1968 Shelbys were only built for nine months. Cars destined for A.O. Smith didn't leave the Ford plant until December of 1967 and the last cars were shipped the first week in August of 1968. The conversion process continued into the fall of 1968. The GT500KRs (Production Total of 1571) had only a three month run- May, June and July of 1968.
A.O. Smith was actually involved much earlier than the '68 Shelby program. Apparently their involvement dates back to the '67 Shelby program. It is probable that they got involved after all the fitment problems with the initial batch of '67 Shelby fiberglass that was fabricated in California with molds made from a twisted Mustang.
Most of these pictures were taken by Jack Reddeker on an A.O. Smith plant tour in 1968. This GT500KR is half of AO Smith's display. The other half was a Cougar XR-7G. The XR-7Gs were also built by AO Smith.
Shelbys started out as "knockdown" versions of 1968 Mustangs. All cars destined for conversion were built at Ford's Metuchen, New Jersey assembly plant. The cars were shipped on rail carriers to A.O. Smith in Ionia, Michigan.
the '68 Shelby Cobra Mustangs were called Shelby Cobras. The word "Mustang" is not found anywhere on the cars.
The cars all came with standard 15"x6" steel, heavy duty steel rims and hub caps. The hub caps were stock Ford Thunderbird and were suppose to look like mag wheels with a Shelby Cobra emblem in the middle. (See the hubcaps on the image below.) The accountants at Ford thought they could save a lot on the 68's by making the aluminum alloy wheels an option, the same type 10-spoke wheel offered at the end of the '67 production run. The 15"x7" wheel was a special Shelby only mag. (The 1968 aluminum wheels will not fit 67 cars, though.)
lots of information about these photos at http://www.thecoralsnake.com/PHOTOS.HTML
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