BORN TO RACE: 1966 Shelby Group II Mustang Built For Legendary Driver Ken Miles

Composed by unbiased automotive journalist Steve Statham

A single of the saddest areas when a existence of accomplishment is lower shorter is considering what may have been. That query has surrounded the lifestyle of racing driver Ken Miles for many years. There is no remedy to this kind of musings, of course. What is remaining for the people today who understood and loved him, and the racing fans who adopted his career, is a quiet appreciation for what he did attain — and that was plenty.

Miles was the winner of plenty of athletics motor vehicle races in the 1950s and gained the 1961 United States Vehicle Club (USAC) Street Racing Championship. He was a Shelby-American team driver and chief take a look at driver in the 1960s. He gained the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Several hours of Sebring and the 1966 24 Hrs of Le Mans in actuality, if not formally. These accomplishments put him at the prime of his sport, and Miles has been given a effectively-deserved reintroduction to a young era of racing supporters many thanks to the 2019 film “Ford v Ferrari.”

This 1966 Shelby Group II Mustang is a different chapter in the “what could have been” story of Ken Miles, and it will be supplied with No Reserve at the Barrett-Jackson 2023 Scottsdale Auction. In accordance to the Shelby American Auto Club (SAAC), Shelby American Planet Registry and Carroll Shelby himself, which is documented in the Distinctive Collector’s Edition of Mustang Regular January 1995 magazine, this Mustang was crafted for Ken Miles to race. Tragically, Miles died in a crash although testing the Ford J-vehicle, the up coming evolution in the GT40 system, at Riverside International Raceway on August 17, 1966. He would never have the opportunity to travel the Mustang that was in the Shelby pipeline specifically for him to race.

It is intriguing to take into account what Miles could have attained guiding the wheel of this auto. The Team II Mustangs were constructed largely to race in the recently made Sporting activities Vehicle Club of The usa (SCCA) Trans-American Sedan Championship. Ford was interested in the Manufacturers’ Championship the new sequence provided and approached Shelby American about constructing Mustangs to race in the Trans Am’s About 2-Liter course. Shelby built 16 notchback 1966 Group II Mustangs, and this auto is the well-recognized 12th car from that batch.

The Group II cars have been built in essence utilizing the GT350 R-Model blueprint, despite the fact that there are variances concerning the two. When modified to racing specs by Shelby, the autos carried Ford serial quantities. The Mustangs have been crafted to conform to FIA Team II principles, so as opposed to the Shelby GT350 R-Versions, they had been required to manage the metal hood without a scoop, all 4 seats in spot and manufacturing facility glass windows, amongst other aspects.

While we can ponder what Miles may have carried out with the car or truck, we never have to picture the racing history of the Mustang alone. It was raced as supposed and has a extensive checklist of achievements to its credit. Its initially owner was driver John McComb, who competed extensively in SCCA occasions. He drove the car to the SCCA A/Sedan Midwest Division Championship in 1966. McComb’s victory at the Eco-friendly Valley, Texas, Trans-Am race (with co-driver Brad Brooker) assisted Ford secure the Manufacturers’ Championship in its course in the initially year of the Trans-Am sequence. McComb sold the motor vehicle in 1967, but it continued to be raced into the early 1970s.

In 2014, this Team II Mustang was sent to Legendary Motorcar in Halton Hills, Ontario, for a thorough concours restoration. It was disassembled and stripped to bare steel, restored to accurate Shelby technical specs and refinished in its authentic factory Wimbledon White paint with blue Le Mans stripes. It has the variety 41 painted on the hood, trunk lid and doorways, a number that McComb made use of to show the SCCA’s Area 4, and his First Area complete therein.

The auto is driven by an era-suitable Shelby American racing 289 Hi-Po V8 engine. It has been outfitted with the accurate Hello-Po heads, Tri-Y headers, aluminum hello-rise ingestion manifold #S2MS-9424-A, Holley 715 cfm carburetor #S2MS-3510-A, metal valve covers with specifically fabricated breathers and 7.5-quart Cobra finned aluminum oil pan. The motor is teamed with an period-proper BorgWarner T10 close-ratio 4-pace manual transmission with a develop day of July 27, 1965. The electrical power is transferred to a Ford 9-inch Detroit Locker rear conclude with 3.89 gears.

The interior is outfitted with a Shelby-right 4-place roll bar, 3-inch competition lap belts, 16-inch 3-spoke steering wheel and six Carroll Shelby gauges. The suspension and brakes are legitimate interval Shelby hardware, with a 19.1 fast steering box, 1-inch sway bar, override traction bars, KONI shocks, 11.3-inch front disc brakes and 10&#2152.5-inch huge rear drum brakes. The vehicle sits on the correct 15&#2157-inch American Racing magnesium wheels that clearly show some patina, with wheels wrapped with suitable-style Firestone Indy 9.20&#21515-inch tires.

This Group II Shelby Mustang is a rolling history lesson and a considerable element of both equally Shelby and Ford Motor Company’s racing legacies. As such, it has been signed by Carroll Shelby, John McComb, Shelby GT350 Job Engineer Chuck Cantwell and Shelby mechanic Terry Doty. This Shelby was also showcased on the cover and inside Sports activities Auto Graphic December 1966 journal which was signed by John McComb. This journal along with considerable documentation is integrated with the sale.

Appear January in Scottsdale, there will be two forms of Shelby lovers in the viewers — all those who bid, and all those who ponder what may possibly have been. Sign up to bid to see this storied car cross the block at the Barrett-Jackson 2023 Scottsdale Auction, January 21-29.