“The minute you get in, turn the key, and get into gear, you know you’re in a living, fire-breathing machine, and it’s beyond doubt one of the most exciting and easiest driving cars that I ever handled,” stated Carroll Shelby in his 1965 book The Cobra Story. He was referring to the Shelby Mustang GT 350, not the standard version but the racing version. “It’s almost unbelievable, but we can take a GT 350 around any circuit where we test it faster than the best Corvettes in full racing trim! You just can’t very well accept that fact, I know, until you drive the car.”
Lee Iacocca is credited with asking Carroll Shelby the question of what it would take to race the Mustang. And the reply was: build 100 of them! That was how the birth of the GT 350 Shelby Mustang took place. To recap the history of the Shelby Mustang GT 350 the word ‘homologated’ must enter into the picture. Homologated means accepted, being granted approval by an official authority. The SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) was the premier auto racing series and ran America’s National Championship programme, with its international governing body for its racing rules coming from the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) organisation.
The FIA said that in order for the Mustang to compete in the Production
