Back in the 1960s, Carroll Shelby was conducting some experiments on Ford Mustangs as he was formulating his legendary Mustang Shelby GT500 that would change the rules of production performance cars. Part of his process was taking two Mustang notchback coupes, a green model and a red one, and using them as test mules for his performance parts to see what would work and what wouldn’t in the car that would eventually make it to production.
When Shelby was done with these two projects, he sent them back to Ford to be crushed which, sadly, is just what happens to experimental prototypes like this. However, we know the green example, which is unofficially known as The Green Hornet , survived and is owned by Craig Jackson (the “Jackson” in Barrett-Jackson). The Green Hornet was actually up for auction in 2013 but didn’t meet the reserve with the highest bid only going to $1.9 million.
But what about the red one? Nobody really knew what happened to it until now. Thought to have been crushed like it was supposed to, the very same Craig Jackson who owns the sibling of “Little Red” has found the second notchback GT500 test mule rotting in a field in Texas according to Fox News. Restoring the Green Hornet motivated Jackson to find its long lost counterpart and he found it hiding in plain sight. Talk about a barn find.
This 1967 Mustang is in rough shape. It’s not so bad from the A-pillar back, but the front end of the car is pretty much gone. There’s no engine and no front bodywork to speak of, but it does have two fuel pumps which raise suspicion that whatever Shelby put in this car had two superchargers.
Naturally, Jackson wants to restore Little Red to its former glory. But it won’t be easy since he doesn’t know many details about this car from when Carroll Shelby was done with it. As a result, he’s asking for the internet’s help. He’s launched a website and is asking anyone who knows anything about this car to send any pictures or information they have to help him with the restoration. “If your dad worked for Ford or Shelby, talk to them. Or look in your closet and see if you have any old pictures of it. Anything might help,” Shelby said according to Fox News.
Part of what makes these two cars special is that they are the only notchback coupe GT500s in existence. All of the production cars were either fastbacks or convertibles. So now Craig Jackson owns the only two Shelby GT500s with vinyl roofs in the world.
It’s hard to put a value on this car considering its condition, but it could very well be worth millions of dollars as it sits. If Jackson follows through on restoring the car, it could become one of the most valuable Mustangs in the world.