1967 & 1968 Shelby G.T. TV Commercials

[Brian Styles]

1967 Shelby G.T. TV commercial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZrIPuPkahE

Observations of the '67 Commercial:

• The gentleman in the very beginning of the video with Carroll Shelby is Donald Frey, the creator of the Mustang
• The lovely lady wearing the white dress at the airport is Diana Trampe (at the time of the video, Carroll’s personal assistant and the Editor-in-Chief of the Cobra Crier newsletter).
• We believe that two different locations were used for this video. The first scene was off-site, and the second was obviously at the Los Angeles airport.
• Two different dark green G.T. 350 cars appear in this video. The first one appears at the start of the video with Carroll Shelby and Donald Frey at the off-site location (believed to be a Los Angeles area hotel).
• The off-site location with arched overhang, seen as the backdrop for the first 17 seconds is likely a hotel. The 'script' could be the Carroll was picking Don up to show him the brand new Shelby G.T. product. This first off-site location is likely in California but could be Michigan.
• A different dark green G.T. 350 car is being driven by Daina Trampe on the airport tarmac.
  
• We know the two dark green cars are different due to the rectangular Shelby emblem being mounted to different locations on the front fenders of both cars. 
  
• The gentleman driving the bronze car at the airport was Dante Cardone from the from the Advertising and Public Relations (Sales) Department. Thanks to Daina for the help identifying him. 
  
• The first bronze car wasn't finished until 10/31/67, so the video couldn't have been completed (produced) until November 1966, at the earliest. 

Donald Frey and Carroll Shelby

Two different Dark Green G.T. 350 cars!

Diana Trampe and Dante Cardone

1968 Shelby Cobra G.T. TV Commercial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX1rYSdEDQI

Observations of the '68 Commercial:

• The '68 advertising cars, including the Acapulco Blue fastback (actually a '67 #0463), weren't updated to serve as disguised advertising cars before April 1967. #0463 was still sporting the '67 1/2 style front end and performing the A/C cooling tests up through the end of March.
  
• Based on the quantity of '67 model year vehicles still lined-up at the airport, this video was likely filmed circa July 1967.

Now did you know that the 1967 and 1968 Shelby G.T. one-minute TV commercials had the exact same audio track? That’s right -- it appears that Ford just replaced the video and reused the audio voice-over. Here's a side-by-side comparison

https://youtu.be/plCm_M1Q5aY

Special thanks to Kieth Champine and Rich Plescia for their video scrutiny, observations and late-night brainstorming. Also to Jamie Ventrella for creating the side-by-side comparison of the '67 and '68 commercials to demonstrate the reused audio track.

[propaynegraphics]

Love those - hopefully a better version of the '67 commercial will turn up.

And notice at the end of the '68 commercial Shelby is driving past rows of '67s at LAX.

- Phillip

[Brian Styles]

Hey Philip,

Yes, the '68-styled cars in the '68 commercial were actually 1967 models in disguise. it is likely this commercial was filmed circa July 1967.

We haven't identified the red Ford Mustang's VIN. It could be one of three regular '67 Mustangs that were in SAI's company car inventory, along with eight coupes and three convertibles. Or it could have been sent to SAI's Show Car division by Ford for prep and photography.

The Acapulco Blue Shelby G.T. 500 fastback is '67 #0463. 

Prior to becoming one of two '68 photographic (advertising) cars, #0463 was specially requisitioned to serve as the official "AC Cooling Test Car." Pictures exist of #0463 at the Goodyear high-speed test track in Texas along with the 427-powered #0544 (nicknamed the 'Super Snake'). At this time, #0463 was still Lime Gold, though it had been fitted with the '67-1/2 style front end (outboard high-beams), louvered hood and oil cooler for the official testing. The G.T. 500 Air Conditioning topic is mandatory reading on this topic.

Both cars appearing in the '68 TV commercial, the Red Mustang, and the Acapulco Blue Shelby GT500 were on-hand at Ford's annual Long Lead Technical (LLTC) conference, which was held July 6-7th, 1967 at Riverside International Raceway. The Press day was the 7th. After the LLTC event, on July 10th, the advertising cars, including two Shelbys, #0139 the G.T. 500 Convertible, and #0463 the Acapulco Blue fastback, along with three Ford Mustangs, a white convertible, turquoise coupe and red fastback, were all taken to Idyllwild and photographed at several scenic locations. Other Ford products may have also been taken to there and photographed, though we haven't performed any research on them.

Our photo file:

Idyllwild Shelby G.T. photos (Ford Photographic Dept. file #5011) 

Idyllwild Ford Mustang photos (Ford Photographic Dept. file #4903)

[Stephan Scholz]

Hey,

sorry when i bring back the thread after year ... but i found the video again with a lot better resolution ... i love it

https://youtu.be/JVf67C9rbFE

[Brian S]

We just learned that the building in the backdrop of the first scene of the '67 Shelby TV commercial is the 4-story Ford Division - North American Automotive Operations (NAAO) Building located at the corner of Rotunda and Southfield Freeway in Dearborn (across the street from the Dearborn test track). This intel comes from SAAC Motor City members Paul Krencicki and Bill Cook. The building was demolished approx 25 years ago.

The arch would have been on the front side of the building. This colorized photo is of the back of the building.

It's now our working theory that the brick wall visible as the backdrop in the PR photo with Carroll may have been the single-story attached structure behind the 4-story NAAO building. We're working on obtaining a better-resolution photo that will hopefully yield additional details.