Paxton Supercharged 1968 Shelby GT350 Is The Proverbial Cream Of The Crop

July 9, 2020 3:42 am

Any early Shelby Mustang is a special car, no matter how we slice it. But some are more special and valuable than others, of course. This is especially true of early Shelbys that came equipped with a Paxton supercharger. Shelby American offered the blower over-the-counter as an accessory for any Mustang, or it would install it for a fee. But very few of these power-adders made their way onto cars like this pristine 1968 Shelby GT350 convertible that’s for sale over at Duffy’s Classic Cars.

The story of this interesting collaboration began when Carroll Shelby sent a ’65 GT350 over to Paxton, who promptly installed a supercharger on the car. Back at Shelby headquarters, the supercharged GT350 reportedly outran a 289 Cobra, which prompted Shelby to place an order for 500 blowers. At first, Shelby planned on offering the supercharger in a special GT350S model, but ultimately decided to simply install the Paxton unit on a new GT350 if a customer paid for the parts and labor.

In 1968, Ford almost completely took over production of the GT350 and relocated production to Michigan. This particular 1968 Shelby GT350 convertible is one of the finest examples we’ve seen in some time, and more importantly, packs a dealer-installed Paxton supercharger. It look simply fantastic finished in Candy Apple Red with a Camel interior and white convertible top, along with a set of original Shelby spoked alloys with and 235/60R15 BFG radial tires.

This is also a fairly early car, with a build date of January 24^th 1968. And the seller has all of the documentation a collector might want, including the factory build sheet, original window sticker, a Deluxe Marti Report, the owner’s manual, and keys. To find an original, numbers-matching car like this is undoubtedly special, and the Paxton supercharger is just the proverbial cherry on top, even if there’s no telling exactly how rare it really is.

We’ll have more cool classics like this soon, so be sure to subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford Mustang news and around-the-clock Ford news coverage.

By Brett Foote

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.