In theory, the 1969 model-year Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 and GT500 was to be the second of a quartet of years for the marque that began in 1968 with a new Mustang supplier (Metuchen), a new source of fiberglass (A.O. Smith), and a new home for Shelby Automotive (Michigan).
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Planning for the 1969 model year began around late May of the year before, when Shelby Automotive management sat down and generated a shopping list of 1969 Shelby options. “Nice-to-haves” were proposed for various areas of the car and were discussed and deleted or continued based on subsequent meetings.
On the outside of the car, it was proposed that the Dzus hood locks, which were incorrectly referred to as “Zeus” hood locks on paperwork related to the meeting, be continued. Special side striping, perhaps of reflective material, was to be implemented. And there was consideration for colors that would be available only on the Shelby Mustang, as well as fog or driving lights, R.P.O. (Regular Production Option) racing mirrors, and the return of functional side scoops, which had disappeared at the end of the 1967 model year.
In the cockpit, a 140-mph speedometer and an 8,000-rpm tachometer were up for discussion, along with a vinyl-covered steering wheel, a roll bar, and a shoulder harness, continuing the tradition started in 1967, plus a wood-grained instrument panel, a map light, high-backed seats (or low-backed seats with head rests) and unique Shelby interior trim.
By the last year of the Shelby Mustang, performance had taken a back seat to the perception of performance. The 1969/1970 Shelbys were among the most handsome of the entire line, even if in terms of performance they were mere shadows of their former (California) selves.
Another first for the Shelby Mustang (because it was a first on the base Mustang on which the Shelby car was based) was the use of body-color outside rearview mirrors, done in a streamlined bullet design (only the driver’s side was remotely-adjustable). The small 428 badge high on the fender identified GT500s.
Unique Ford Mustang Shelby items proposed for the powertrain included tuned mufflers, unique Shelby-only axle ratios, a real wood automatic transmission shift lever handle, close-ratio transmission gears, a tighter shifter, and even fuel injection. Koni shocks and four-wheel disc brakes also made the initial list and it was proposed that only one standard wheel be offered, but with an optional, widerwidth tire available.
General Shelby-unique items proposed included power windows, a sound deadening package, special valve covers, a sliding roof, a special four-note horn, and other as-yet undetermined 1970 model year Mustang Regular Production Options. It’s worth noting that as a “premier” brand of Ford Motor Company, Shelby had access to features that did not debut on the more mundane Mustang for another couple of model years. Interior features from the upcoming Mach I version of the Mustang (which in many ways was a direct competitor of the GT350/GT500 and part of the impetus for future changes in Mr. Shelby’s overall attitude) were considered, such as the aforementioned high-backed bucket seats.
A fortnight later, the management group reconvened and, by this time, a couple of items had been cut. Axed were the map light, the tighter shifter, the close ratio gears, fuel injection, Konis, and the sliding roof. Many of the other shopping-list items had made the second round of cuts and, in some form or other, ultimately made it into production.
The nose of the 1969 Shelby was a bigger departure than ever before from the Mustang on which the car was based. While all Shelbys until now had utilized the Mustang’s steel fenders dressed up with fiberglass fender extensions, hood, and grille parts, the 1969 car replaced the fenders as well with molded fiberglass units. The grille width was expanded to the entire front end of the car and the headlights were encompassed within the grille opening. For the first time, a Shelby-unique bumper was used (all prior-year Shelbys retained the stock Mustang bumper).
For the first time since the birth of the Shelby Mustang, the side stripes underwent major revisions. Gone was the traditional Microgramma Extended Bold lettering, this time replaced by a tall font (Franklin Gothic Demi Condensed), which allowed the GT350 (left) or GT500 (right) designation to fit within the nose brake intake ducts. The stripes gained additional colors, done in gold, white, black, or blue reflective tape (keyed to the car’s body color). The lettering was cut out so that the designation showed through in the car’s body color. Like the hood intakes and outlets, the semi-functional nose brake ducts had mesh inserts.
