Injury forced original owner to sell 1966 Mustang Shelby GT350 at auction

One owner of a Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 is up for auction – and he has an interesting story.

John Zegert is the first and only owner of this Shelby GT350which he acquired new in Syracuse in the summer of 1966.

Although GT350 Zegert says he was mostly left on the street because of a driving instructor who warned him what would happen if he missed the braking zone. Instead, John decided to buy another, less special, Mustang for use on the track.

The Pony Car was originally powered by a 289-cubic-inch V8 and produced 306 horsepower, but somewhere along the way, Segert added a Paxton supercharger, increasing that figure to about 500.

Read more: The historic 1965 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 hid in an abandoned house for decades

The car remains extremely original, still has the original wiper blades and spare tire, among the body and engine parts. The odometer shows just 29,431 miles (47,364 km), which is due to Segert’s career that sent him abroad. The oil car sat on the blocks for several years while John worked on a missile guidance system for GE, but when he returned, he said it was like driving a new car again.

The car nearly had to be sold along with the rest of Zegert’s fleet when his shares in General Motors went through the floor, but he held on tight to Shelby despite financial difficulties.

Now Zegert is selling the car because of an injury he received when he fell from the roof he was working on. He broke several bones, including his hips, and could not comfortably control them due to the mechanical transmission.

“What am I going to do, sit back and watch this until I die?” Segert joked.

This is something we would do, but it would be nice to give someone else a chance to enjoy the butter crust. Also, John apparently owns a 2009 GT500 with an automatic transmission that he will be able to use instead.

The GT350 will be put up for auction Mecum’s Indy sale from 13 to 21 May and is estimated to cost between $ 275,000 and $ 350,000.