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Anybody have pics of Little Red and Green Hornet?

DAR1

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Dec 1, 2003
Messages
53
Location
Stockholm
I am also interested in building a Little Red clone. Does anyone know for sure whether it had a 427 or 428 with one or two Paxton superchargers? I have attached a black and white photo I found on the web.
 

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2 time

Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2003
Messages
8
If, I remember correctly Allan Cross from the Mr. FOMOCO site told me that LR had a 428 with dual Paxtons.

Did you notice the outboard headlight placement in the grille?? That is interesting considering the story behind the headlight placement on 1967 Shelbys. I also notice it has the louvered BB hood. Smooth fenders with shelby cobra emblems on the C-pillars. You know this thing had to be lethal. The lightest mustang body with all that power. Wish we knew more about the differential and suspension.

ernie ;D
 

Talan423

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 29, 2002
Messages
222
i was just looking through my new book "MUSTANG.. FORTY YEARS" that i got for christmas. the california special is well represented in it with some beautiful pictures! there are also some great color pics of the green hornet in its current condition... beautiful!!

tom
 
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PNewitt

Guest
Hi Guys...

Sorry for the delay. Trip to L.A., and Xmas --as well as a book project has kept me too busy.

Anyway--I just found my "scrapbook" for the Green Hornet and Lil Red. I sorted all my CS "stuff" into two big boxes last night...

The Lil Red was a test bed car, and it had no less than two engines and three transmissions. It was so "strong" that it kept braking parts. Then when it was "fixed", it would just sit there and spin the tires--it had so much HP.

The Green Hornet has a 0-60 time of 5.7 sec, and 0-100 of 11.41 sec. 3940 lbs, premium gas, F60 x 15 Goodyear (speedway) tires, 3.00:1 rear, 428CJ with "Shelyized" C-6.
Romeo test track, Michigan, 10/14/70

As for the Al Holstein car--I talked him into doing that car back in 1984(?) when he and his wife ran Jim's Mustangs in El Cajon, Calif. He was offered $25K for it on the spot once. It began as a '67 dark green plain jane car--and it did have a 351W engine--as I helped drop it in.

More to follow--

Paul.
 

DAR1

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Joined
Dec 1, 2003
Messages
53
Location
Stockholm
[quote author=PNewitt link=board=1;threadid=700;start=15#msg4215 date=1073767342]
Hi Guys...


As for the Al Holstein car--I talked him into doing that car back in 1984(?) when he and his wife ran Jim's Mustangs in El Cajon, Calif. He was offered $25K for it on the spot once. It began as a '67 dark green plain jane car--and it did have a 351W engine--as I helped drop it in.

More to follow--

Paul.
[/quote]

Paul,
What is the Al Holstein car? Is it a 'Green Hornet' or 'Lil red'? I read in the 'one of one' section of the Mustang Monthly website that 'Lil Red' started out with a 390 and was converted to the motor you mentioned in your specs thread. They also mentioned a white color but I have never seen anything else on a white coupe prototype. Have you ever heard or seen anything about a white car?
Dan
 
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6

66 Dearborn HCS

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Nov 5, 2003
Messages
170
Man I am amazed at how long this thread has lasted. I'm glad so many are interested in these rare and beautiful vehicles. Anybody know where the originals are?

Scott W.
 

68sunlitgold

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Joined
Aug 20, 2002
Messages
1,357
Scott,
the Green Hornet "lives" and has been completly restored. As for the other prototypes, ie Little Red, it seems that they were all destroyed. By the way, I think the Green Hornet was to be destroyed also but some how was wedged away in a corner, "out of side-out of mind".
Doug
 
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PNewitt

Guest
To answer some questions here, the Green Hornet car started out as a '68 Coupe with a 390, then was one of the GT/CS production pilot cars, then Shelby Automotive got a hold of it, and it went from there.

Lil Red was a late '67 Shelby idea car, and that is why it had the outboard headlights in the grille.

The Al Holstein car was just a LR copy. He used stock '67-8 headlight buckets, and added some non-functional headlights into the grille. He also used '66 ten spokes instead of the '67-8 ten spokes. It was just a custom Mustang. A real looker, tho.

