Fidel's local Ford dealer didn't have any Shelbys in stock and wouldn't take Fidel's requests for one seriously. Fidel was fed up. One day he walked into the showroom with the required amount of money to buy a Shelby. The dealer saw all that cash in Fidel's hand and changed his mind
Fidel immediately set about racing his new car as well as using it as a daily driver, the GT-350 carried Fidel to his various job sites during the week. It was on the job that the car caught the attention of a young kid. The kid wanted a ride, and Fidel obliged. The young kid was wowed and became a racer in his teens. He later switched to engine building. One of his engines won the Indy 500 years later.
Before he knew it, the whole experience came to an abrupt end in the early 1970s when the car was stolen because the GT-350 had extensive engine work done and was known in the area. The thieves couldn't sell the car without attracting attention, so they pulled the engine to sell it out of town. The body of the car was abandoned in bushes, destroyed. Sadly, the car had to be written off.
http://www.oneownercollectorcar.com/index.php/cars/goneforever/82-1967-ford-mustang-shelby-gt-350-fidel-kunz
I was born the same year "Uncle" Fidel bought that car and it was his pride an joy and understandably devastated him when it was stolen from thew carport at his house in North Vancouver then found gutted on Burnaby mountain. Fidel and that Shelby were out at Westwood quite regularly, that's where the top two pictures were taken. I have quite a few more pictures of it my father had taken of it somewhere in the many photo albums they had. My mom and Dad were really close friends with them and I remember going to their house numerous times as a kid and hanging out with their son Bruce while they visited, the kind of friends you as a kid called "Uncle" and "Aunty". They all used to get together along with another racer, Charly Godecke at the old Heidelberg House on Robson Street in Vancouver where my mom once worked and If I remember correctly, is where they all met. My mom and dad have since passed on, as has Fidel's wife Elena along with "Uncle" Hugo and "Aunty" Erna that owned the Heidelberg House. I lost touch with Bruce many years ago and all I really remember was he was a mechanic but for who I can't recall. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
ReplyDelete