1967 Shelby Mustang Hardtop Group 2 #8
© Bjørnar Djønne, Wolfgang Kohrn - 1997, last updated on October, 22nd, 201
8

 


The car #8 as found by Bjornar Djonne and his friend Arild in 1987.



 

 


"Hi guys, I am Bjørnar Djønne from Norway  
and this is the story of my ultrarare 1967 Shelby Hardtop Racer."


(May 29th, 1967 Oulton Park/Great Britain)  

In 1967 Shelby entered 4 Terlingua Racing team cars in the Group 2 Sedan races. One was driven by Jerry Titus, the others were similar yellow/black team cars. Dick Thompson and Roy Bucknum were famous pilots of those other so-called T/A team car racers. 

Aside from those cars Shelby built and sold 22 additional modified hardtops for independent racers such as John McComb. One of this series which was available basically race-ready with a set up of a massaged 289 with an aluminium intake, a double Holley-carb set up and headers, is mine.

It was bought from FoMoCo Sweden for the famous swedish race driver Bo Ljungfeldt and it was actually the 8th produced notchback produced by Carroll Shelby in 1967. All 1967 Group 2 cars were delivered in white colour.

How I found the car?

One day in 1987 I got notice of a red special Mustang Hardtop that was for sale. I knew it was driven from Trond Schea in the past, a famous and well-known norwegian racer.
Nobody knew that it was a Shelby at that time, because it was converted once to a 'normal' Mustang to promote sales of Ford products rather than Shelbys.
When I checked it out there was still a tach mounted to the column plus more strange items..


I stuck a deal after some time with the last owner after negotiation. My friend Arild Guldbrandsen and myself went with his Camino and a trailer to the garage and picked the car up.

The pictures to the left show the car in the condition when we loaded it up. Have a look at the smile of my friend Arilds face. I restored the car and used it as a daily driver for some years in the early 90ies. At that time more and more vintage race pictures appeared in the magazines. In one of them I saw my car being mentioned as a Shelby. I send a letter to the SAAC and I got confirmation that my car was indeed one of the 26 Shelby Trans Am Hardtops.





Bosse in front of a bunch of 911, one Chevy and two Mustangs behind.
Stefan Magnusson pointed us to the racetrack of Skarpnäck. "It was an old airfield, which was used for racing from 1948 and closed and torn up in 1980 (today there is absolutely nothing left of the track)."


Bosse Ljungfeldt in an unknown race. Behind him the Swedish champion in 67, Boo Brasta in a Porsche 911. Stefan Magnusson thinks this is the same racetrack as above.


Tom Belso drove the car #8 at least in  two races in Denmark,  where he crashed it once (rear fender damage)

All above pictures courtesy Bjørnar Djønne except where indicated.




The history of Car # 8 of the 1967 Shelby Hardtops

Bosse in his first race in Brunnjøen February 67 ..on ice. He first lead the race, but lost later one wheel, because it was not tightened up. Plus one driveshaft. Car number 61. Bosse thought it was not competitive on slippery surface and did only one other race on ice later. 

Bosse (Bo) Ljungfeldt was succesfull in most of the events he entered between February and October of 1967. The next race was at the RIng Knutstorph on the 30th of April. The track was short and narrow and no good for a Mustang, yet Bosse came in second behind Bosse Johanson in his Porsche 911.
Ljungfeldt however won the next race in Skarpnack on May 7th, 1967.

The 29th May saw Bo - based on an invitation by Ford Racing Manager Taylor - at the Oulton Park race in Great Britain with his car. He made the fastest test track time, but DNF in the race due to a fuel hose snapping from the pump.

Back in Sweden he made it to the velodrom-løpet, where he improved his time by 5 seconds.

29th of June he entered the Shelby Mustang in the midnatsløpet in Skeleftea. In the eights lap, he blew the engine. The engine disappeared after the race. A new Cobra engine was ordered, which did not arrive before the next race in Dalsland, 2nd of July.

However on the 8th of August, Bosse won the race with the fresh combo at the new Falkenberg race track. 40.000 spectators saw his victory.

The final race at Skarpnack was cruical. During the testing the timing chain broke. It could be repaired, but Bo had to start from the back of the grid. After one lap he was in 3rd position, but a steering problem arose. Bosse Johannson won the championship against Bosse Ljungfeldt.

After that season the car was loaned to FoMoCo Denmark, where driver Tom Belso raced it. Tom rolled the car finally in a race in Norway.


Tom Belso raced the car for Ford Denmark in several races, here with door number 82. Behind him his main competitor H.C. Jürgenson in a 911 #95, others were Age Buch Larson, Fleming Rasmussen, Sven Engstrøm and Kaj Dornebusch.

Ford of Denmark races: 
- Roskilde Ring, 30th. April
- Jyllands Ringen, 21. May
- Jyllands Ringen, 18th. June

- Ring Djursland, 29.-30th July (GP) (not confirmed for this car)
- Roskilde Ring, 19.-20. August (GP) (not confirmed for this car)
- Jyllands RIngen, 26.-27. August (not confirmed for this car)
- Ring Djursland, 24th. September (not confirmed for this car)
- Jyllands Ringen, 8th. October(not confirmed for this car)

Tom Belso made the 2nd place in that season behind Kaj Dornebusch on a Porsche 911.


In this picture from Jesper Hanson, you can see that the car was hit on the right fender in a danish race at Roskilde, before it went with the BMW #144 from John Lindberg into the spectators area......

This picture shows the damage that occured on car #8. The accident happened in the first lap. Apparently not one was hurt as far as we know. The Mustangs fenders got beaten back into shape and the race was restarted. Tom Belso succeeded to win 3rd. place.


FoMoCo Norway bought the car, repaired it and raced it until the 8th of February 1970 with Trond Schea. That day it blew the engine during a race on ice. It was then repainted in Castrol colors and used as a service car.

Later it was converted to street use.

Note the norwegian licence plate C-60 4758 that was assigned already in January 1968 in Lillehammer probably to Ford Norway. Here Trond Schea drives the car in the 1968 seasons. The car was reregistered in 1971 for Trond Schea himself in Oslo.

Here with door number 1 at another norwegian race. 


Trond Schea and the Shelby at the Bjerkefeld horsetrack race in 1968.

A nice follow-up shot of the scene above at the same Bjerkefeld track.

Several owners followed until it got into my hands. I am currently restoring it to the original Shelby Racing specifications ... since 1997.

Trond Shea with the then dark Shelby No. 66. Check out his race suit.

Trond at it again - another place - another race.


Bjornar Djonne drove car #8 for a while on the road, licenced for Norway, before he finally took it apart.

This is Shelby T/A car #8 as of February 2013.



The car is still under restoration as of 2013. Update...and almost finished as of October 2017.

One of the other Shelby mods on the 1967 Notchback.

Bjørnar Djønne

Editors note: Bjornar send us a picture of his obviously remounted doortag and his stamped in VIN in the fenders. Both match a K-code car we had already on our radar. Whether the car was shipped with a true K-code or an A-code is still a matter of research. We hope to have the answer soon.






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