Barn Find Only Black 1968 Shelby Cobra GT 500 Mustang Sold In Texas

www.BurlsHypnoticCustoms.com Amos Minter reminisces about the late Carroll Shelby with Aaron Shelby the grandson of the legendary automotive icon. Minter met the former race car driver in Red River County where he raised cattle on his ranch in northeast Texas. It’s fitting that Burl’s Hypnotic Customs is a Texas bred custom hot rod and semi truck shop located in the same region of Texas. Minter talked with Shelby in front the only solid black 1968 Carroll Shelby GT500 Mustang Fastback that was ever sold in Texas. Minter who restores vintage 1950’s Ford Thunderbirds found the Shelby GT500 hidden away in an old Mennonite barn in the East Texas Countryside. The Shelby Cobra barn find was a show stopper at the 5th Annual Shelby Car Show hosted by LegacyTexas Bank in Plano on June 21, 2014. Aaron Shelby is the bank’s Executive Vice President and looks after the family’s interest in the bank. He is also a Director of Carroll Shelby International. Minter who had owned several restored Shelby Cobras hauled it into his restoration shop his son came out with a bucket of water to clean it. Minter put a stop to that saying, “they are only original once” and he has no intention of a full restoration. He rebuilt the engine and mechanical systems of the 1968 Shelby GT500 but left the interior and exterior untouched. Mud Dirt Dobber nests remain stuck to the driver’s side window and a coat of soil covers the car inside and out. When the Mustang was found in the barn it still had on New Mexico license plates from 1972. Minter also talked about Shelby’s brand of Texas Chili mix which he began marketing in 1969 and in 1976 creates his own chili powder to, “shake the meanness out of the most ornery, leather-mouthed chili-head that was ever born.” Most fans don’t know that Shelby opened a chicken farm in 1949 and quickly went bankrupt when a disease killed his poultry. Three years later he started drag racing a flathead Ford V-8 hot rod in quarter mile heats and the rest is automotive history.

Added 5 Aug 2026