Old Cobra Jet Mustangs

[BRETV]

Originally Posted by 4284spd

11807611_1087229804639596_7584091079020348240_o by Bob Smith, on Flickr
11811476_1084757648220145_6038151456684026292_n by Bob Smith, on Flickr
11813309_1084729248222985_7253938112613231106_n by Bob Smith, on Flickr
11822383_1084729334889643_5781281509678602413_n by Bob Smith, on Flickr
11888642_1027515790601554_5960453604416698280_o by Bob Smith, on Flickr

Bob,

The first classified ad, the white factory drag car, my uncle was building after he sold the Nitro 9 car. It was a 135 car. I remember going over to his house to help him and he was telling me how he was building a 4 link for it and how it would be ahead of it's time for SS cars back then. If you read in the ad it says extensive suspension work. He didn't have it long and sold it to buy the B/FX Pinto he raced in Comp. Funny we're talking about all this today, he would of been 78 today.





Bret Velde
2003 ??/SA

[4284spd]

That's cool. That 135 was restored back to bone stock and is owned by Tom Egan in Texas now.
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/art...tang-cobra-jet

Originally Posted by BRETV

Bob,

The first classified ad, the white factory drag car, my uncle was building after he sold the Nitro 9 car. It was a 135 car. I remember going over to his house to help him and he was telling me how he was building a 4 link for it and how it would be ahead of it's time for SS cars back then. If you read in the ad it says extensive suspension work. He didn't have it long and sold it to buy the B/FX Pinto he raced in Comp. Funny we're talking about all this today, he would of been 78 today.





Bret Velde
2003 ??/SA

[BRETV]

Originally Posted by 4284spd

That's cool. That 135 was restored back to bone stock and is owned by Tom Egan in Texas now.
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/art...tang-cobra-jet

I met Randy Delesio years ago and he told me he was the one that restored it. Very cool you're posting all these photo's. Thank you!!




Bret Velde
2003 ??/SA

[4284spd]

LOL, you know how small of a world it is? Tom Egan has 1 of the 34 1968.5 convertibles ever produced. It has my original hood off my 68.5 on it. At the time, my buddy was restoring it and knew my hood was hanging in my basement and offered me stupid money at the time and I sold it to him. He finished the car then sold it to Tom.

Originally Posted by BRETV

I met Randy Delesio years ago and he told me he was the one that restored it. Very cool you're posting all these photo's. Thank you!!




Bret Velde
2003 ??/SA

[BRETV]

Originally Posted by 4284spd

LOL, you know how small of a world it is? Tom Egan has 1 of the 34 1968.5 convertibles ever produced. It has my original hood off my 68.5 on it. At the time, my buddy was restoring it and knew my hood was hanging in my basement and offered me stupid money at the time and I sold it to him. He finished the car then sold it to Tom.

Bob,

Funny you brought up the convertibles. In 1987 my father and I found a 68.5 R code convertible for sale in Hemmings for $16,000. We drive to SC from FL and the owner meets us at a gas station at 5 AM, he pulls up in a beat up old Cadillac and says follow me with big cigar hanging out his mouth. We pull up to this very modest house with an old detached 1 stall garage. We're like this is not gonna be good. We walk in and he pulls the string to turn on the single light bulb. The car was a 16,000 original mile candyapple red black interior, white top, auto car. Original polyglass tires, original belts, original paint, top and interior, the car was like new. We were shocked. He said come inside and my wife will make you guys breakfast. We sat down to eat and his wife said to her husband please don't sell the mustang, he said okay honey. Me and my father were shocked. My dad said we didn't drive all this way to not buy the car. My dad opened his brief case and laid out the $16,000 in cash on the kitchen table. He said you better take the car and leave now before we change our mind. We grabbed the keys and flew outta there. This was before Marti reports and with us being Ford dealers we looked up everything we could to find any info. The first couple shows we took it to the mustang club judges refused to give us a trophy cause they said Ford never made any 68.5 R code convertibles, we argued with them to say the least LOL. In 1987 Mustang Monthly and Super Ford did articles on the car and Ford saw them and contacted us and came and did a photo shoot for baseball cards of some of Ford's super rare cars. We had the car until 1991 and sold it to a collector in NY for $30,000 thought we made a killing LOL. The car was used about 10 years ago for one of Barrett-Jackson commercials, Craig Jackson was driving it. It's now in AL and the owners called us some years back cause the Velde Ford emblem I put on the bumper when we bought it was still there and they thought we were the original selling dealer. They said it was the most original 68.5 convertible out of the 34 in existence and said we could buy back for $250,000. We said no thanks! LOL. Sorry for such a long story, but I thought you might enjoy. Wish we would have kept that one.




Bret Velde
2003 ??/SA

[4284spd]

I love hearing the stories!

Originally Posted by BRETV

Bob,

Funny you brought up the convertibles. In 1987 my father and I found a 68.5 R code convertible for sale in Hemmings for $16,000. We drive to SC from FL and the owner meets us at a gas station at 5 AM, he pulls up in a beat up old Cadillac and says follow me with big cigar hanging out his mouth. We pull up to this very modest house with an old detached 1 stall garage. We're like this is not gonna be good. We walk in and he pulls the string to turn on the single light bulb. The car was a 16,000 original mile candyapple red black interior, white top, auto car. Original polyglass tires, original belts, original paint, top and interior, the car was like new. We were shocked. He said come inside and my wife will make you guys breakfast. We sat down to eat and his wife said to her husband please don't sell the mustang, he said okay honey. Me and my father were shocked. My dad said we didn't drive all this way to not buy the car. My dad opened his brief case and laid out the $16,000 in cash on the kitchen table. He said you better take the car and leave now before we change our mind. We grabbed the keys and flew outta there. This was before Marti reports and with us being Ford dealers we looked up everything we could to find any info. The first couple shows we took it to the mustang club judges refused to give us a trophy cause they said Ford never made any 68.5 R code convertibles, we argued with them to say the least LOL. In 1987 Mustang Monthly and Super Ford did articles on the car and Ford saw them and contacted us and came and did a photo shoot for baseball cards of some of Ford's super rare cars. We had the car until 1991 and sold it to a collector in NY for $30,000 thought we made a killing LOL. The car was used about 10 years ago for one of Barrett-Jackson commercials, Craig Jackson was driving it. It's now in AL and the owners called us some years back cause the Velde Ford emblem I put on the bumper when we bought it was still there and they thought we were the original selling dealer. They said it was the most original 68.5 convertible out of the 34 in existence and said we could buy back for $250,000. We said no thanks! LOL. Sorry for such a long story, but I thought you might enjoy. Wish we would have kept that one.




Bret Velde
2003 ??/SA

[4284spd]

The old WildFire 68.5
31948820_10156186232227295_3550965036325273600_o by Bob Smith, on Flickr
20476157_10209603760997888_5277672864673462981_n by Bob Smith, on Flickr
23172840_10210239064800086_3753940612607640672_n by Bob Smith, on Flickr
29472761_10214726377249473_3561246419232751616_o by Bob Smith, on Flickr
20643290_1369760969737596_8389747413106356666_o by Bob Smith, on Flickr
1381378_10200737830955178_1253410316_n by Bob Smith, on Flickr
20616964_1368955303151496_9138488951418788952_o by Bob Smith, on Flickr