1965 Shelby GT350R

[Phildaupho]

This is the second time I have built a replica for the Brown Bros GT350R. The first time was for the original driver - Tom Hamilton. That led to me decaling about 75 1/18 diecasts sold to collectors. There is a very real chance that the livery on the restored car was based on the decals I made up for Tommy's model because he asked me to leave off the name of the other driver who only raced the car once but his name always remained on the original along with Tom Hamilton. Although my initial intention was to do a relatively simple build, I ended up doing virtually all the modifications to make it quite accurate. The real car was not sold by Shelby to Brown Bros. until 1967 and was raced extensively for the next two years. Apparently its next incarnation was as a street racer with a lace panel paint job!

 

ALTERATIONS & ADDITIONS

BODY – Replaced molded wipers and door handles with separate ones from 64 Fairlane, removed emblems, front valance - covered round holes and cut in oval brake cooling openings, rear valance filled reverse light holes and added bumper mount holes, covered gas filler hole with thin styrene, made up R model side window frames, removed rear window trim, replaced grill with one from a stock 1966 GT350, added hood pins

INTERIOR – dash modified by removing top pad, glove box door, radio and other surface detail, removed door panel upholstery and floor carpet detail, added slot for spare tire in rear bulkhead, added web belts for window raising & lowering, drilled out gauges and backed with reduced photo of actual gauges

CHASSIS – Tubed rear wheelwells and narrowed rear track to get tires to fit within body, removed gas tank for separate painting, installed over rider traction bars

ENGINE COMPARTMENT – Separated from body for separate painting, removed battery and platform, added an oil cooler

ENGINE – Stock style chrome valve covers with extra breathers added

PAINT – Tamiya Pure White over Racing White which does seem to give a bit of a Wimbledon White look

DECALS - The side stripes by Fred Cady but the rest of the livery are my decals from art work done almost 20 years ago. The center stripes are metallic blue vinyl in keeping with the fact that back in the day Tommy Hamilton re-striped the car with reflective vinyl used on telephone booths. 

 

Edited August 1, 2024 by Phildaupho

[Nacho Z]

Wow!  What a great looking Mustang!  She is a beauty, Phil!

[Jim B]

Fantastic job on your Mustang.  Very well done.

[Hi-Po]

That is one good looking GT350R!  Nicely done.

[TransAmMike]

Oh yeah Phil, that one's ready to rumble.  Great job?

[Zippi]

That's a good looking 65 Shelby GT350.

[Phildaupho]

21 hours ago, Nacho Z said:

Wow!  What a great looking Mustang!  She is a beauty, Phil!

 

20 hours ago, Jim B said:

Fantastic job on your Mustang.  Very well done.

 

18 hours ago, Hi-Po said:

That is one good looking GT350R!  Nicely done.

 

17 hours ago, TransAmMike said:

Oh yeah Phil, that one's ready to rumble.  Great job?

 

16 hours ago, Zippi said:

That's a good looking 65 Shelby GT350.

Thanks for your comments. Glad you like it because I am very pleased to finally have it in my collection after all these years.

[TarheelRick]

Extremely nice Shelby Mustang. Paint looks to be velvet smooth, sweet build.

[MeatMan]

Nicely done!

[Pierre Rivard]

Superb work all around up to your very high standards Mr. Dauphinee. You have produced so many upgrades that it takes a second or even third review to take it all in. Very impressive.

The use of vinyl for the center stripes is something I am not familiar with but very interested. Could you share info on the maker of this material. Definitely something I would want to try.

[Phildaupho]

20 hours ago, TarheelRick said:

Extremely nice Shelby Mustang. Paint looks to be velvet smooth, sweet build.

Thanks Ricky - I am thankful for Tamiya spray paint making good results relatively easy

19 hours ago, MeatMan said:

Nicely done!

Thanks Dennis

4 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Superb work all around up to your very high standards Mr. Dauphinee. You have produced so many upgrades that it takes a second or even third review to take it all in. Very impressive.

The use of vinyl for the center stripes is something I am not familiar with but very interested. Could you share info on the maker of this material. Definitely something I would want to try.

Thanks Pierre - The vinyl I used for this application comes from Avery which is readily available. The preferred vinyl is the very thin products used by sign makers and car wrappers which can be more difficult to acquire unless you know someone in the business or you have access to their waste bins.

[Gramps46]

I really like what you have done with the GT350R.  You really captured the look.

[Dave B]

That's another great build from you Phil, the extra extra effort was really worth it.  You must have quite a collection by now.

Dave B

[Bruce Scully]

A lot of really nice work in this build , looks great .

[slusher]

Outstanding!

[ewetwo]

Beautiful build.

[Phildaupho]

20 hours ago, Gramps46 said:

I really like what you have done with the GT350R.  You really captured the look.

Thanks Gary,. I have to admit it looks pretty good sitting on my mantel as I write this.

15 hours ago, Dave B said:

That's another great build from you Phil, the extra extra effort was really worth it.  You must have quite a collection by now.

Dave B

Thanks Dave - After reading your comment I counted up the models on display in my hobby room - 145 !! That means I have probably built at least 200 model cars since getting back in the hobby about 30 years ago !!

9 hours ago, Bruce Scully said:

A lot of really nice work in this build , looks great .

Thanks Bruce

1 hour ago, slusher said:

Outstanding!

Thanks Carl

29 minutes ago, ewetwo said:

Beautiful build.

Thanks David

[lucky 130]

Mr. Shelby would approve, I'm sure. Amazing.

[Phildaupho]

Thanks Michael - Tommy and Shelby had some good times together later in their lives. They were close in age so had many things in common. I think on one occasion Tommy had the first model I built of his GT350R with him to show Shelby.

[PappyD340]

Super nice, well done!

[Rattlecan Dan]

Great-looking build! Very realistic looking. Nice job!

[Funkychiken]

Very sharp build of a racing stang!

[bisc63]

VERY nice!

[Phildaupho]

On 8/6/2024 at 5:09 PM, PappyD340 said:

Super nice, well done!

 

On 8/11/2024 at 9:24 AM, Rattlecan Dan said:

Great-looking build! Very realistic looking. Nice job!

 

On 8/23/2024 at 2:37 PM, Funkychiken said:

Very sharp build of a racing stang!

 

3 hours ago, bisc63 said:

VERY nice!

Thanks guys, I appreciate your comments.