Ol' Shel his-own-self was on-hand, according to the folks at www.StangsUnleashed.com, to present the first Mustang Shelby GT500. Barrett-Jackson auctioned the rights to that first car for $600,000 (you read right); it was purchased by Ron Pratte. Proceeds benefited Carroll Shelby's Childrens Charity for heart transplant surgery. Hey! Ol' Shel' is profiled in this month's VANITY FAIR mag --- Pretty good piece, too, pretty dang honest, though most car people might not read that monthly...
StangsUnleashed watched on June 23, 2006, as GT500s were rolling off the assembly line and Carroll Shelby handed the keys to the first Shelby GT500 (Grabber Orange with Tungsten Stripes) sold to the public to Ron Pratte, the winning bidder in a charity auction last January. This car was won for $600,000 from the Barret-Jackson auction house. All the proceeds went to Carroll Shelby's Childrens Charity.
"On behalf of the management and workers here at AutoAlliance, I'm proud to hand over the keys to this Shelby GT500," said Gary Roe, President, AutoAlliance. "The Shelby GT500 is an instant classic and the AutoAlliance team couldn't be happier to be a part of the Ford-Shelby history."
Carroll Shelby was at the event today that took place at AutoAlliance, to personally oversee the delivery of the first Shelby GT500. Mr.Shelby also personally signed the first GT500 on the passenger side glove box for Mr. Pratte.
Shelby often tells people about his cars, "The most valuable thing on it is my signature on the glovebox", and while that may often be true, at least this time the money is going to a good place.
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