Topic: Where were Shelbys shipped from?

[ragtop]

I was talking with an owner of a GT350H at a car show a couple of weeks back and he said that all the Shelby vehicles were San Jose cars with a K Code drive train that were shipped to Shelby's Los Angeles plant for modification.  For some reason I thought I had read that the Shelby cars were all shipped from Dearborn, which I thought was peculiar at the time since Ford had a Mustang line in San Jose (Milpitas actually).  Were the Shelbys sourced in San Jose?  I would imagine that the 68 and later cars would probably have come from Dearborn since they were shipped to A.O. Smith in Milwaukee.  So what is the truth?

[mikelj5S230]

As I understand it, all '65 and '66 GT350 (and I am pretty sure all '67s too including GT500s) were San Jose built cars that carried an "R" in their VINs.  They were shipped to Venice Beach and then LAX where they were modded by Shelby American.  The '68 Shelbys were all built in Metuchen, N.J. plant and carried a "T" in their VINs, and were modded in Livonia, Michigan at AO Smith.

[Coralsnake]

One correction-

1968 Shelbys were built in Ionia, MI by AO Smith.

1969 Shelbys were the only Dearborn built cars and also built in Ionia, by Smith.

[J_Speegle]

...................  I would imagine that the 68 and later cars would probably have come from Dearborn since they were shipped to A.O. Smith in Milwaukee.  So what is the truth?

So to condense the information - for regular production Shelby's

65-67 Mustangs came from the San Jose/Milpitas CA plant originally then shipped to the Venice CA address then later in 65 to the Los Angeles airport location for conversion

68 - Mustangs came from the Metuchen NJ plant then shipped to A.O. Smith in Ionia, MI for conversion

69-70 Mustangs came from Dearborn MI plant then shipped to A.O. Smith in Ionia, MI for conversion

[mikelj5S230]

Oops, sorry, I always get those Michigan towns mixed up.