Page 36 - Experience Magazine Winter 2023

LOT #1396 - 1966 SHELBY GROUP II MUSTANG - BUILT FOR KEN MILES - NO RESERVE
BORN TO RACE

1966 SHELBY GROUP II MUSTANG BUILT FOR LEGENDARY DRIVER KEN MILES

One of the saddest aspects when a life of It is fascinating to consider what Miles
achievement is cut short is contemplating could have accomplished behind the
what might have been. That question has wheel of this car. The Group II Mustangs
surrounded the life of racing driver Ken were built primarily to race in the newly
Miles for decades. There’s no answer to created Sports Car Club of America (SCCA)
such musings, of course. What is left for Trans-American Sedan Championship.
the people who knew and loved him, and Ford was interested in the Manufacturers’
the racing fans who followed his career, Championship the new series offered
is a quiet appreciation for what he did and approached Shelby American about
accomplish — and that was plenty. building Mustangs to race in the Trans
Am’s Over 2-Liter class. Shelby built 16
Miles was the winner of countless sports car
races in the 1950s and won the 1961 United notchback 1966 Group II Mustangs, and
States Auto Club (USAC) Road Racing this car is the well-known 12th car from
Championship. He was a Shelby-American that batch.
team driver and chief test driver in the The Group II cars were built essentially
1960s. He won the 24 Hours of Daytona, using the GT350 R-Model blueprint,
the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 1966 although there are differences between the
24 Hours of Le Mans in actuality, if not two. While modified to racing specifications
officially. These accomplishments placed by Shelby, the cars carried Ford serial
him at the top of his sport, and Miles has numbers. The Mustangs were built to
received a well-deserved reintroduction to a conform to FIA Group II rules, so unlike the
younger generation of racing fans thanks to Shelby GT350 R-Models, they were required
the 2019 movie “Ford v Ferrari.” to maintain the steel hood without a scoop,
all four seats in place and factory glass
This 1966 Shelby Group II Mustang is
another chapter in the “what might have windows, among other details.
been” story of Ken Miles, and it will be While we can ponder what Miles might have
offered with No Reserve at the Barrett- done with the car, we don’t have to imagine
Jackson 2023 Scottsdale Auction. According the racing history of the Mustang itself. It
to the Shelby American Automobile Club was raced as intended and has a long list
(SAAC), Shelby American World Registry of achievements to its credit. Its first owner
and Carroll Shelby himself, which is was driver John McComb, who competed
documented in the Special Collector’s extensively in SCCA events. He drove the
Edition of Mustang Monthly January 1995 car to the SCCA A/Sedan Midwest Division
magazine, this Mustang was built for Ken Championship in 1966. McComb’s victory
Miles to race. Tragically, Miles died in a at the Green Valley, Texas, Trans-Am race
crash while testing the Ford J-car, the next (with co-driver Brad Brooker) helped Ford
evolution in the GT40 program, at Riverside secure the Manufacturers’ Championship
International Raceway on August 17, 1966. in its class in the first year of the Trans-Am
He would never have the chance to drive series. McComb sold the car in 1967, but it
the Mustang that was in the Shelby pipeline continued to be raced into the early 1970s.
specifically for him to race.

36 BARRETT-JACKSON EXPERIENCE WINTER 2023