1969 De Mexico GT350: The Rare Mexican Shelby 'Stang You Probably Never Knew Existed

Less than a year after the Mustang's wildly successful unveiling, Lee Iacocca, the mastermind behind the popular pony car, enlisted the help of close friend Carroll Shelby to make the model sportier and thus more appealing to performance enthusiasts.

The result of this collaboration was the 1965 Shelby GT350, a thoroughly improved, lightweight, and powerful version that transformed the Mustang from a "secretary's car," as Shelby himself described it, to a legitimate road and track beast.

The GT350 and the subsequent GT500 became the range-topping Mustang-based muscle cars in the years that followed, and today, they're some of the most sought-after cars of the era.

But, while every enthusiast has heard about the GT350 and GT500, few are aware that a unique yet official version was developed in Mexico.

Shelby's Mexican connection

The Mexican Shelby story started in 1965 with Eduardo Velázquez. A successful businesman and the official Mexican distributor of Ford automotive parts, Velázquez recognized the potential of Shelby's performance parts and saught to become the lone distributor of the Los Ageles-based company's products in Mexico.

He started by commissioning a promotional Shelby GT350 race car based on the Mexican Mustang two-door hardtop coupe (the only body style marketed across the border).

This project, which led to a successful race car in the local Mexican road race circuit, also opened the door to Velázquez's ultimate goal.

After meeting Shelby American's parts manager, Timothy Foraker, and outlining his plans, Velázquez eventually was granted a sit-down with Carroll Shelby, with whom he immediately became friends.

The duo established Shelby International, SA, a new Nuevo León-based company that became colloquially known as Shelby de Mexico.

In the years that followed, Shelby de Mexico became the largest
est Shelby American parts supplier worldwide, and was also granted a license to modify stock, Mexican-built Mustangs into genuine Shelby GT350s.

The bespoke GT350 from across the border

The first GT350 produced in Mexico was launched in 1967. It featured the exact same Shelby-tuned 289 K-Code V8 and high-performance modifications as its American counterpart, but it was based on the Mexican hardtop (aka notchback), not the American fastback.

That year, 169 Mexican GT350s were produced. The figure was small but encouraging, so the company carried the model over to 1968, delivering an additional 203 cars.

However, for the 1969 model year, Shelby de Mexico faced a huge hurdle. Back in the US, Ford had restyled the Mustang once again, and the Shelby versions were now fully designed by the Blue Oval instead of Shelby American.

Therefore, the GT350 and GT500 received a distinctly elongated front end and several other unique visual upgrades that the Mexican Shelby branch couldn't replicate due to the unavailability of those components south of the border.

Nevertheless, the Shelby de Mexico crew didn't give up on the local GT350 and decided to create one that was trully bespoke, both aestetically and mechanically.

"Fastbacking" a conventional hardtop

As in the previous model years, the only Mustang body style manufactured in Mexico was the conventional hardtop, which received all the latest styling upgrades of the standard 1969 US version.

The Shelby de Mexico selected the GT trim for its ambitious conversion. The designers left the front end untouched but designed a series of fiberglass hoods, a custom decklid with a built-in spoiler, and transformed the rear roofline into a custom semi-fastback structure using fiberglass panels.

As standard, the 1969 GT350 de Mexico came with the steel Mustang GT hood, but customers could choose between two custom fiberglass versions. One featured a central NACA duct flanked by two small scoops, while the other, partially painted in black, came with a larger central scoop and an offset hood-mounted tachometer.

Apart from that, the bespoke fastback roof could be covered in either white or black vinyl, while the side GT350 decals were carried over from the previous US and Mexican models.

Other visual upgrades included optional 1965 Thunderbird-sourced taillights, a front splitter, and several Shelby performance wheel styles.

Powered by a unique Ford V8

While the standard, US-spec GT350 was now powered by a 351-ci (5.8-liter) Windsor that featured upgrades such as a 470-cfm four-barrel Autolite carb, a performance aluminum intake manifold, and Cobra-finned aluminum valve covers, the Shelby de Mexico crew went for a different powerplant for their unique GT350.

Since the high-performance 351 was not available in Mexico, the engineers opted for the locally manufactured 302-ci (4.9-liter) Ford V8 that received all the Shelby upgrades available, like aluminum headers, a larger four-barrel carb, and a Cobra intake.

All those upgrades pushed output from the stock 210 hp to a little over 300 hp, which made the bespoke Mexican 1969 GT350 slightly more powerful than its American counterpart.

Besides the bespoke engine, the de Mexico GT350 received all the mechanical upgrades available during previous model years, such as Koni shocks, stiffer springs, and optional front disc brakes.

While it looked different, it delivered the high-end performance and handling that one would expect from a genuine Shelby Mustang.

Extremely rare

In 1969, the Mexican Shelby brand produced 306 examples of their unique GT350. Of those, two were race-spec cars equipped with 289 K-Codes rated well over 400 hp.

Most of the street cars were also raced by the enthusiasts who purchased them, and, unfortunately, several were damaged beyond repair.

Today, surviving examples of this fascinating Shelby are extremely rare. It is estiimated that less than 100 street cars and one of the race cars are still around.

Some have been imported into the States, where they are highly prized collector's items. One such example is the car pictured above, which sold at Mecum's Kissimmee auction last year (2023) for a hefty $115,500.

Though few have ever heard about it, the 1969 De Mexico GT350 remains one of the rarest, most fascinating Shelby Mustang ever created.

You can take a short, virtual tour of a surviving example of this awesome 'Stang in the YouTube video below by MustangConnection1.