1968 Shelby GT500 KR Convertible

After dealing in high-end classic cars since just after the turn of the century, you could say that I have owned a little bit of everything when it comes to American muscle cars. That being said, the car you are looking at now is undoubtedly the most important, the most correct, and the most perfect American muscle car that we have ever had the pleasure of owning!

‘Red Hills Rods & Classics’ is extremely proud to offer you this absolutely perfect, all-numbers matching, frame-off restored, heavily documented, and national award winning 1968 Shelby GT500 KR Convertible! We are thrilled to have acquired this amazing 1968 Shelby GT500 KR Convertible, and the fact that we purchased it from Colin Comer, the Shelby guru, who has written all of the quintessential Shelby books, well let's just say that we could not be more excited! When this Shelby rolled off of the transport truck, my jaw hit the ground, as it is even nicer than Colin represented it, and all of the cars from Colin’s collection are exceptional. It is very hard to know where to start, so I will let Colin’s words to the talking.

Per Colin Comer: “As the author of multiple books on the cars and the people of Shelby American, I had to have at least one drop-top Shelby Mustang in my personal collection, so why not make it a KR? After all, 1968 was the first year for production Shelby Mustang convertibles, and the KR was the ‘baddest’ one you could get, but I had to find just the right KR. That's why I was thrilled to find #4123 in 2015. Just two owners from new, low miles, all original drivetrain, and even the original factory window sticker, original build sheet, and original purchase contract were still w/ the car. Plus, it is a factory Candyapple Red car w/ Factory A/C. Since it wasn't perfect, after 30+ years of being a fun weekend cruiser for the 2nd owner, I decided to do an all-out concours-level restoration. Some 3,500 man-hours later, and w/ the advice, review & assistance of 1968 Shelby gurus Pete Disher, Bob Perkins and Jim Cowles, the result was, in my opinion, one of the finest KR restorations ever done! Pete Disher, Bob Perkins and Jim Cowles all assisted in getting the details just right during the restoration, and it is loaded w/ original & NOS parts throughout. It was an incredibly complete, solid, and unmodified car when I started the restoration, which really helped. But every parent thinks their kids are the best, so I decided #4123 needed to be judged by the top experts in the field to see what they thought. The first outing of this now-fully restored KR was its unveiling at what has been called the ‘Pebble Beach’ of muscle car shows, the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in November 2016, and as long as it was there I figured let's have it concours-judged. When I registered, Bob Perkins (Chief Ford Judge and Head Judge for both the MCA and SAAC), suggested that I enter it into their elevated judging class for the new MCACN ‘Pinnacle’ award. Only 4 cars were selected, and I was honored just to have my KR among them. But I'm even more honored to report that KR #4123 became the first Ford to win this elite MCACN ‘Pinnacle’ award! This is the most difficult award to win w/ incredibly stringent judging that inspects every part and every aspect of the entire car during an hour-long process. (4) of the points deducted were for paint and panel fit that were ‘too nice’, a deduction happily accepted. Of course as soon as I returned home, I took the MCA/ MCACN Judge's notes and corrected all of the points they deducted, except for, the paint that was ‘too nice w/ no orange peel’. Our next show outing was the Concours @ SAAC-42, and after 2.5 hours of close scrutiny by a team of the world’s foremost authorities on 1968 Shelby’s, #4123 emerged w/ the coveted SAAC Concours Gold award. According to authority Pete Disher, #4123 is one of just ten KR convertibles to obtain Concours Gold status since 1997. To recap, #4123 is fully numbers-matching w/ its original factory installed engine/transmission/rear end, wheels, carburetor, radiator, hubcaps, and on & on. The original paperwork is second to none, w/ its original window sticker, build sheet, dealership invoice, plus an airtight history of just two long-term owners, the second of which I purchased it from in 2015. But #4123 isn't just a pretty face. Like all of my cars, I wanted it to run & drive like new as well, so the original engine was balanced, blueprinted, and tuned to perfection on a dyno by the best in the business. The car was painstakingly sorted after the restoration to get everything working perfectly, and to make sure that the car was just as comfortable smoking its rear tires as it was being poked & prodded by a concours judge. The bottom line is this: I believe #4123 to be one of the finest GT500 KR convertibles in the country. Its desirable color, options, paperwork, history, restoration and resulting show awards all indisputably put this car @ the top of the Shelby food chain”.

This was Colin’s description of his prized Shelby, but keeping it simple, I will state that this is simply the finest 1968 Shelby GT500 KR Convertible that you will ever lay eyes on, period. The paint, body & chrome are as close to ‘flawless’ as you will ever get! Every single component on the car is date-code correct, from the hoses, fan-belts, exhaust/mufflers, suspension, etc., down to the correct Dill valve stems on the correct Goodyear Speedway tires. I’ve really never seen anything quite like it. She fires up instantly, settling into a nice smooth idle, and she runs, drive & performs flawlessly in every way. The thing that amazes me most, is that there are absolutely no rattles, squeaks, are any unwanted noises whatsoever! I’ve never experienced a Mustang that is so tight, and so well sorted. I could go on and on for days, but I think that you get the point.

If you are searching for the finest 1968 Shelby GT500 KR Convertible available anywhere @ any price, you have found your car!