The first 1965 Shelby GTR350R Competition Model, the “Flying Mustang” and the most expensive Mustang ever, is heading to the Mecum Kissimmee 2022 collector car auction.
The first 1965 Shelby GT350R Competition Model built, known as the “Flying Mustang”, is on sale at the Mecum Kissimmee 2022 collector car auction in Florida, USA, in early January 2022. This car is the most expensive Mustang ever and sold for $3,850,000 at the Mecum Indianapolis 2020 collector car auction.
Mecum Kissimmee Sale 2022
Mecum’s Kissimmee 2022 collector car auction is scheduled to run from 6 to 16 January 2022 at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida, USA. Around 3,500 cars and a thousand items of art and memorabilia will be on sale.
In 2022, Mecum earned a single-event sales record of $217 million in sales over 11 days. This figure included the $72 million Mecum earned on the final Saturday — a single-day record for the company. Vehicle-only earnings were $213 million with 2,954 vehicles sold — a sell-through rate of 90%.
In 2021, Mecum sold just over 2,000 cars in its Kissimmee sale to earn $122.8 million — the highest single-auction total ever achieved in Mecum’s 34-year history. It was a remarkable single-auction total and a result rarely seen outside the annual Monterey and Scottsdale auctions. In 2020, Mecum earned $105.1 million with 2,140 vehicles changing hands throughout the 11-day auction.
Most-Expensive Mustang Ever at Mecum Kissimmee 2022
The 1965 Shelby GTR350R Competition Model, chassis 5R002, “Flying Mustang”, became the most-expensive Mustang ever when it sold for $3,850,000 at the Mecum Indianapolis 2020 collector car auction. Less than two years later, the car is offered at Mecum Kissimmee 2022 with a presale estimate of $3,700,000 to $4,00,000, so the current owner is likely to face a loss.
Mecum Auctions increased the cost of the title for the most-expensive Mustang ever three times in the previous three years. A 1967 Shelby Super Snake without significant racing history sold for $2.2 million at Mecum Kissimmee 2019 while $3.74 million was paid for the Bullitt Mustang at Mecum Kissimmee 2020.
While the “Bullit Mustang” could cash in on its Steve McQueen connection, the 1965 Shelby GTR350R Competition Model that achieved $3,850,000 had to go on the importance of the car alone. It was the first Shelby Mustang to race and win. It is also considered the most winningest Mustang of all time.
The “Flying Mustang” and Most Expensive Ever Again on Sale at Mecum 2022
The 1965 Shelby GTR350R Competition Model, chassis 5R002, from the Atzbach collection was the first of 36 competition GT350R built. This is the very car that was piloted by the legendary Ken Miles at Green Valley Raceway on February. 14, 1965. This marked the first time any Shelby Mustang was entered into a sanctioned competitive event.
Amazingly, Miles took the car to a dominating first-place finish and, en route to the win, was captured in one of motorsports history’s most memorable photos showing Miles and the Mustang airborne with all four tires of the car lifted clear off the ground. This gave it the monicker “Flying Mustang”.
1965 Shelby GTR350R Competition Model
The first competition Shelby Mustang, the first to be raced, and the first to win, 5R002 simultaneously served as Shelby American’s factory engineering mule, a rolling test bed for ideas and components, including those that would constitute both the second team car (5R001) and all 34 customer R-models. Ken Miles, Bob Bondurant, Chuck Cantwell, Peter Brock, Jerry Titus, and several other world-class drivers drove this car extensively in testing and development. In fact, Titus would not have earned the 1965 B-Production SCCA National Championship title had it not been for his early victories throughout the year in 5R002.
Indeed, after 5R002 entered and won that first historic race, it paved the way for the rest of Carroll Shelby’s GT350s to dominate their class across both North America and Europe, giving rise to the Shelby name and motoring legacy while drastically altering the public perception of the Mustang forever.
5R002 is an automobile so historically significant that accurately and completely summarizing its eminence can be difficult because of the many reasons for which it is important. To simplify, 5R002 is The Ken Miles R-Model. Few, if any, cars are so intertwined with the legendary and essentially mythical figure that is Ken Miles. Today, Miles is revered as one of the greatest figures in racing that the world has ever known, one who tragically died at the height of his career.
5R002 stands today as one of the most significant and historic competition cars ever constructed by Shelby American Inc. The car represents a legendary convergence of a chicken farmer from Texas, a gang of Southern California Hot Rodders ready to take the fight to the Corvette, a driver the likes of which we may never see again and a “secretary’s car” that thought it could fly.
Mecum Kissimmee Collector Car Auction Sales 2022
While the other large auction houses are still gearing up for Scottsdale, Arizona, in late January, Mecum is already earning at Kissimmee, Florida:
- Top Million-Dollar Results at Mecum Kissimmee 2022
- Top Million-Dollar Cars on Offer at Mecum Kissimmee 2022
- 1951 Hirohata Mercury Custom
- Top Chevrolet Corvettes — Nearly 200 are on offer but eight are really special
- Most Expensive Mustang Ever – 1965 Shelby GT350R Prototype / Flying Mustang
- Mecum Kissimmee Auction Results in 2021 and 2020