Say “Shelby GT500” and most Mustang fans picture one number: 428, the Police Interceptor big-block that separated a real GT500 from every other big-block fastback Ford built in 1967. This beautiful fastback raises the obvious question: genuine GT500, or a 390 GT dressed to look the part? The two get confused constantly, and the real answer usually comes down to a data plate, not a paint job.
She is a BEAUTY!
Say “Shelby GT500” to any Mustang die-hard and their mind jumps straight to one number: 428. That’s the Police Interceptor big-block Shelby dropped under the hood in 1967, and it’s the engine that separates a genuine GT500 from every other big-block fastback Ford built that year — including 390-powered cars that get mistaken for Shelbys more often than owners probably like to admit. A beautiful 1967 fastback with a big-block rumble is a great car no matter what badge is on the fender, but the difference between a 390 GT and a real GT500 is the difference between a fast Mustang and one of the most famous muscle cars Ford ever built. So which one are you actually looking at?
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What Actually Made a GT500 a GT500
Shelby’s 1967 GT500 came standard with a 428 cubic-inch Police Interceptor V8 fed by twin 600-cfm Holley four-barrels on a medium-rise aluminum intake — a setup Ford officially rated at 355 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque, numbers most enthusiasts and period road testers believe were sandbagged to keep insurance companies happy, with real output likely closer to 400 horsepower. The GT500’s 0-60 time of roughly 6.2 seconds backs that up. That’s a very different animal from the FE-based 390 GT engine that powered plenty of standard 1967 Mustang fastbacks.
Why the Two Get Confused Constantly
Both engines are FE-family big-blocks, both came in fastback bodies, and both make a genuinely great noise through dual exhaust — which is exactly why casual observers, and more than a few sellers, blur the line between a standard 390 GT fastback and Shelby’s 428-powered GT500. The real tells live in the details: Shelby’s fiberglass nose and hood, the wider taillight panel borrowed from the Cougar, the roll bar, and of course the VIN and door tag that confirm whether a car actually left Shelby American or just left a Ford assembly line with a big-block and a fastback roof.
The Real Value Is in the Paper Trail
Whether this particular fastback turns out to be a true GT500 or a well-built 390 GT tribute, the way to know for certain is the same either way: a Marti Report or Ford data plate decode, checked against Shelby American’s own registry for genuine GT500 production. Real GT500s carry a premium that a standard fastback simply can’t touch, which is exactly why documentation matters more on a car like this than on almost anything else from the muscle car era.
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