After a one-year hiatus in 1968, the small offset grille emblem returned to the Shelby Mustang in 1969. An emblem very similar to the coiled Cobra snake emblem that appeared on the 1968 Shelby fenders reappeared in the grille of the 1969 GT350 and GT500. Another difference was that the supplementary rectangular badge beneath now read SHELBY (instead of COBRA). A bright metal trim piece ringed the rectangular grille opening
The front end of the 1969 Shelby shared nothing with the Mustang on which it was based. Fenders, hood, grille, bumper, and lower valance panel were all Shelby-unique. Lucas driving lights were mounted below the rather unsubstantial bumper, and 1969 Cougar parking lights were suspended under the headlights.
Less Mustang, More Shelby
By this time, the nightmares of the 1967 production run were behind Shelby American.
In fact, production was going so smoothly with its largequantity specialty manufacturer A.O. Smith popping out hundreds of high-quality parts, that the sky was the limit as far as Shelby styling for 1969 was concerned. Well, almost. There were, of course, constraints surrounding the amount of disassembly and reassembly that could go into each Shelby, but within those bounds of reason, the door was wide open for some pretty significant stylistic changes. While the grille and hood of the previous few years’ Shelbys differed from the Mustang, 1969 went another step further, by incorporating unique Shelby fenders as well
Smith’s experience in fabricating entire sports car bodies from plastic enabled the company to distance the 1969 Shelby from its Mustang roots more than ever before. The fenders terminated at the nose with a large, full-width grille opening. The headlights, instead of flanking the grille opening, as in years gone by, were now situated within the large, open mouth. Expanded mesh formed the grille and a bright trim ring encircled the opening within the grille mouth; bright chrome trimmed the edges of the opening and continued to form the front bumper at the bottom of the grille opening. The bumper, for the first time ever, was not the standard Mustang impact bar, but rather a unique Shelby component.
The Straight Scoop on Shelby Scoops and Ducts
Molded into the sides of the front fender were semi-functional brake cooling ducts; the scoops were open to the front wheel wells, but didn’t blow directly on the brake rotors. A small snake medallion that was nearly, but not quite, identical to the 1968 snake was located off-center (as had become Shelby’s style) in the grille opening. Lucas driving lights hung below the front bumper, nestled within a Shelby-unique front valance pan; 1969 Cougar parking lights were hung nearby.
The hood, which was also fiberglass, was a relatively flat affair with a different scoop design than in previous years: instead of scoops protruding above the surface of the hood to ingest air, three National Advisory Council for Aeronautics ducts were recessed into the hood in a triangular arrangement, with two ducts at the front corners of the hood and the third at the apex of the triangle, in the center, farther aft. These low-drag ducts were developed by NACA (National Advisory Council for Aeronautics, the predecessor of NASA) and they worked by drawing the layer of air in direct contact with the surface of the hood into the opening.
Carroll Shelby once quipped that “too much was just right,” and that design philosophy seemed to apply to the hood of the 1969 Shelby. If one air intake was good, three would be even better. The fiberglass hood was populated by a trio of flush NACA-type intake ducts and, when added to two hot air outlets, the hood had not many fewer openings than the typical miniature golf course.
Just as what goes up must come down, in the case of engine air, what goes in must also come out. Warm air from the engine compartment was exhausted via a pair of outlets directly behind the air intakes. Like the trio of air intakes, screen mesh also covered the dual-exhaust openings.
The same basic type of hood Dzus fasteners were used as the year before, but with a couple of subtle differences—the raised surface of the chrome knob had a slightly different shape and the fastener was recessed in a circular depression. The design of the locking mechanism was also ruggedized over the 1968 version.
The underside of the hood contained integral ducting to plumb the two ram air inlets to the air cleaner. A large rubber ring provided sealing, which, for 1968, was mounted atop the air cleaner. Both Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 and Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 hoods contained functional integral ducting in 1969.
The receptacle for the Dzus lock moved to the side of the front fenders, instead of the radiator support as in 1968 (this was due to the lengthening of the 1969 Shelby hood over that of the base Mustang).
Like the year before, 1969 again saw a two-body-style family of Shelbys, a convertible and a SportsRoof (Ford’s new nomenclature for the fastback Mustang).
