The 271-HP “Joke” That Stole a Championship — Then Got a Secret Le Mans Engine
Rare Car Storys
82,541 views
Ford Mustang’s secretary’s car humiliated Chevrolet — Carroll Shelby’s GT350 and GT350R ended an eight-year Corvette reign, then Ford hid a secret race engine in the prototype for decades.Ford Mustang’s secretary’s car humiliated Chevrolet — Carroll Shelby’s GT350 and GT350R ended an eight-year Corvette reign, then Ford hid a secret race engine in the prototype for decades.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:
— Why Carroll Shelby called the Mustang a secretary’s car
— How SCCA forced Shelby to build 100 street cars before he could race
— Why the K-code Ford 289 was a race engine hiding in a street order code
— How Venice turned 271 hp into a ~306 hp street GT350 and a ~350 hp R-model
— Why Ken Miles flew a white Mustang at Green Valley on Valentine’s Day 1965
— How Jerry Titus ended Corvette’s eight-year B Production crown in one season
— Why only about 36 GT350R race cars were built
— How Bill Clawson’s prototype later carried a secret Ford experimental engine tied to the GT40 program
In August 1964 Ford handed Carroll Shelby an impossible brief. Build 100 street-legal Mustangs, then beat the Chevrolet Corvette in SCCA B Production. Corvette had won that class eight years running. The Mustang was the best-selling new car in America, and almost nobody took it seriously as a race car. Shelby’s own line, reported later, was secretary’s car.
The weapon was already in the order book. K in the engine box meant the K-code 289: forged crank and rods, solid lifters, higher compression, a four-barrel, 271 hp at 6,000 rpm. Not enough. In Venice, California, the team left the bottom end alone and rebuilt the breathing. Aluminum Cobra intake. Holley 715. Cyclone tri-Y headers. Side-exit glasspacks. A Galaxie radiator. Street GT350: about 306 hp and 330 lb-ft. Full R-model: about 350 hp, and that number moved car to car. Treat any single magic horsepower figure with caution.
They built the street car from the race car, not the other way around. Detroit Locker. Koni shocks. Export brace. Rear seat deleted so a four-seat Mustang could pass as a two-seat sports car on paper. About 36 R-models for 1965: two factory, 34 customer cars, race weight near 2,500 lb.
February 14, 1965. Green Valley Raceway, Smithfield, Texas. Ken Miles won the debut and was photographed airborne, all four wheels off the ground. By season’s end the GT350R had won five of six SCCA regional titles. At the national finale, 10 of 14 B Production cars were R-models. Jerry Titus took the 1965 national championship. Eight years of Corvette dominance, gone in one season.
The second secret is not a proven Big Three fix. In March 1966 Shelby sold the prototype to Ford Special Performance engineer Bill Clawson for $4,000. Papers that stayed with the car say Ford later supplied an experimental race engine tied to the GT40 program. Same chassis then took about 18 more B Production wins in Texas. Street price in 1965 was about $4,500, Corvette money, with a championship attached.
If Ford never calls Shelby, does the Mustang stay a secretary’s car?CHAPTERS
0:00 The Flying Mustang at Green Valley
1:09 Eight Years of Corvette
2:15 The Secretary’s Car
3:31 Shelby Gets the Impossible Brief
4:56 Ken Miles — Driver and Engineer
7:24 The K-Code 289
11:00 Venice — Knock-Down Mustangs
12:26 Intake, Holley, Tri-Y
14:27 306 on the Street, ~350 in the R
15:28 Built as a Race Car First
17:22 The Two-Seat Rule Trick
18:17 Chassis, Brakes, and the R Package
20:20 Only 36 R-Models
20:52 Valentine’s Day 1965
23:27 Five of Six Regional Titles
25:51 Jerry Titus Takes the Crown
29:39 The Secret Engine in the Prototype
31:42 $4,500 — Corvette Money
33:15 Where the R-Models Are Now
35:56 What If Ford Never Called Shelby?
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#FordMustang #ShelbyGT350 #GT350R #Corvette #KenMiles #CarrollShelby #musclecars #carhistory #classiccars #RareCarStorys #Mustang #Ford289
20 Comments
This is a very good documentary film.
I lived through all this on the road racing tracks on the West Coast of America in the 1960s.
In the early 1960s, Ford took a dozen first-generation Falcons with 260ci V8s and drove them 24 hours on an oval track at 100 mph.
A good friend was racing a '63 Falcon Sprint with a modified 289 in 1970-71 that would run 12.7's in the quarter at Atco Dragway (RIP!). The heads were 4-barrel heads ported & polished by Crane with 2.02 intakes, the cam was a Crane solid lifter, intake was Edelbrock tunnel ram with dual 600 cfm Holly's. It had a stock Ford Toploader with a 31 spline 9 inch rear and Detroit Locker behind it. The engine was shifter at 7,000 rpm's and had to be making over 400hp (450?) to run those times.
