77 year old road racer Charlie Kemp is saying good bye to a life long friend; his beloved 1965 Shelby Mustang GT350. This Mustang is no ordinary Mustang, this is a record holding, champion SCCA race car. The Shelby Mustang is heading to the RM Auctions at Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance where it will be auctioned off on March 8th.
In his prime, Kemp was a road racer who went toe to toe against legends such as Mario Andretti. During the 1968 & 1969 SCCA seasons Kemp drove under the checker flag 17 times in a row, giving it the most wins of any Shelby car.
Kemp purchased the Mustang in 1967 for $4,600 with the intention of making her into a race car. He purchased a bunch of spare parts and enlisted the help of a new friend: Pete Hood to make the car into a maverick. Pete tweaked the suspension so the car would glide along the curves of a road course and tuned the engine for more power.
He also shaved every ounce of weight off he could to make the car lighter. He even went as far as cutting off every extra bit metal under the car that was not need for a reduction of 20-30 lbs. He tuned the V-8 engine to produce a hefty 450 horsepower.
In 1969 while at Daytona, Hood’s tuning and Kemp’s driving skills blew Carroll Shelby away. While on the track the little Mustang reached a then record of 184 MPH. “Carroll (Shelby) said it was the fastest (GT350) he’d ever seen,” says Kemp. “He said he didn’t understand how it went 184, but it did.”
The Mustang still has it’s original white paint job with blue racing strips, a red front end and a few scratches from her racing days. She had a career which spanned 54 races and she has remained largely unchanged since her last race. Kemp believes this car could still performance well if taken out on the track. It’s estimated to sell for a minimum of $1.1 Million at the RM Auction.