The History of the Coralsnake
# 3206
The car that unraveled the special paint story
The first Shelby GT500KRs were built in April of 1968. A short time later, a small group of brightly colored
cars were built. According to an internal FORD memo only 15 of these "special paint" cars would be built. The cars were not regular production colors.
One of these, a bright orange car, ended up at Schmidt Ford in Baltimore, Maryland. The following page details the history of one of the most unique 1968 Shelbys built.
It also explains how this one car unraveled the "special paint" story and how the website was born.
Technically, the color has no name. It is referred to only as "WT 5185". Ford only sent three cars in this shade to Shelby. Most likely, they were part of Ford's summer sales
promotion. How 15 of these cars ended up being sent to AO Smith is still a mystery. In 1991, shortly after purchasing the car, I did some research on the color code. After numerous
calls and letters it became clear there was little information available. I became the self appointed "special paint expert".
The color is actually the same as Poppy Red. That color would later be called Calypso Coral and Competition Orange. In 1968, the color was a special order color. I think it is pretty clear,
Shelby took what Ford gave him. Customers did not order colors, but rather selected colors from those already available.
On December 18, 1969, the cars first owner, Larry Stafford, strolled into Schmidt Ford and made a deal for the bright orange car. Larry negotiated a price of $3750. No doubt, the dealership was anxious to
get rid of the 1968 car. 1970 models were already on the showroom floor. Larry accepted delivery on January 5, 1970.
These two ads appeared in the Baltimore Sun newspaper in July of 1968. Both ads say "MDs ONLY SHELBY DEALER - GT350, GT500, COBRA ON DISPLAY FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY". The orange car was already at the dealership when these ads ran.
You can click on the ads above and see them in a larger format.
I do know Larry was in the Army and most likely resided in nearby North Carolina.
I can also tell you Larry did not pamper the big block. He drag raced the car and most likely retired the original 428 Cobra Jet engine.
For a while the car actually sported four Lucas lamps in the grill.
The Shelby races a Mach 1 at Cumberland International Dragstrip.
Here's the car at Lafayette Ford in North Carolina. Lafayette Ford was the dealership that sponsored Fred Lorenzen, the NASCAR champion. Lorenzen's car was owned by Holman Moody. I suspect the orange car had been repaired before the picture was taken.
The emblems are not in the correct locations.
The car also has 1967 Magstar wheels. The car in the background also appears to be a Shelby. It is lettered Lafayette Drag Club.
It has an American flag on the upper scoop.
We all have events that change and shape our lives. Larry was no exception. The car was in and out of storage. Actually it was in dry storage for almost 10 years. In 1984, the car reappeared with a new motor.
Larry equipped the car with a 427 medium riser. The motor was built in Fayetteville, North Carolina. A short time later the car was roaming the Autobahn in Germany with Larry at the wheel.
In 1986, after 16 years, Larry decided it was time to sell the car. A young Captain in the Army spotted the car and quickly snapped it up. Pat Carroll was also stationed in Germany.
Pat told me the full blown race engine had little problem going 140mph and pulling 7000 rpm. Pat would own the car for two years.
Here's a picture of Pat in Germany with the car.
The third owner, William Shockley purchased the car after seeing it advertised in the Bamburg Post Exchange. The princely sum of $12,000
was handed over for the car. In 1988, that was a good price even for a 427 race car. About this time Shelbys in the states were reaching all time high prices.
Shortly after buying the car, Shockley returned it to the US. Well actually good, old Uncle Sam returned the car for him. Military members who have a permanent change
of station are entitled to bring their personal property along. It would not be the last time Uncle Sam would give a helping hand to the orange Shelby.
The fourth owner, Tom Daniels, lived in Texas. Tom already owned one kick ass 1967 Shelby and was ready to unload the strangely colored beast at the Shelby Club's
16th annual convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tom drove the car to and from the show from his hotel.
That is where my part of the story begins. I had been to a couple of the previous conventions. When I first saw the car, I suspected it had been repainted. As a matter of fact, I was almost sure of it.
Upon closer inspection, it was very evident the car had never been any other color than orange. Tom had a FOR SALE sign in the window. Also displayed was the car's build sheet. A notation on the bottom read "SPECIAL PAINT WT 5185".
I told my wife I was going to buy the car. It didn't take her long to remind me of two very important points.
One, I already had a GT500KR and two, I didn't have the $24,000 asking price. I hate when reality gets in the way of fantasy.
Oh well, at least I could say, I saw one. After the convention, I wrote to Tom asking him for a photocopy of the build sheet. I was going to do a little checking on these special paint cars.
Tom sent back a copy along with a note. The note read:
"I have attached a copy of the build sheet for the car #3206. I have also sold the 427 medium riser engine which leaves the car motor less and I am asking $13,000....If you know of an interested party please advise them to call me...and good luck on your research"
Holy Crap, Batman! Now the numbers were getting a little more in my ballpark. I really only had to convince one person. Yes, my better half. Remember when I said Uncle Sam was going to help out again? Coincidently, he offered me a reenlistment bonus
for the Wisconsin Air National Guard at this very moment. The loan would be small. I got Tom's letter on a Monday and on Thursday evening the car was in my garage. Not bad considering I had to drive 2500 miles round trip to get it.
Oh and the price came down a tad when Tom offered to keep a set of the original 10-spokes.
From my point of view not having the wheels or the motor was not a big deal. The original motor was long gone and so were the original hubcaps.
From the very start, the project was scheduled to be a 10 year labor of love. That would allow me enough time to collect a matching engine and carefully research the car.
So, I told Tom to look for the car in 2001.
Well, if you have been around the website, you know that a lot of well made plans were derailed in 2001. But, it was around this time I decided I had collected about as much as I could on the special paint cars.
I carefully studied the Shelby American World Registry and contacted every special paint car owner I could find. My final estimate was 160 special paint cars had been produced during 1968. The majority of these cars were bright yellow.
I really didn't have a clue how many were orange.
A short time later, my friend, Kevin Marti, secured the rights to the Ford database of records. He corrected me, explaining there were actually 159 special paint cars. Three batches of 53 cars were built.
About this time a memo from AO Smith appeared at the Shelby Club. It stated there were 15 non-yellow special paint cars.
I summarized the research on my first website, It was a seldom visited free URL on Earthlink. I did find several more special paint owners and "THE HOME OF SPECIAL PAINT CARS" was born.
The website later became 1968cobra.com and enjoyed even more success. I expanded the pages to include some stories and detailing information. Finally, in 2006 the name changed to thecoralsnake.com
7/4/2008
2008 is the 40th anniversary of the Cobra Jet engine. Carroll Shelby is busy building the new GT500KRs, among other things. It is hard to believe I have owned the car for 17 years. That now makes me the longest owner of the car. A few interesting items have turned up.
My friend, Lowell was able to come up with a clear image of 1968 Mustangs arriving at AO Smith in 1968. Interestingly, the photo appears to show two of the original orange cars. (Only three dark orange cars were built) . Could the Coralsnake be aboard ?
Several people have asked for larger factory pictures. Click on the picture above to be transported to 1968.
I also got an email from Gary. He stumbled across the website while surfing the internet.
Gary looked at the car while stationed in Germany. His 1988 home video showed the car in great detail.
The special paint car had made a lasting impression on him.
I have been working on the car. The new goal is to finally finish the restoration.
I plan to take it to the national Shelby convention in New Jersey. Here is a snapshot.
Look for a special post-convention update .
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