THE 2010 MIDAMERICA TEAM SHELBY NATIONALS
The MidAmerica Team Shelby Nationals is held annually in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is one of the longest running Shelby shows in the country. Each year hundreds of cars attend. This year over 900 cars participated. It is considered one of the "big three" venues for Shelby owners. If you have never been to the show, I can highly recommend you make plans to attend.
This is # 4266. I think you will be seeing more of this car in the future on this webpage. It is an original red, 4spd car with air conditioning. The restoration was superb. The car won the highest award at Tulsa, the Heritage Diamond. Even more remarkable, the car is in the hands on the original owner.
On the right is Bruce's # 1805. A blue GT350 4spd car. Bruce did some upgrades to the car from last year and it paid off. The car was a Heritage Ruby award winner. The Ruby Award is the equivalent of a Silver Award in other competitions. Bruce has also won the Shelby Club's Bronze Award. Bruce has told me he is ready to retire the car and start driving it!
You may also recall seeing Keith Craft's yellow GT500 KR before. He was at Tulsa last year. Last year the car was Emerald Award winner. This year he moved up to a Ruby Award. The car doesn't have far to go to step up to the highest levels.
This Acapulco Blue GT350 was looking very nice. I meant to speak ot the owner, but I didn't catch up with up him. I was a very clean car. It was also one of the latest build GT350s I have seen.
Tim asked me to look over his freshly restored GT500. "What do you think?" he asked. I told him to put the car in a big bag and make sure you get it to a national show as soon as possible. This car was gorgeous in black.
Here is the engine bay of the big block with air conditioning. I predict it will be a concours winner very soon.
Have you ever wondered where all those people on the forums get all those answers to obscure questions? They are probably looking at unrestored cars and taking lots of pictures. This beautiful GT500 had a lot of original details even though it was well used.
Personally, I would really enjoy looking at the unrestored cars. You have to be able to discern what is original and what has been adjusted over the last 40 years. It takes a lot of maintenance to keep these cars on the road.
Lance's KR is always a crowd favorite. This year it sported a big orange surf board. Surf's up in Tulsa, everyone to the beach! Some people consider the black KR convertibles to be the ultimate prize.
This 1968 Mustang was originally sold new at Tasca Ford. Tasca, you may recall, invented the Cobra Jet concept. This car has some serious meaty tires on the back and looked fast. I am sure it felt right at home at the Tulsa drag strip. One of the great parts of the Shelby Team Nationals is the drag races.
Bob Gaines is usually on the forums answering questions. He had the bases covered with his 1967 GT500. The big block had air conditioning. I think this is the first time I have seen a 67 GT500 with AC closeup. Even the headlight brackets were unique to make way for the air conditioning.
I am thinking if you have a big block 67 with AC, it should look a lot like this one. Did you see the louvers in the hood?
This 1970 Boss 302 was the perfect Mustang color- Calypso Coral. You have to like the orange cars.
Keith Craft can apparently build 1969 Shelbys as well. His Gulfstream Aqua GT500 was entered in the concours class. I am not sure how the car did, but it was attractive.
Finally, this would be Shelby's newest incarnation . . . the new 2011 GT350 . . . it looks pretty sweet. Just send one to my house and I will give a test drive.