Lane Collectibles 1:18 1968 Shelby GT 500- Ltd Ed of 1500

Lane’s Red 1968 Shelby Cobra GT500 is one beautiful model! And as I sit here holding and rotating it in my hands, I think back to the history that led to its being built:

Carroll Shelby was a talented race driver of international stature with rides with Ferrari, Maserati, Scarab and the like. In 1962 he introduced the first Shelby AC Cobra, an amalgam of a modified AC Bristol sports car and a Ford 260 cu. in. engine. In 1964 Shelby American completed design of the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe and in 1965 the coupe won the Manufacturer’s Championship in international sports car competition. Then in 1966 Shelby collaborated with Ford on their GT40 program to help them snare 1st, 2nd & 3rd at LeMans. But beginning in 1965, Shelby also helped brighten Ford’s reputation (and enlarge his bank account!) with the modification of Ford’s Mustang into the Shelby GT350, GT350H, GT500 and GT500KR. The ’65 GT350’s were race cars that you could buy from a Ford dealership and drive on the street and the track. They had a real rough edge to them and they went like the blazes! In ’66 a little of that edginess came off……then in ’67, the Mustang had gotten more refined and so were the Shelbys …… and by ’68, the Shelbys were really an optioned Mustang GT with mostly cosmetic changes made to the standard car. The cars were built in Metuchen, NJ as Mustang GT’s and brought back to Michigan to be fitted with the Shelby-specific pieces.

And a beautiful car it was! The revised front fascia and grille had been opened-up below the bumper and had an aggressive snarling look to it. Two Marchal (later to be replaced by Lucas) driving lights were mounted into the opening above the bumper. The fiberglass hood had a split scoop with openings right down at the leading edge and vents toward the rear to release hot air from the engine compartment. “Twist to lock” hood locks had replaced the race-bred hood pins found in earlier years. “LeMans-style” air scoops were located directly behind the driver and passenger side windows to vent air from the cabin. The signature Shelby air scoops for the rear drum brakes behind both doors were present but non-functional. To keep the car grounded at high speed, a fiberglass rear trunk lid featured a spoiler that flowed into fascia pieces on both rear corners of the car. Two ’65 Thunderbird six-segment sequential tail lights replaced the stock Mustang units and flanked a custom Shelby gas cap. The interior was fairly stock Ford with a sprinkling of Shelby Cobra logos except for the padded roll bar with attached shoulder harnesses, and Stewart-Warner oil and amp gauges. The chassis featured heavy-duty Ford suspension components along with adjustable Koni shocks. The “export” shock tower brace was also standard issue. For power, there were only two options, although those options changed over time: The GT350 came only with the 302 cu.in. engine. The GT500 first came with the 428 cu.in. Police Interceptor engine and later the GT500KR (King of the Road) replaced the GT 500 and came with the 428 cu.in. Cobra Jet engine (which borrowed the heads from the 427”FE engine). Transmissions available were the four-speed manual and the C-4 & C-6 automatic transmissions.

Eric Trapp at Lane Exact Detail Replicas and his team which included Raffi Miasian and Rick Kopec have done a truly exceptional job in creating this model of the ’68 Shelby Cobra GT 500. When sitting as you would see it parked on the street, this is a very impressive model. But most importantly, it just looks RIGHT! The paint is beautiful and the pieces all fit together without showing what holds them that way. They’ve created a beautiful replication of the optional ten-spoke aluminum wheels with valve stems. Small details like the window and wheel well chrome surrounds are individual chrome-plated pieces. Behind the driving lights, there is actual wire screen in front of the radiator. The engine compartment seems to have every wire, sticker, belt and hose that the real car came with (When you see the vacuum hose running from the manifold to the power brake booster, individual spark plug wires running from the distributor to the plugs and a pressure relief hose running from the radiator cap down the front of the radiator, you’ve reached some level of diecast nirvana!).

You can turn the car upside down and see front coil springs, brake lines at each corner, a stainless steel gas line running from the tank to the fuel pump, real fan belts and even the emergency brake cable. The drive shaft turns with the rear wheels. The interior looks like the real thing with carpeting, floor mats and seatbelts. The trunk carries a tool box and jack sitting on the plaid trunk liner. It even has Carroll Shelby’s hat to sit on the passenger seat reminding us that Carroll had just parked it to give us a few minutes to enjoy this beautiful machine.

It is obvious to me that Eric and his team sweated every detail in creating this beautiful model! Are there things I would like to change?…. a very few. I wish the paint had a little more metallic translucency as befits a candy apple color, and I wish that the Shelby and Cobra emblems on the body had a little dimension to them…… the others are too insignificant to mention. This is unquestionably the best street car I’ve seen. They’ve added the detail without the car seeming toy-like. I’m incredibly impressed with their work and would suggest every collector pick-up this car or its sister, the green “Zone 4” car. I promise you, you will not be disappointed!

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