I got to know Fred Goodell pretty well. He was Shelby's chief engineer from about '66 to '69. Helluva guy! Raspy voice, a real "John Wayne--shoot from the hip" kind of guy. In his 70's he'd go to Saudi to see how his military vehicles were working during Desert Storm. Not a fan of GM at all! He made sure that the '68 Shelby and CS fiberglass was TWICE as strong as the Corvette glass from A.O. Smith. We owe a lot to Fred. He just did things--and went for it. His son, Fred (Jr.) still works for Ford.

That's when they just built cars without a lot of hassle. They just did it. F-4 Phantom seats inspired the Shelby shoulder harnesses. Cool stuff like that...

Green Hornet "escaped" the crusher at Kar Kraft. We're not sure about Lil Red, tho', although she's never surfaced. Maybe it's sitting in a garage somewhere????

Paul.
 
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66 Dearborn HCS

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Nov 5, 2003
Messages
170
[quote author=PNewitt link=board=1;threadid=700;start=15#msg4310 date=1074742157]
Green Hornet "escaped" the crusher at Kar Kraft. We're not sure about Lil Red, tho', although she's never surfaced. Maybe it's sitting in a garage somewhere????[/quote]

Whoah, So the Green Hornet was NOT a Shelby creation? I thought all of the forefathers of the GT/CS were Shelby "ideas".

Scott W.
 

DAR1

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 1, 2003
Messages
53
Location
Stockholm
Guys,
Some pictures were sent to me of a car that is either a copy of the 'Green Hornet' or the restoration of the original. The url for the pictures is:
www.msnusers.com/HPMUSCLECARINVESTMENTS/68shelbyprototypegreenhornet.msnw

The car in the pictures has the same gold-white-gold stripe as the picture in 'Mustang 40 years' and the picture of the rear suspension looks pretty sophisticated...
A beautiful machine.
Dan
 
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PNewitt

Guest
No, apparently Kar Kraft had a crusher, and I guess Shelby Automotive didn't. Ford told S.A. to send it there. KK might have been the Ford prototype crusher as well (any KK experts out there?) The separate divisions, and outside contractors all worked together. Kar Kraft didn't have anything to do with the making of the Green Hornet or Lil Red.

Shelby Automotive, in Livonia, was basically an office, and a shop that made prototype things, like sunroofs for T-Birds, and spec'd parts and the Shelby cars for production in 1968, 69, and 70.

Both cars were 100% Shelby prototype projects.

Paul.
 

HCSMustang

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2003
Messages
10
Didn't both LR and the GH have independent suspension all the way around? If I remember from the Green Hornet article in MM, the car originally had an exotic fuel injection system, but wasn't with the car when it was found and restored, but someone somewhere had the blueprints...

Either way, It would be cool if LR was sitting in some fenced off lot somewhere, waiting to be discovered...
 

Goldie

Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
Messages
8
In the April 2004 issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines on page 10 there is a picture and story of Little red. The article states it is alive and well and living outside Chicago in residence at the Volo Auto Museum." If you have a load of scratch burning a hole in your pocket, this ultra rare muscle machine can be yours." This car comes with a signed letter from Carroll Shelby authenticating its legitimacy.

The article says it carries a price tag near one million dollars .
 
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PNewitt

Guest
You know, Fred Goodell (Shelby Chief Engineer 1966-70), said something about a '67 convertible in a past SAAC magazine interview--"The Shelby American".

This is interesting.

thanks for finding the URL for us!

Paul.
 

Goldie

Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
Messages
8
An article in the June issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines on Auctioneer Craig Jackson, says that he has in his modest collection among other cars
"The one-of-one "Green Hornet" 68 Shelby Mustang
notchback prototype, the one with the independent rear suspension and the Conelco fuel injection." The article is on page 84 and is written by Jeff Koch.
My scanner is not working so I can't scan the article for you.
 

mca

Member
Joined
May 18, 2004
Messages
21
I have seen a pic of the car at Volo Museum, and it is NOT the real Little Red.
 
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