1967 Ford / Carroll Shelby GT500SE Super Snake
OWNER: Iain Kippen, PUBLISHED: August 2017
SHELBY’S VENOMOUS MUSTANG
It’s probably not stretching the truth much to say that anyone who loves cars has a soft spot for the Ford Mustang. Millions of Mustangs, in all their various guises, have been bought since it first appeared in the mid-1960s and along with names such as Beetle, Mini, E-type and perhaps a handful of others, the pony car is as iconic as a car can be.
And yet, as special as a classic Mustang – say a ’65 Shelby GT or a ’71 Mach 1 – may be, there are other models out there that are just so blisteringly cool they make your jaw drop and your eyes tear up.
Like this one.
You may recognise it.
It’s an ‘Eleanor’ – a name bestowed upon it not by the pin-striped executives or design nerds at Ford, but by a film company which, in 2000, made a fairly decent action movie called Gone In 60 Seconds. The film, for those of you who don’t know, revolved around a car thief tasked to steal a bunch of high-end vehicles, one of which was a ’67 Shelby Mustang GT500 Super Snake that he named ‘Eleanor’. It was worthy of the character’s devotion – a quite stunning, beefed-up fastback with an engine that could drown out a thunderstorm but, in the real world, no such car had ever been manufactured. It was a figment of the filmmaker’s imagination.
However, as is the way of things sometimes, what was once myth became reality. The movie was a success and ‘Eleanor’ was clearly the star. Cue petrolheads everywhere clamouring to get their hands on one.
A year later, Carroll Shelby delivered. Already a legend amongst fans of Ford and the wider motoring community thanks to cars such as the Shelby Cobra and the high-performance Mustangs he developed throughout the ‘60s, Shelby agreed to allow the official and licensed production of 70 ‘Eleanors’ – GT500 Super Snakes that would look near-identical to the movie car.
The continuation production car would have to meet some pretty stringent stipulations. It would have to be an original 1967 big-block GT500 Mustang and would be upgraded and fitted only with Shelby-approved parts and components.
As it turned out, while 70 cars were licensed to be built, only 43 were ever completed and officially registered with Shelby, making an already desirable and rare car even more so. And, rather amazingly, two of these thunderous and beautiful machines have their home in south-east Queensland.
This one is owned by classic car aficionado, and owner of Bissell’s Paint and Panel in Noosaville, Iain Kippen who, you may remember, is also the owner of the Shelby Cobra we were lucky enough to report on a couple of editions back.
This GT500SE Super Snake is, perhaps, the crown jewel in Iain’s collection of cars – a genuine Hollywood superstar and supercharged behemoth that churns out 770bhp at the flywheel.
And yet it was not a car that he had any thoughts of buying.
“I found the car through licensed builder Queensland Musclecar in Noosa,” says Iain. “I was actually looking for a ’69 Boss to restore but while I was there I saw their Eleanor. I asked about it and I assumed I wouldn’t be able to get one but they told me they had one build left.
“As it turns out their Eleanor and mine are, I believe, the only right-hand drive models ever built.”
While the right-hand drive nature of his car makes it especially rare, it is what has gone into making the Super Snake that makes it extraordinary.
“It had to be an original ‘67 big-block GT500 Mustang,” says Iain. “It has an aluminium 427FE racing big block and from there it had has been up-specced with all-Shelby components including coilover suspension, disc brakes, a Tremec T5 gearbox, a Torson differential and a host of other features including a Vortech supercharger.”
For the build, the mechanical work was carried out by Queensland Musclecar while Iain completed the bodywork restoration at Bissell’s Paint & Panel. It was a tough and long job, and one to which he added a personal touch.
“A full restoration of the body was required,” he says. “I purchased the car in 2012 and finished it only a few months ago. It has been something of a side project and restorations do take a long time. Thousands of hours were put into it with as 900 hours just in getting the body prepped for paint.
“Talking of the paint, while traditionally the colour would be pepperpot grey with black stripes, that particular grey was, I think, quite muddy and not one I particularly liked. So I went with a gunmetal grey that didn’t look quite so dirty and added silver stripes. I preferred that and I do think it is an improvement.”
It certainly is a wonderful looking vehicle, and its rarity and value means Iain will be treating it with kid gloves, keeping his investment in as pristine condition as can be.
He has, of course, taken it for a spin since its completion, and it is, he claims, a brilliant drive.
“I drive it a couple of times a week and I will continue to drive it regularly for the next few months before I put it away,” he says. “With more than 700bhp it is extremely powerful, but with all the modern components – modern suspension, brakes, power steering and so on – it is amazingly easy to drive.”
Easy to drive, beautiful to look at, rare as hen’s teeth and powerful enough to put the wind up anyone driving the latest techno-wonder from Europe.
It’s enough to make your jaw drop and your eyes tear up.
VIDEO LINK
