladly signed the door. A month later, Mark moved the Shelby from his parents’ house to the shop, where restoration was begun in earnest.

Golden West in the East Bay community of Hayward, was an extraordinary restoration shop run by the late Jeff Dunn. Mark visited Jeff’s shop a few times a week during the 18-month restoration to chat with Jeff and watch the progress. “It was a great experience watching Jeff and his associate Chris Canadian put life back into 6S289 after twenty-eight years of storage,” Mark relates, “Jeff was a true craftsman who restored our Shelby to a thing of beauty, yet knew how not to over-restore the car.” Mark and his family were very pleased with the final result of the restoration and maintain the car like never before. Our world lost Jeff Dunn in January 2011 while he was doing what he most enjoyed, working on cars. Mark is glad that 6S289 was completed prior to Jeff’s passing, but he is sorely missed. Jeff was great at what he did and a great friend, as well.

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SPECS

Frame: Factory

Suspension: Brakes factory disc front and rear

Wheels: Shelby Cragar five-spoke 15 x 6 mag wheels (optional) front and rear

Tires: BF Goodrich E70-15 radials front and rear

Engine/Driveline: 289-ci High Performance Cobra V-8, 306 hp at 6,000 rpm, 329 ft-lbs at 4,200 rpm; 715-cfm Holley LeMans bowl carburetor four-speed only (6S289 has its original carburetor); 480-cfm Autolite 4100 carburetor (automatics only); Cobra dual-plane high-rise manifold (6S289 has its original manifold); Shelby Tri-Y long-tube headers; full-length dual exhaust system; aluminum Borg-Warner T-10 four-speed or Ford Top Loader four-speed (6S289 has a Top Loader from Shelby American); Ford 9-inch rear axle (optional Detroit Locker)

Body: Fiberglass scoop hood (later models were steel), brake cooler side scoops, Ford rotunda bullet outside mirrors, Plexiglas sail pillar windows (6S289 has its original Plexiglas windows)

Paint: Wimbledon White, LeMans stripes, Guardsman Blue on Wimbledon White only

Interior: Black; Mustang wood grain GT steering wheel with GT350 center cap; 0-9,000-rpm Cobra tachometer (6S289 has what many have noted as the rare version of the tach, with the Cobra sticker on the top of the face); competition safety belts (6S289 has original Ray Brown safety belts); fold-down rear seat added in the course of production (early cars had the fiberglass insert instead of rear seat)

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