Mandatory and Optional Options

[Brian Styles]

Have you ever heard of “Mandatory Options?” 

Well, look no further than a 1967 Shelby. 

• Power Disc Brakes ... $64.77
• Power Steering ... $84.47
• Shoulder Harnesses ... $50.76

These were ‘options’….. err, I mean they were ‘mandatory options’ and retailed for $200, adding about 7% to the base price of a ‘67 Shelby. By mandatory, I mean you couldn’t purchase a ‘67 Shelby G.T. without them. Shelby referred to these as "Factory Fitted Optional Equipment." A bit of a ‘marketing spin' or more 'Shelby-nanigans’?

Now that we understand some options were ‘mandatory options’ and some were ‘optional options,’ just how ‘loaded out’ could a ‘67 Shelby be?

Listed from most expensive to least expensive (retail prices are shown)

• Cobra (Paxton) Supercharger (GT 350 only, n/a with Air/Con) … $549.00
• Selectaire Air Conditioning … $356.09
• Tinted Glass, $30.25, was priced separately but was always ordered on Air/Con cars
• Oil Cooler, priced separately but required for GT 500 AIr/Con cars ... $60.45
• Deluxe (Mag Star) or Shelby (Aluminum 10-spoke) optional wheels (set of 5) … $185.00 (that's $37/per)
• Fold-Down Rear Seat ... $64.77 (listed as optional, but was really mandatory)
• Automatic Transmission … $50.00
  
• AM Push Button Radio … $57.51
  
• Exhaust Emissions … $45.45
  (Note: Closed Crankcase Emissions, $5.19, is sometimes itemized and sometimes it isn’t)
  
• Rally (LeMans) Stripes … $24.95
  

Not a whole lot of 'optional options' for these special cars .... which is certainly one of the reasons that the paint and trim colors matter so much to us...

See Also

• G.T. 500 cars with Air Conditioning
• Tinted Windows

[jim]

Brian:  Ive never seen an invoice with Lemans stripes listed.  Do you have any cars that got them from Shelby 

[Brian Styles]

Updated: Link to our dedicated topic on the Full Stripes

Production Orders and Invoices were both printed and have areas for the designation and itemization of Stripes. 

The Production Order referred to them as "Full Stripe" (in the left-most box of the Optional Equipment section)

The Monroney Label (Window Sticker) called them "Rallye Stripes"

The Accessories Guide (dated Nov-1, 1966), also referred to them as "Rally Stripes" (notice the missing 'e' on Rallye) with a wholesale cost to the dealer of $24.95 and a suggested retail of $34.95.

You might also notice that on this document, the fold-down rear seat wasn't listed under the 'mandatory options' section.

SAI Vehicle Invoices were generated on-the-fly, so there was no pre-printed line for the Rallye Stripes.

SAI Continuation Invoices (those for non-Shelby-franchised Ford dealers) were pre-printed and did not have a line item for the Rallye stripes.

Was it Shelby American's original intention to offer the Full Stripe (Rally Stripe) as an option for '67? It certainly seems that way, however, we have not found any Production Orders, Invoices, or Windows Stickers for any cars that can be verified as leaving Shelby American with the Full/Rally/Rallye Stripes.

Keep in mind that our research is only as strong as the paperwork we've been able to collect and analyze. To date, we've only sampled paperwork for a fraction of the 3,225 cars that were serialized for the 1967 model year. 

This isn't a conclusion that no cars left SAI with Rallye Stripes -- it is simply reporting that we haven't verified any...