One of last year’s biggest movies was the movie “Ford v Ferrari” detailing how and why Ford decided to challenge Ferrari at Le Mans in the 1960s. One of the key and iconic figures on that show was the legendary racer Ken Miles, portrayed in the film by Christian Bale. The real 1965 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R prototype that the real Ken Miles ran with recently crossed the auction block at the Mecum auction in Indianapolis and set a record when the hammer fell.
The iconic race car sold for $ 3.85 million, making it the best-selling Mustang of all time. In addition to being driven by Miles, the car was the first Shelby R-Model competition car built and was the first Shelby Mustang to win a race. The vehicle was originally a Shelby American Factory team car and was an engineering test vehicle.
The car is hailed as the most historically important Shelby Mustang in the world. In addition to being driven by Ken Miles, he was also extensively driven by other iconic racing drivers, including Bob Bondurant, Chuck Cantwell, Peter Brock, and Jerry Titus. The vehicle accumulated more than ten top places in production B during the 1965 SCCA racing season.
Finally, Jerry Titus won the 1965 National B-Production Championship thanks to the points he had earned driving 5R002 earlier in the season. Shelby’s improvements to the iconic race car were also included in the second-team car and the 34 customer R models that were produced.
The vehicle was professionally restored to the original 1965 Green Valley livery and has numerous victories on the show circuit. Some argue that this specific car is the most important Mustang in the brand’s history.