Because they do not protrude above the surface of the hood, NACA ducts are lower drag than conventional air scoops, which stick out into the airstream. An added benefit was that because of their design and location, the NACA ducts were quieter than the twin-nostril Pontiac GTO-like scoops in the 1968 Shelby hood, which tended to generate a large amount of wind noise as the air entered the opening. The outboard ducts allowed cool air into the engine compartment in general, but the center duct sat above a large plenum that was molded into the underside of the hood. This sealed against the engine’s air cleaner thanks to a large rubber gasket, providing a cold air induction effect into the air cleaner and ultimately the carburetor. Unlike the 1968 Shelby, in which ram air was only used on the King of the Road model, both the 1969 Mustang GT350 & GT500 received the ram air hood.
To give warm underhood air a way to exit the engine bay, two air outlets were placed in the hood, directly aft of the engine bay air inlets. All five openings featured mesh within them. Chrome plated, twist-lock Dzus fasteners (similar to the 1968 design, but slightly beefier in construction) were located at the front two corners of the hood. To further maximize aerodynamic efficiency, when closed and locked, the Dzus fasteners sat within circular recesses molded into the 1969 hood, for a flush, streamlined look.
Despite the emphasis on styling over function (as evidenced by the early termination of such mechanical goodies as a tight shifter and Koni shocks), the 1969 Shelby reintroduced functional brake cooling side scoops, which had fallen by the wayside in 1967. The installation of these devices had been pretty well locked in, since they were first figured out by Phil Remington in 1966, when they debuted. But for 1969, Mustang styling threw a bit of a monkey wrench into the works. There needed to be two types of side scoops, and the associated internal ducting—one set for the convertibles and one for the fastbacks, which for now were called SportsRoof models. This was because the standard Mustang Mach I side scoop location was high on the quarter panel “hip,” behind and above the door handle, and it was recessed into the quarter panel, more as a duct than a scoop.
The 1969 Mustang SportsRoof incorporated a recessed air duct in the upper quarter panel behind the door handle. To differentiate their product, Shelby added a raised scoop over the top, the style of which somewhat mimicked the “air extractor” roof scoops of the 1967 and 1968 Shelbys. The duct on the Shelby was plumbed to be functional; the one on the Mustang, not.
The convertible top mechanism, coupled with the SportsRoof Shelby’s hip air scoop (left) necessitated a totally different scoop for the convertible Shelbys in 1969 (right). The scoop moved lower, to a location similar to that of the 1968 lower scoops, and, like the hip scoops of the SportsRoof cars, was functional.
The Shelby version made these ducts functional through the addition of internal ducting, and improved efficiency by covering the duct-like Ford opening with a scoop-like fiberglass shell. The location for the upper Ford ducts was incompatible with the convertible folding top mechanism, thus explaining the reason that convertibles lack side ducts. Shelby installed 1967-type side scoops on the convertibles, attached to the sides of the quarter panels, like in the beginning. The convertible scoops also incorporate internal ducting to blow cool air over the car’s rear brake drums, as they did when they were first introduced in 1966.
This Tech Tip is from the full book THE DEFINITIVE SHELBY MUSTANG GUIDE: 1965-1970. For a comprehensive guide on this entire subject you can visit this link:
LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK HERE
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The Last Part of the Horse
There has been something of a tradition that Shelby Mustang styling features of a given year have found their way onto the base Mustang of a year or so down the road. Whether this was a conscious Ford design approach or simply that Shelby styling, which tended to push the styling envelope in some aspects, was simply incorporated based on its creativity isn’t known. But what was known was that it did happen, and more than once. The incorporation of Shelby-like side air intakes to the 1969 Mach I was one such idea another was the introduction of a ducktail spoiler to the base Mustang for 1969. While this tended to follow the “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” school of thought, it tended to make Shelby stylists have to think a little harder to continue to keep the Shelby a step ahead of the Mustang styling.
With the base Mustang now having adopted the Shelbylike ducktail, the task was now how to establish the rear end of the 1969 Shelby as stylistically different from that of the Mustang on which it was based. The use (or rather, continued use) of 1965 Thunderbird taillights set in a molded fiberglass tail panel was a good first step and Shelby uniqueness was further expanded upon by the use of expanded mesh panels, set within recesses also molded into the tail panel. But the crowning achievement of the Shelby-unique rear fascia styling had to be the exhaust pipes, which exited in the center of the rear face.
