Theisen car: what is the SN of this one? The verbiage on the website was BS. I'll call it! Never have heard of a -1 Goose......and they weren't designed for Shelby..... While Alejandro may have talked to Shelby, Carrol was LONG gone and working on Mustangs and GT40's by the time DeT was producing any cars........ Ford waived money...DeT...smoke.
The clock: Looks like a Veglia...but cannot tell 100% if the tint on the letters etc is green. Most all other Veglia clocks are white lettered....excepting Ferraris which used the same clocks as the Goose. I don't recall ever seeing one with a red dot in the middle, may just be picture..... Goose adjusting knob was large chrome..... most all other later versions have smaller plastic chrome knob. You can get "Electronico" and "Quarzo" versions which work great, but letter tint is wrong and knob is wrong.....that's why my original is put away safely....also position of knob changes from top to bottom or vice-versa! I put an NOS Quarzo in my car....and the hour hand promptly came loose now it's always "some minutes" after or before 6!!!
Nice car but as stated there are some small things to sort out. I was really surprised to see funky air tube material....for a car restored in Europe....it should have proper paper tubes and hangers!
Gold car-4 headlamp car: already hashed pretty good. Solid looking car but seat doesn't support low mileage claim IMHO. Too many things not quite finished......don't they look on the internet?????
Red German car: very nice car IMHO. Use of black tie wraps is a nit..... should have proper retainers for air tubes.....
It DOES have the same Dodge side markers as my car! Which brings up some other stuff.....
Dodge marker lights: This may have been a "mod" that someone started back in the 70's...to get rid of the bug eyed Fiat lamps. Much cleaner and in tune with sleekness of car! (I've looked for old articles on such....haven't had any luck finding anything.)
This is the 3rd or 4th car I have seen pictures of, or owned....that have these Pentastar tagged lamps! It was an easy swap...only had to cut/splice the wire to install, no body mods needed AFAIK! Stock Fiat lamps should go back on easily.
Chrome on spare holder etc: This may have come about the same time as the Dodge lamps. One of these cars mentioned has all the same "easily removable" parts chromed as my car. Spare tire tie down bar, ladder bar, hatch support rods, hood support rod, body to top of wheelwell bars.....basically anything that could be unbolted and sent out to a chrome shop without really taking anything apart!
Bondo/thick paint: These were hand hammered bodies....and apparently the Italians were not above using bondo..... Tales I have heard were something to the effect that many times a skin coat was applied......finished....and painted.
I can't imagine too many cars with original paint......but they are probably out there, in a climate controlled garage bigger than my house!
If you suspect really thick filler/paint....get your hands and face up in the fender wells etc and look for other damage, perhaps covered up with carpet......if the undercoating isn't too thick, you may be able to see evidence of damage repair.....
The red Shelby car: While it is interesting...paperwork, paperwork, paperwork...is the only thing that will bring the value of this car to the absolute top of the market...where they are reaching for. My concern, being one of the known "Boss 302 conversion by owner cars"....(I did not say factory.....!) is that depending on how modes were done, will determine how much damage was done to the integrity of the car chassis, or other parts......cuz you can mess up a lot of stuff.
I suspect that the subframe ladder work was altered on this car. Note that there are NO pictures of the modifications ever presented. My car had the Boss installed by raising the motor mounts and modifying anything else that didn't fit right after that......ugh! But, the good news is that all of that work was able to be put back to stock without too much work...
With the performance level of the stock 302-4V engine being so close to that of the Boss 302, there really is no reason to ever want to do the conversion. The heads just do not fit well in the chassis, and they don't breath well at normal operating rev's of the typical Goose driver to justify the mess.
A change to a better camshaft is all that the stock 302's need to perk them up!!!! (I'll also throw in simple porting of the exhaust ports on the heads...) The heads used on the Goose were the best Ford heads ever used on a regular production 302. It just took about 20 years for Ford to figure out that they needed to be where they were in 68..... (Go look at a set of late model "GT40" Mustang head combustion chambers and you will see what I mean!!)
STOCK INTAKES AND CARBS: C8ZE (casting marks or stamped) Intakes and carbs don't grow on trees! These were only used one year in production so you are competing with the pony car crowd and the Shelby enthusiasts for these parts. BUT, they are still around and they are STILL excellent stock performing parts! The ONLY thing as a negative about the pair, is the weight of the intake. Cast iron vs aluminum...... The delta in performance would likely need a chassis dyno to tell the difference as your "ass dyno" unless very well calibrated, would probably not be able to tell the difference.
I would rather have stock valve covers (with emblems!) and exhaust shields and an aluminum intake than a stock manifold and aftermarket valve covers!
Distributor....let's throw that into the same mix as the carb/intake thing. Marked only for the 4V 302's, they are a collector item! I prefer to shelve them and install a DuraSpark II unit to gain more spark and better performance under "zero maintenance" conditions......!!!! The Mallory and MSD systems may have their place, but not in these cars IMHO. I haven't seen Ford parts fail (other than roll pins....) but I have seen aftermarket systems fail in multiples.... money not well spent, again IMHO. No value to putting one on your car to sell it! If I see one on a car, I know that they have discarded expensive parts....mark that down in the discount price column also!
Someone mentioned 380 of these cars left....I think that is a gross exaggeration. I think between Dana, Denis, Mark, and myself, we accounted for some 275 cars (past & present, trash and treasure!), with the high prices now pulling more out of the weeds like most of these cars being discussed???! We lost quite a few to rust and kit cars....a few to fires....and a pile to bad drivers and neglectful owners!
Because of the recent boost of cars becoming known out of European and some collections in the US, I'd venture a number more like 300-320 being around in some manner. (Drivers? maybe 250....) They were beautiful cars back when they were new and slightly used....so owners that shelled out $10-11K probably took better care of them...or at least stored them away vs just tossing them like any other Chevy, Buick, or Galaxie Custom.
And that is my humble opinion!
Holiday Cheers to all!
Steve