Steve Smith loves driving his thunderously loud classic Shelby Mustang, but the problem is that he has nowhere to park it.
“I’ve got a bunch of guys downtown that won’t let me park at their parkades because I set off all the car alarms as I go by,” Smith boasts. Parking attendants might not like the sound of 428 high-compression cubic-inches pounding through dual exhausts, but we can’t get enough of it.
Steve Smith’s 1968 Ford Mustang, known as The Bondo Beast
Steve Smith, Driving
Smith’s first car was a dilapidated and rusty 1968 Ford Mustang known as the “Bondo Beast” that he bought in his youth. Ever since his first Mustang, his sights were set on a Shelby. Smith got the chance he’d waited decades for when he found this red drop-top in Santa Ana, Calif. Without hesitating, he pulled the trigger, bought the car and got the car home to Calgary.
The “KR” stands for King of the Road and denotes that there’s a high-performance 428-cubic-inch V8 under the hood. How much power does it make? That’s anyone’s guess, really. Ford under-rated the engine at a hilarious 335 horsepower, but frequent quarter-mile times of around 14 seconds tells us that this engine is likely producing something north of 400 horsepower.
The badges and tape stripes leave little doubt as to what lies under the hood.
Clayton Seams, Driving
Shelby Mustangs have always been rare cars, but the combination of the convertible body-style and the high-horsepower KR engine make this car one of just 318 made in 1968 with that combination. Smith’s car is also an automatic, which makes it even more rare.
As my ringing ears can attest, the car isn’t completely stock. The car’s vocals have been improved via the addition of tube headers and a free-flowing exhaust with nominal mufflers. The stock exhaust system used laughably small 1-inch diameter pipes that would be more at home on a Micra than a Mustang. Is there a better way to celebrate the coming of spring than with a big-block Shelby convertible? I can’t think of any!
