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 Paul
Fahey's 1966 Shelby Trans Am Notchback |
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 Sorry to all my readers and to Four on the Floor for falling behind two months. April's Special Feature comes from my friends down under at Four on the Floor, Paul Fahey's ‘66 Shelby Trans-Am Notchback. They have quite a collection, including the most famous race car Down Under, Allan Moffat 1969 T/A Boss 302, look for an upcoming feature on this one soon. Please take some time and check out their website at www.fouronthefloor.com.au. It is well worth the visit! 
In 1966 Shelby American built a series of 16 Notchback Mustangs to race in the SCCA Trans Am
Championship. These special cars were mechanically identical to the Shelby GT350 R model
fastbacks. The R model was deemed ineligible to race in the new series as it did not have a
back seat.
So the Notch backs were put into service. They were very successful, winning the Trans Am Championship for Ford that year. But one of these cars greatest successes was to come a long way from its home. 
This Shelby Notchback is perhaps the most famous touring car to have ever graced the shores
of New Zealand. Kiwi car and bike racer, Paul Fahey, bought it new from Shelby American in
1966. Fahey did some testing of the new Shelby in the U.S. and had it fitted with the better
performing Weber carburettors (which were allowed in N.Z. Group 5 rules) before shipping it
to New Zealand. Its first race was the Wills Three- Hour challenge, which it convincingly
won. For the next three years Fahey managed to win the New Zealand Touring Car Series
(New Zealand’s version of the Trans Am Championship) against ever stiffening opposition.
In the 1969 series, now powered by a 302ci. Gurney Westlake, he won seven of the nine
rounds, finishing 2nd in the other two races to Ian Dawson in his ‘67 Shelby Notchback
and the Z-28 Camaro of Spencer Black. Over those three years with Fahey, it ran in fifty
six races, placing 1st thirty three times, 2nd six times, 3rd four times and 4th three times.
It ran six times unplaced and failed to finish in only four of its races.
Fahey sold the car in October ‘69 to fellow Mustang racer John Riley who campaigned the car in numerous races till selling the now modified car to John Armstrong in 1972. He again raced it before passing it onto Rod McElrea the following year. It was then tracked down and bought by a Ford loving farmer John Chapman in 1986. John had the now much modified Shelby brought back to how it looked in the late 60’s. In 1998 Australian historic racecar enthusiast David Bowden acquired the car and began a two-year restoration, bringing the car back to how it was when it won the Touring Car Championship in 1969. As I write the car has yet to turn a wheel on the road and plans are under foot to reunite it with its original owner/racer Paul Fahey. - Four on the Floor
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© Text and Images Copyright 1999-2006 Jay Schultz Web Design By: MJT Designs 2006 |
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