1967 Shelby GT500 Revived After 25 Years In Death Valley

Our friends at Bangshift pass along word of a hardcore Ford fan from Massachusetts who is living the dream of every old-car geek: His new restoration project is a well-weathered but completely intact 1967 Shelby GT500 that sat undriven for 25 years in Death Valley.

The Mustang was parked outside, exposed to the California desert conditions; while the paint has been steadily sandblasted (that's the raw fiberglass on the hood and rear deck) the rest of the car was well-preserved in the low-moisture climate. It's clearly not pristine, and an impressive amount of sand had to be cleaned out of the body panels, but rust is nonexistent and the mechanical parts need little more than a thorough refreshing.

It has been certified as a genuine Shelby product and still carries all the right tags and details, including the dual four-barrel carburetors on top of the 428-cubic-inch big block and the too-cool twin center headlights. Although it's probably not an official Shelby piece, the trailer hitch it once sported is an interesting detail as well.

The new owner is not planning to do a full restoration. Instead, he intends to clean up the mechanical parts and get the car up and running but leave the well-earned desert patina (extensive workshop gallery here) as it is.