Page 36 - Experience Magazine Winter 2023
P. 36

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
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