Tennessee Dealer Sells Fake 1968 Shelby GT500 Mustang for $100,000, Would You Swipe Right?

It’s no wonder that people now spend massive six-digit numbers on such cars at auction. It’s quite unlikely for anybody to “steal” one for less than $120,000 or so. Nicer examples will run you close to $200,000 and really nice ones will often blow right past that figure.

Of course, we’re talking about 1967 through ‘68 variants, because the ‘69 through ‘70 Shelby GT500 isn’t as sought after as its predecessors.

Do you know what’s not a Shelby GT500? This Mustang right here, which just sold at auction for a whopping $100,000 courtesy of a Tennessee dealer. A bit steep for a 1968 Fastback, right? Well, not so fast, because this Mustang has been heavily modified and transformed into a genuine head-turning machine.

According to the ad, the vehicle was acquired out of West Virginia by its current owner in 2007, and almost immediately refurbished. As you can see, it’s been repainted in red with white upper and rocker-panel stripes, with fiberglass panels used for the hood, front fenders, and the deck lid.

Meanwhile, Shelby bits include the front splitter, inboard driving lights, side scoops, rear spoiler, wide taillights, and multiple badges. As for its other visual highlights, they include the hood scoops, pins, dual side mirrors, quad exhaust outlets, chrome bumpers, and a set of American Racing Torq Thrust 17” alloy wheels with 235/40 front and 274/40 rear Fuzion ZRi tires. This thing even has power steering.

Move over to the interior and you’ll find black vinyl front bucket seats with patterned inserts, a similarly upholstered rear bench, woodgrain trim, an aftermarket shifter, a JVC cassette stereo, heater, GT500-branded floor mats, a wood-rimmed steering wheel with a GT500 center badge, plus Pro Comp auxiliary gauges for water temperature and oil pressure.

Even though total milage remains unknown, the car has only done 1,300 miles since the completion of its refurbishment.

As for what’s underneath the hood, well, that’s where some of you might raise an eyebrow. Instead of there being a 428 ci Cobra Jet V8, this faux Shelby GT500 comes with a 351 ci Cleveland V8, augmented by a Holley four-barrel carburetor, Ford Motorsport finned valve covers, an MSD electronic distributor and control box, aluminum radiator with an electric cooling fan, and coated Hooker headers. Originally, this had a 390 ci V8, if by any chance you were curious.

My take on the matter is this: if you’re going to build a GT500 tribute car, or replica, or whatever you want to call it, you might want to go with the 428 ci V8 for posterity's sake. As far as I’m concerned, they should have used GT350 badging on this Mustang, instead of GT500. It would have been a little more appropriate.