Carroll Shelby’s Tiffany coiled cobra badge moved from the 1968 location of behind the front wheel to the roof C-pillar on the 1969 SportsRoof cars. The emblem was also repeated in the grille.
It takes very close examination to discern the differences between the 1968 and 1969 snake badges, but the changeover of lettering in the rectangular box below from COBRA (1968) to SHELBY (1969) is more obvious.
The wide-open grille look of the 1969 Shelby foreshadowed the nose of the 1971–1973 Mustangs.
Styling carryovers to later-year Mustangs from the 1969 Shelby include NACA-type air intakes and Dzus twist-lock hood fasteners. A home for them was also found on the 1971 Boss 351.
While the nose of the 1969 Shelby went further stylistically, from the base Mustang than any previous year Shelby, the opposite end, ironically, was closer than the 1967s or 1968s. This was due to the Mustang having adopted a spoilered deck lid and end caps, which heretofore had been a Shelby-only feature.
But the great appearance was not without issue: the close proximity of the vented fuel cap to the exhaust outlet might not have been one of Shelby’s better ideas from a safety point of view. The fuel cap continuously vented gasoline vapors from the tank, resulting in a fuel vapor cloud lingering around the fuel cap. Fuel vapors, being heavier than air, tend to settle toward the ground, and as the fuel vapor cloud settled, the design of the car’s rear fascia dictated that they settled right into the area of the exhaust outlet.
Under certain running conditions, when the carburetor was set just right and there was a rapid backing off of the throttle, the engine could backfire. It was known as “pop back” and it was unique to the GT500’s 428 powerplants. On a couple of occasions, this pop back ignited the fuel vapor cloud and actually set the tail end of the car on fire! It was incredibly ironic that one advertising tag line for the 1969 Shelby was “fire, and refinement” but that was not the kind of fire either Ford or Shelby Automotive had in mind. The fix was to install nonvented fuel caps and replumb the fuel tanks so that they were vented via a hose that exited at the bottom of the rear quarter panel, away from the exhaust exit.
A never-before-tried design feature on the 1969 Shelby was the relocation of the exhausts from below the rear valance to within the valance, in the center (where the license plate was). The license plate was relocated upward and was mounted to a trap door that concealed the fuel filler cap
The rear face of the 1969 Shelby continued with earlierestablished Shelby design cues such as long, horizontal taillights (which originated in 1967) and individual S-H-E-L-B-Y identification letters (which originated in 1968). Additional recessed grillework above the taillights reduced the stark appearance of the rear face.
Making a return appearance for the second consecutive year on a Shelby Mustang were 1965 Thunderbird taillight bezels and lenses, again neatly integrated into a fiberglass tail panel. Although the lights themselves are the same pieces, the 1969 installation is slightly different in that the outer periphery retains its out-of-the-box black trim (instead of being cleaned off as on the 1968 Shelby installation).
Two components form the exhaust collector assembly, both done in cast aluminum. The collector connects the two tailpipes together and feeds into a decorative outlet, which is visible below the rear bumper and license plate.
One exterior feature unique to the big-block Shelbys was a 428 COBRA JET badge midway up the front fender; GT350s lacked any badging in this location. The badge was a carryover from the 1968 GT500 KR cars and was identical in size, shape and colors.
While the appeal of the 1969 Shelby was a result of some intangible chemistry (good looks, exclusivity, and performance), another type of chemistry intervened to create a near disaster on GT500s. The cars’ original vented fuel cap allowed gas fumes to settle near the exhaust and under certain driving conditions, the fumes were ignited by an engine backfire, a condition known as a pop-back. The solution was to switch to a non-vented fuel cap, with the fuel tank vent plumbed to exit under the quarter panel, away from the exhaust (this modification was not necessary on GT350s).
Not only was the lettering on the side stripes very different from the Shelbys of years before, but so were the stripes themselves. The reflective tape stripes migrated upward off the door bottom to about halfway up. From a distance, the stripes seemed to have the traditional narrow-wide-narrow layout as in the past, but a closer inspection reveals that the narrow border stripes were divided into two stripes.
Candy Apple Red was the longest-lived Shelby color, being available every year since 1966 (when Shelbys were first offered in color) through the end in 1970.
