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 Jon
Mello's 1967 Trans Am Camaro |
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The January 2002 feature comes from a friend, Rick Kopec. Rick happens to the be President of the National Shelby Club (SAAC) and also owns a big piece of it's history, #5R098, an orginial 1965 GT350 R-Model. #5R098 happens to be one of the best looking restorations, of this type, that this fellow Shelby owner has ever seen. The beauty of it is, Rick races (that's RACES, not just drives) the hell out of this car. Please take some time and check out SAAC's website at: www.saac.com.  "5R098 was the 5th customer GT350 competition model produced. It was completed and delivered to Ned Owen, an SCCA racer in eastern PA in May of 1965. Owen was a friend of Cobra and GT40 racer Skip Scott, whose sponsor was Essex Wire, a subcontractor to Ford that made wire and wiring harnesses. As a "good customer" Scott got a 10% discount on cars he bought from Shelby American, so Owen gave Scott the money to purchase an R-Model for him. He saved $599. That may not sound live very much today, some 37 years later, but 10% is 10%. If the car is worth $250,000 today (generally regarded as an accurate figure) that would be a $25,000 discount." "The first race for the car was the Glen 500 - a 500 km (360-mile) enduro at Watkins Glen in August of 1965. Scott co-drove with Owen, and that was the only time Scott ever drove the car. However, as his name was on the original bill of sale and shipping invoice, it was assumed (incorrectly) that Scott was the car's first owner. Owen raced the car in SCCA regional and national events in the northeast through the rest of 1965, all of 1966 and most of 1967 until he sold the car to a racer in Canada. North of the border it was raced in 1968 and 1969 but was involved in a racing accident and the rear end was damaged pretty badly. An attempt was made at repairing it, but the owner lost interest and the car was put in a barn and virtually forgotten." "In 1966, I was helping a friend who raced a 289 Cobra competition car in SCCA racing and at Bridgehampton we actually raced against Owen and his GT350. In fact, on the final lap of the A and B Production race the Cobra was running ahead of the GT350, and could not get around it to make the pass. On the final turn before the checkered flag, a climbing curve, Owen bumped the rear of the Cobra, causing a football-sized dimple in the rear just beneath the trunk. Little did I know that 15 years later I would locate this very car and buy it." 
"In 1981 I was attending a Shelby meet in Port Jervis, NY when I heard about an R-Model that had
been discovered in Canada. A Canadian member was relating how someone had heard about a partially
restored GT350 race car in a barn. I asked if anyone had bought it and he said that they all
talked about it but none of the local Shelby club members seemed interested. I said I was and
pulled him into my hotel room. I forced him to call his brother and ask him to go look at the
car, get its serial number and call us back. He did and as soon as I heard it I knew this was a
real R-Model. I asked the brother to find out what the owner wanted for the car. It was
described as being more of less complete but in pieces. The price was $5000. Trying to remain
calm, I asked the brother to give the owner a deposit for me, $100, and I would wire the balance
immediately. Experience had taught me that the only way to get a race car like this was to move
quickly. If you hesitate someone will move in and buy it. I had seen it happen too m any times
before, and chances like this do not usually come around twice.""Another Canadian SAAC member volunteered to bring the car from Quebec to Connecticut for $500 on a flatbed truck. This included getting it through customs in Vermont. Fortunately the car was in very rough shape, and had been originally been exported to Canada so the pile of parts inside an old Mustang was valued at $500 and duty was paid on it - $22. The car arrived at 3 am. It was definitely 'pinch me - I must be dreaming.' " 
"About 5 years was spent accumulating parts for the restoration and saving up money and the car
was given to Chris Liebenberg, who was sharing a shop in New Jersey with another restorer. He
took 3 years to massage the wrinkles out of the car. Virtually every piece was gone over and
when he finished the car was totally restored, down to every nut, bolt and washer. The engine
and driveline was the product of Gus Zuidema, the former Shelby high performance service manager
at Harr Ford, a Shelby dealer in Worcester, MA. He built the engine to original R-Model
specifications, a 289 Hi-Po with about 360 horsepower. By the time I got the car it looked like
it just rolled out of Shelby's factory in 1965. Except that it had the wide black Essex Wire
center stripe, bordered by 1/2" wide orange stripes at the outer edges. These were the colors
the car raced in when Owen drove it in 1965-1966-1967. It also received "ESSEX WIRE" and "B/P"
lettering on the sides and although the car usually raced with 92 or 9, it was given the number
98 because that is its serial number - SFM5R098."
"I began vintage racing it in 1989 and have continued to run it every season since then. It has run at Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Summit Point, Pocono, Road America, Laguna Seca and Daytona. It has also been to 11 SAAC conventions in the past 12 years where it was driven in the open track events at Pocono, Mid-Ohio, Charlotte, Watkins Glen, Indianapolis Raceway park, Atlanta International raceway, Lime Rock, Road America and Michigan International Speedway. It has run a total of 53 events and has finished 52 of them. Only one DNF in 12 years." 
"Along the way 5R098 has received some minor updates for safety (some required by the vintage
race sanctioning bodies) and reliability. But the car is still very close to its original
specifications. The present engine was built by Curt Vogt of Cobra Automotive in Wallingford,
CT. It is a 289 Hi-Po block with 351W heads and 12.5:1 compression. It produces 425 horsepower
on the dyno and transmits power through a Ford top-loader close-ratio transmission to a stock
Shelby rear end (using hardened axles). It runs a stock R-Model radiator, oil cooler , brakes
and wheels. In fact, it has become the yardstick that vintage race Shelbys are measured against
as far as originality of preparation . It has been featured in more magazines than I can count,
has been on posters, t-shirts, television shows, videos and there is ever a 1/18 metal die
cast model made of it. It has been driven by Carroll Shelby in a vintage race (the only time
he ever raced an R-Model), and at SAAC conventions by Chuck Cantwell, Peter Brock, Lew Spencer
and Bernie Kretzschmar. It was also one of a handful of Mustangs invited to run some
quarter-mile times at Englishtown, NJ for an article in a Mustang magazine. It turned 13.05
sec. @ 105 MPH before the clutch expired.""I believe that a historical race car like this should be driven - not stored in a climate controlled garage and put on display at car shows. It would be like having a race horse like Man o'War and keeping him in a small stall. You have to let him out in a big field to run. 5R098 likes to run." - Rick Kopec |
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© Text and Images Copyright 1999-2006 Jay Schultz Web Design By: MJT Designs 2006 |
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