By 1970 I was back in a Corvette Sting Ray racing at Watkins Glen. That was the toughest race I ever ran in. I battled for the whole race with a Shelby GT350R. I only got by in the last couple of laps. That trophy 🏆 is probably my favorite of my collection.
The 271-HP “Joke” That Stole a Championship — Then Got a Secret Le Mans Engine
Rare Car Storys
82,541 views
Ford Mustang’s secretary’s car humiliated Chevrolet — Carroll Shelby’s GT350 and GT350R ended an eight-year Corvette reign, then Ford hid a secret race engine in the prototype for decades.Ford Mustang’s secretary’s car humiliated Chevrolet — Carroll Shelby’s GT350 and GT350R ended an eight-year Corvette reign, then Ford hid a secret race engine in the prototype for decades.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:
— Why Carroll Shelby called the Mustang a secretary’s car
— How SCCA forced Shelby to build 100 street cars before he could race
— Why the K-code Ford 289 was a race engine hiding in a street order code
— How Venice turned 271 hp into a ~306 hp street GT350 and a ~350 hp R-model
— Why Ken Miles flew a white Mustang at Green Valley on Valentine’s Day 1965
— How Jerry Titus ended Corvette’s eight-year B Production crown in one season
— Why only about 36 GT350R race cars were built
— How Bill Clawson’s prototype later carried a secret Ford experimental engine tied to the GT40 program
In August 1964 Ford handed Carroll Shelby an impossible brief. Build 100 street-legal Mustangs, then beat the Chevrolet Corvette in SCCA B Production. Corvette had won that class eight years running. The Mustang was the best-selling new car in America, and almost nobody took it seriously as a race car. Shelby’s own line, reported later, was secretary’s car.
The weapon was already in the order book. K in the engine box meant the K-code 289: forged crank and rods, solid lifters, higher compression, a four-barrel, 271 hp at 6,000 rpm. Not enough. In Venice, California, the team left the bottom end alone and rebuilt the breathing. Aluminum Cobra intake. Holley 715. Cyclone tri-Y headers. Side-exit glasspacks. A Galaxie radiator. Street GT350: about 306 hp and 330 lb-ft. Full R-model: about 350 hp, and that number moved car to car. Treat any single magic horsepower figure with caution.
They built the street car from the race car, not the other way around. Detroit Locker. Koni shocks. Export brace. Rear seat deleted so a four-seat Mustang could pass as a two-seat sports car on paper. About 36 R-models for 1965: two factory, 34 customer cars, race weight near 2,500 lb.
February 14, 1965. Green Valley Raceway, Smithfield, Texas. Ken Miles won the debut and was photographed airborne, all four wheels off the ground. By season’s end the GT350R had won five of six SCCA regional titles. At the national finale, 10 of 14 B Production cars were R-models. Jerry Titus took the 1965 national championship. Eight years of Corvette dominance, gone in one season.
The second secret is not a proven Big Three fix. In March 1966 Shelby sold the prototype to Ford Special Performance engineer Bill Clawson for $4,000. Papers that stayed with the car say Ford later supplied an experimental race engine tied to the GT40 program. Same chassis then took about 18 more B Production wins in Texas. Street price in 1965 was about $4,500, Corvette money, with a championship attached.
If Ford never calls Shelby, does the Mustang stay a secretary’s car?CHAPTERS
0:00 The Flying Mustang at Green Valley
1:09 Eight Years of Corvette
2:15 The Secretary’s Car
3:31 Shelby Gets the Impossible Brief
4:56 Ken Miles — Driver and Engineer
7:24 The K-Code 289
11:00 Venice — Knock-Down Mustangs
12:26 Intake, Holley, Tri-Y
14:27 306 on the Street, ~350 in the R
15:28 Built as a Race Car First
17:22 The Two-Seat Rule Trick
18:17 Chassis, Brakes, and the R Package
20:20 Only 36 R-Models
20:52 Valentine’s Day 1965
23:27 Five of Six Regional Titles
25:51 Jerry Titus Takes the Crown
29:39 The Secret Engine in the Prototype
31:42 $4,500 — Corvette Money
33:15 Where the R-Models Are Now
35:56 What If Ford Never Called Shelby?
If you want verified outlaw car history — receipts in, myths out — subscribe and ring the bell. This is Paul from Rare Car Storys.
Join this channel to get access to perks:
@rarecarstorys
#FordMustang #ShelbyGT350 #GT350R #Corvette #KenMiles #CarrollShelby #musclecars #carhistory #classiccars #RareCarStorys #Mustang #Ford289