Legendary

It takes more than hype to build a legend. Performance cars, like people, achieve legendary status for a reason. And if you want to understand why, you need to drill down to the source material, the origin story, the first of the breed. For Shelby Mustang fans, that means going straight back to the 1965 GT350.

- Steve Statham

That first-year GT350 was the purest version of a Shelby Mustang, sent out into the world before any compromises took hold. The 1965 GT350 was a street car, sure, but one that came with a race-tuned suspension, a ratcheting, noisy Detroit Locker rear end, and headers feeding into rumbly side-exit exhaust. Back seat? Air conditioning? Automatic transmission? Choice of colors? No, no, no and no.

Most of these performance features were eliminated or made optional starting in 1966, leaving the ’65 models as a particular favorite with collectors. The 1965 GT350 (SFM5S219) offered for sale as Lot #1365 at No Reserve in Scottsdale includes all of that original mojo and more. An earlier owner acquired a complete Paxton supercharger conversion kit from Shelby American to be fitted to the original engine. The Paxton blower became a Shelby Mustang option in 1966, but was also available through Shelby American’s parts catalog for retrofitting.