A 1965 Shelby GT350 and its modern namesake share the same badge, the same maker, and almost nothing else. One is a stripped-down homologation racer with a solid-lifter 289; the other is a flat-plane-crank, carbon-trimmed track weapon built five decades later. Gears and Gasoline got Bob and Sam to bring both together, and the gap between them says everything about how far the pony car has traveled. See what fifty-one years of heritage really looks like side by side.
Put two cars wearing the same three letters nose to nose and you expect a family resemblance. The 1965 Shelby GT350 and its modern descendant break that expectation almost immediately. As the team at Gears and Gasoline frames it, technology marches forward and the cars get objectively better every year — but you cannot forget the legacy the original set, and the classic did not need a flat-plane crank or a carbon-fiber composite body to earn its place. It had something the spec sheet never captures: fifty-one years of heritage riding on the badge. Watching what connects these two machines, and what quietly separates them, is the whole point.
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What the Original GT350 Actually Was
The first GT350 was barely a street car at all. Carroll Shelby took the Mustang fastback and turned it into a homologation special so he could go road racing, which meant a hi-po 289 with a solid-lifter cam and a Holley four-barrel, relocated suspension pickup points, Koni shocks, and in the earliest cars no back seat to speak of. It was loud, uncompromising, and fast for its era, and it beat Corvettes in SCCA competition. Every one of those decisions existed to make the car quicker on a track, not more comfortable on a Sunday drive.
Fifty-One Years of the Same Name
The modern GT350 chases the same mission with a completely different toolbox. Its 5.2-liter Voodoo V8 uses a flat-plane crankshaft — the same architecture Ferrari favors — to spin past 8,000 rpm with a shriek no cross-plane Detroit V8 can make. Add magnetic dampers, aggressive aero, and chassis engineering the 1965 team could only dream about, and you have a car that would embarrass its ancestor around any road course. Yet it exists only because the first one proved the name was worth carrying.
Why Bringing Them Together Matters
That is why getting both in the same frame is such a treat, and why the video is a genuine honor to watch. Special thanks are owed to Bob and Sam for bringing two automotive icons together, because moments like this are rare — the cars are valuable, the owners protective, and the schedules never line up. Seeing the raw, analog original beside the screaming, high-tech modern is the clearest possible lesson in how the pony car grew up without losing its purpose. Watch the full video and share your thoughts below.
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Bill Hillier
66
I’m only 25 and I would rather have a beautiful 1966 GT350 rather than the new one. Sure the new one is nice but you can’t beat old school muscle, and the history and heritage behind it.