All told, there are a number of attributes which near any collector wants a car to have in today's collecting atmosphere. Those include a great story, long term ownership, originality, and a desirable original specification. The 67 GT350 seen here has all those attributes and more.
In 1967, Linda Johnmeyer of Gravois, Missouri made a day trip to Alltol Auto Co. in Columbia, Missouri with the hopes of returning home with a brand new Mustang. Upon arrival. her eye was immediately drawn the the Dark Moss Green 1967 Shelby GT350 which was gleaming on the showroom floor- and so began a love affair which would last a very long time.
Upon buying 3069, the car was used as Linda's daily driver around the Lake of the Ozarks area, even with two kids strapped in the back seat! Her and her Shelby became fixtures of her town and were well known in the area. Most interesting of all, Linda even drove #3069 to Mexico and back during the summer of 1969 and two Mexican tourist decals still remain preserved in the windshield and rear glass from that trip! Good thing too, because if an Ameirican tagged car did not have current tourist decals affixed to it while in Mexico, the car would have been siezed and cut in half by the Mexican authorities!
Upon the arrival of a third child in the late 1970s, LInda thought a station wagon would be a more appropriate choice of transportation so she traded the Shelby into Burkle Motors of Columbia, MO. In fact, Burkle's dealer decal still adorns the decklid of #3069 to this day.
Soon after trading in the Shelby, Linda came to regret the decision. Luckily, the eventual buyer of the car at Burkle Motors, Dick Rohlfing of Boonville, MO, lived right down the street from Linda and she was able to negotiate the re-purchase of her Shelby from Dick some 5 to 6 years after she had sold it. Turns out, Dick's wife was not a fan of the car and so Linda was able to re-claim her prized Shelby Mustang.
From there, Linda retained ownership of her Shelby up until 2014 when the car was purchased (after three years of begging) by Rick Penno of Gravois, MO after Rick was tipped off to this (sort of) original owner Shelby existing in his area.
I was honored to become the next custodian of this jewel of a survivor car earlier this year.
#3069, as it sits today, is a well preserved and highly original 1967 Shelby GT350. The car retains its original paint and sheetmetal, original fiberglass components, original upholstery, well preserved underside, original drivetrain, and shows just over 65,000 original miles.
The car was driven daily during its early life on mostly gravel roads so the car is far from cosmetically perfect, as seen in the photographs. With that said, those gravel roads and the area's lack of salt use saved this Shelby from suffering the same rust laden fate that most Midwest cars suffer. The car is the most bone-dry Missouri Mustang that this Kansas City boy has ever seen and it displays time earned patina and wear from an honest life of being used, loved, and enjoyed by its original owner. Simply put, this car is as honest as they come and it has the sort of character that cannot be restored back into a car- it only comes from 50 years of considerate use and preservation.
#3069 was desirably spec'd when new in Dark Moss Green with deluxe 10 spoke wheels and a 4 speed transmission.
f you have been in the market for a great small block 67 Shelby, you are probably becoming well aware of how hard it is to find an honest example. 67 small blocks are, in my humble opinion, a true sweet spot amongst all the years and production specs of Shelby Mustang. The 67 GT350 has many of the sporty driving characteristics of the 65/66 GT350s while also mixing in some of the creature comforts which would become more prevalent in later years of production. They also feature the reliability, drive-ability, and ease of maintenance that the big block Shelbys can sometimes lack. All in all, it is my humble opinion that 1967 GT350 4-speed cars are wildly undervalued in today's market and are certainly among the best varieties of all Shelby Mustangs.