Not only was Candy Apple Red the longest-lived color, but in 1969 and 1970, it accounted for the highest percentage of cars built of any color, at almost 17 percent.
There was no true black offered in the Shelby lineup for 1969 but there was Black Jade, a very un-black but very attractive dark grayish green. It accounted for the second most cars built in one given color, behind Candy Apple Red.
GT350s and their 351 powerplants were not subject to pop back and didn’t receive the plumbed tank venting. The whole deal was a very close call, as some worst-case engineering analyses actually had the pop-back ignition of the fuel vapors work its way back to the fuel tank, causing an explosion. The few fires that were experienced were small and, save for some damaged fiberglass and paint, caused no catastrophic effects.
Paint and Tape Stripes
There was another aspect of the 1969 Shelby that deviated from tradition: its stripes. The GT350 and GT500s had always been identified by rocker panel stripes (or more correctly, doorbottom edge stripes only the 1965 GT350’s stripes extended onto the rockers). The 1969 models saw the stripes migrate upward, to the center of the door. From a distance, the stripes (now produced in black, white, gold or blue reflective tape and keyed to the body color) appeared to be the usual thin-thick-thin racing stripe design. But a closer look revealed that the upper and lower thin borders were divided into two even thinner stripes. The GT350 or GT500 logo, formerly positioned at the bottom of the front fender, behind the wheel, was now located within the front fender brake-cooling duct.
In order to fit the allocated space, the traditional Microgramma Extended Bold font was changed to a very tall, narrow typeset, extremely close to (if not actually) Franklin Gothic Demi Condensed. The stripes were laid out so that the designation was a cut-out area on the stripe that allowed the GT350 or GT500 moniker to show through the stripe with body color. On the subject of colors, 1969 Shelbys were offered in more than a dozen choices, although not all debuted at the same time: an initial group of colors were supplemented in March of 1969 with Ford’s new “Grabber” colors, which were available on Fords for 1970, starting when that model-year car was available, around September 1969.
Acapulco Blue returned to the Shelby palate for the third model year, although it was eventually dropped when the 1970 Grabber colors were introduced in mid 1969.
Available only as a special order color in 1968, Royal Maroon returned to the 1969 color chart as a standard choice. The 1969 GT350 convertible production was very low with only 194 examples being produced.
Grabber Orange was a color used on a trio of 1968 Shelbys under the designation WT 5014 Orange. It became a standard Mustang Grabber color in 1970 and was available on Shelbys starting in mid 1969.
Grabber Blue was available later on in Shelby model year 1969, before it became a standard Mustang color for the 1970 model year.
For 1969, Shelbys offered only one type of wheel, aluminum and chrome five-spoke design. Initially, the wheel consisted of a aluminum center pressed into a steel rim, later versions had riveted centers. While no optional wheel was offered, an optional F60-15 tire was available (instead of the standard E70-15).
The wheel center cap was a black and gold version of the stylized Cobra that appeared in the steering wheel center and on the door panels.
After a thousand or so 1969 Shelbys were sold, a recall was issued for the cars’ pressed-together wheels. Until new riveted Shelby wheels were available, cars were sold with Boss 302-like 15-inch chrome Magnum 500 wheels. When the riveted wheels became available, owners had the option to swap the temporary Magnums for Shelby wheels, though not all owners did.
These four colors (WT 5014 Orange, WT 8002 Blue, WT 7167 Green, and WT 6173 Yellow) were pulled from the Ford fleet color catalog, the same catalog from there the six 1968 Shelby “special” colors came from. In fact, WT 5014 was one of the 1968 colors. The first three became Grabber Orange, Grabber Blue, and Grabber Green, respectively. After debuting on the Shelby Mustang in 1969, the colors became avalable on the Ford Mustang in 1970. There is some evidence (vehicle warranty claims with corrected color codes) to suggest that the yellow may have remained 1969 Shelby-unique and that the 1970 Mustang Bright Yellow (renamed Grabber Yellow in 1971) may not have been the exact 1969 Shelby color carried forward to the 1970 Mustang line. For this reason, the 1969 Shelby yellow color is identified here as “Shelby Grabber Yellow,” although this was not a 1960s period nomenclature.
Written by Greg Kolasa and Posted with Permission of CarTech Books
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