The iconic prototype, driven by the legendary Ken Miles, has survived countless races and its price has rightly climbed terribly high.
When it comes to the original Ford Mustang, we come up with a few iconic pieces. In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about the 1968 GT390 Mustang, behind the wheel of which Steve McQueen shone in the movie Bullit. But in the history of the carmaker, there would be a few even older, more valuable and undoubtedly more important pieces for the history of the brand.
And one of them is this Shelby Mustang GT350R from 1965, also known as R5002 or Flying Mustang. This particular car became the first officially built competition prototype and at the same time the first Shelby GT305R to ever win a race.
But that’s a pretty simplistic story. The R5002 was of great importance to the Ford Mustang. Thanks to this test prototype, the stylish car, aimed primarily at younger drivers, began to become a legend in motorsport. Thanks to the R5002, America has started to take the Ford Mustang seriously, according to TheDrive.
The only photograph that captured this particular car during a short flight just above the road helped a lot. Ken Miles, who was behind the wheel at the time, was squeezing the maximum out of the car, and to this day the iconic photograph, which occasionally appears in the auction, earned the car the “Flying Mustang” designation. And that was priceless advertising.
The public quickly realized that the new Shelby Mustang GT350R could be a hell of a fast machine on the road and on the racetrack. And Shelby proved this with many racing successes in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Behind its wheel, whether during development or on the racetracks, several legends of American motorsport took turns. In addition to the aforementioned Ken Miles, who later shone in Le Mans with a Ford GT, we can name Bob Bondurant, Chuck Cantwell, Peter Brock or Jerry Titus.
They all added hundreds of miles to the tachometer of the R5002 – and certainly didn’t spare it. It is actually a miracle that this unique machine has come to the present. During its life, it served as a development prototype, racing machine and presentation special.
At the end of his racing career, he headed the car to a private collector. We have no idea how many owners have changed since the end of his racing career, but in 2014 he underwent a complete renovation, with which he celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the introduction of the first Ford Mustang.
During the recent Mecum Indy 2020 auction, the Shelby Mustang GT350R with the number R5002 was auctioned for $ 3.5 million. With fees, however, the price climbed to $ 3.85 million, which puts this Shelby in the position of the most expensive auctioned Mustang in history.
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