1967 GT500 Shelby Mustang 427 Shelby “Super Snake” VIN# 67402F4A00544
1 of 1 built. 26,304 miles. Special model built at Shelby American for Mel Burns Ford. Intended to be the first of 50 but no other Super Snake was built due to the retail price of $7,500 and a 427 Cobra could be bought for roughly the same amount. Driven by Carroll Shelby at Goodyear test track in Texas for tire promotion film production. Carroll recorded lap speeds over 150 mph and top speed of 170 mph!

This is the original SuperSnake built in 1967 by Shelby. Shelby built two Cobra SuperSnakes and one GT500 SuperSnake.  This is the GT500 SuperSnake.  One of the Cobra SuperSnake's recently sold for over 5mil. Well know car with well known history. This GT500 Is probably the king of all Shelby Mustangs. A normal GT500 has a 428 rated at 355 hp. This car has a aluminum headed 427 rated at 520 hp. The same  engine used in the GT40's that won Lemans. There is a movie  from 1967 with Carroll Shelby and his chief engineer Fred Goodell driving this car for a Goodyear tire test and they set a record that day by going 500 miles at a average speed of 142 mph.  Featured on page 615 of the Shelby American World Registry. The idea was to build 50 of these cars but at a price of 7500.00 it was just too expensive so only one was built. A 427 Cobra could be bought for less.  Many unique features such as it's trademark three stripes.

This is the link for the Goodyear Tire video, featureing the Shelby 427 Super Snake  http://www.supersnake.org/videos/SuperSnake.wmv

Dream Car Garage segment on the Shelby Super Snakehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFBkmTmjk6Y

Here is a video interview with is Fred Goodell, Chief engineer for Shelby http://www.supersnake.org/videos/MCC.html

Legendary Fords, Shelby Supersnake                                       

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3070685691839598104

 

History                     The SuperSnake was an engineering study that was the result of a suggestion by Carroll Shelby to Shelby America's Chief Engineer, Fred Goodell. Shelby asked Goodell to put together a 1967 GT500 powered by a super high performance 427 engine which could be used a test vehicle by Goodyear. The car Goodell chose was a white fastback (serial # 67402F4A00544). It was given a lightweight 427 medium-rise GT40 MK II engine fitted with aluminum heads, aluminum water pump, mechanical lifters, a single 780CM Holley 4V carburetor and a unique "bundle of snakes" GT40-style exhaust header system. It also had a large oil cooler and remote filter, a 4 speed transmission and a 4.11 rear end with a Detroit Locker "No-Spin" center section. The car was topped off with special Guardsman Blue stripes running up and over the top in a narrow-wide-narrow row pattern. As soon as it was completed it was shipped to Goodyear's test track in San Angelo, Texas to tire testing. Goodyear invited a number of journalists for the occasion, including representatives from Time and Life magazines. Shelby drove around the track at speeds in excess of 150MPH. At one point he was clocked at a top speed of 170MPH. Then he handed it over to Goodell to do the actual testing because he had to be in Washington, D.C.. Goodell eventually established a record, averaging 142MPH for 500 miles.                               The car was returned to Shelby American, in Los Angeles, and Goodell started looking for a buyer. He turned to Don McCain, a former Shelby American Field Sales Representative (who had also been responsible for the GT350 drag program). By 1967, McCain had left Shelby American to become the High Performance Sales Manager for Mel Burns Ford, a Shelby dealer in Long Beach, California with a reputation for performance car involvement. McCain envisioned having Shelby American build 50 Super Snakes which would be sold exclusively through his dealership as a Shelby alternative to the 427-powered Camaros and Chevelles and 426 MoPars which were in a league above the standard Shelbys. However, when he tallied up the cost of everything - even using a slightly detuned and therefore less expensive 427 engine - the bottom line was a cool $7500. That sticker price was just too high. There was no question that the Super Snake was a real stormer but when prospective buyers realized it was about the same price as a 427 Cobra, they usually bought the Cobra. The Super Snake was eventually bought by a pair of airline pilots who drag raced it on weekends.   My thanks to "Ron75" for his help with this article.

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