Shelby Lancer thread

[MarshallOne]

Since the CSXT started by HorizonX is doing well let's start one on the Lancer. Give me the number and location and whether it is running or parted out. I'll Start. I have #'s 519 and 308 they are in Hampton currently undergoing some major repair.

[goeslikehell]

#437 in Savannah Ga getting restomodded.leather auto going 5 speed.

[iTurbo]

I have #127 and #371.

I've had #127 since January '99. I found it on the old Shelbyville for sale section for $1400 in State College, PA. I really wanted an '86 GLHS since my first car was an '85 Omni GLH, but I couldn't find one in my price range.

I bought the car and took a Greyhound bus from Wyoming all the way to Pennsylvania to get it. That was the worst trip of my life. I don't know what it was I ate along the way, but I had the worst gas pain of my life on the three days it took to get there. I met some people I hope I never meet again, got offered drugs in Omaha and Chicago, harassed and herded along by Greyhound employees etc.......basically the worst three days of my life. At least my brother Josh went with me, otherwise it would have been a lot worse. When I got there, the guy I bought the car from was really nice but he must have known something was wrong with me because my guts were making lots of wierd loud noises and stuff. That was kind of embarrasing, especially while we waited in line at the DMV.

Finally I got to see the car for the first time. He had the car all cleaned up and sitting in a barn adjacent to his house. When he opened the barn door and I saw the first real Shelby I'd ever seen, I felt like the whole three day nightmare to go get the car was well worth it. It looked to be in great shape; bright red, black-out trim and sitting in the hay. The car was missing only the dash plaque and Pioneer DEX-77 stereo system. It had 163k miles on it, but it had been taken care of fairly well. I was so excited about driving it the first time I actually stalled it once when I first tried to pull out of his driveway!

My brother and I left with the car and checked into a hotel. I still felt like crap because of my gastrointestinal problems which was becoming more painfull (and embarrassing) with every passing hour. My brother decided to go sit in the sauna and I decided to lay down for a while. I can't believe I'm telling you guys this, but here goes. Since I finally had some privacy, I could finally make an attempt at passing some gas. I tried to at the bustop restroom in Cinncinati, but it didn't work. I think I must have farted for a good fifteen seconds! After that, man, I felt great! I was back to my old self again and I owned Shelby Lancer #127.

My brother and I hadn't eaten in two days, so we hit the Perkins adjacent to the hotel, and bought some Iron City beer. My boss at the time was from Clarion PA, and he wanted us to bring him back a six-pack of Iron City for his dad. It was an incredible relief to finally have the car, be over the intestinal problems, have some good food, and be able to crash in a nice bed. I was still really excited about the car, but I couldn't help but fall asleep as soon as I hit the bed. I had only slept for a 15-20 minutes at a time on the bus and in bus depots for the last three days.

The next day we left, and the only problem I had with the car was adjusting the alternator belt tension. The drive back to Wyoming was pretty uneventful until we got to the middle of South Dakota. Right around Wall (of Wall Drug fame), the engine started to knock. It quickly got louder and louder within minutes. We pulled the car over, and it was unmistakably rod knock. There wasn't much we could do, because it was already 10 PM and the outside temp was well below freezing on that late January night. We continued to drive it until we got to Rapid City, which was about fifty miles west of Wall. By this time, the engine had thrown the #1 rod through the block and oil had gotten everywhere. We checked into a hotel only 150 miles from home and I had to call my brother to come get us with a tow dolly. Man did that ever suck.

The next day I finally got the car home, where it sat for almost the next year. I bought a new Turbo II engine from Dave Grove on eBay, and a new turbocharger from Chris Wright at TurbosUnleashed and began the rebuild. Back then I didn't know much about cars, so I had a shop here in town put it back together for me. That turned out to be a huge mistake and I got ripped off big time. They screwed so many things up while putting it back toghether and charged me almost $1000 for it. I couldn't believe how incompetent they were and even tried (unsucessfully) to reclaim some of my money in small claims court. Ever since that time, I vowed that only I would work on the car from then on. I had been on the SDML since about '96, mostly lurking although it was a great place to learn about these cars. Then Turbododge.com finally started and it's been a great, if not the best resource I have for my cars. I've been delivering pizza in the car for the past few years and it's now got about 257k miles on it. The Turbo II engine from Grove Automotive is running stronger than ever and so is the new Turbo II turbocharger bought from Turbos Unleashed. If it wasn't for the great online community we have for these cars, I wouldn't be having nearly as much fun as I do with my Shelby Lancer.

I've driven the hell out of it since buying it and I'm happy to say it's doing better than ever, except for the massive hail damage that it recieved about two years ago. It's now got an '88 Turbo II engine, '90 A568, 3" exhaust, 19 psi boost, and a very worn out interior. I've also removed all the emissions and air conditioning, since I don't need either here in Wyoming. I seriously think I probably drive my Shelby Lancer more than anybody drives their Shelby. I consistenly put about 3-500 miles on it every week!

[iTurbo]

I just bought #371 one month ago. It came up for sale here listed here at TD.com. They guy I bought it from had listed it on eBay but had a deadbeat high bidder. I bought it for $400, plus $150 so he would deliver it. So far he still hasn't delivered the car and I'm really starting to get tired of the excuses. First he was going to deliver it on June 7th, then his tow dolly had to be fixed. Then he was going to deliver it on the 21st, but his truck has some problems. Now he's telling me maybe this week if he can get one of his friends with a flat bed trailer to bring it up or he'll have to use his BMW to tow it up here....ugh.

So far I'm not sure what to do with the car, mostly because it isn't here yet so I can't really evaluate it's condition yet. I've seen the car in person and checked it out thoroughly when I went down to Erie Colorado to but it.

The Good:
121k miles
nice interior
no major body damage
not modded at all

The Bad:
No title
Significant rust
Missing DEX-77 and steering wheel

The owner had told me the dash plaque was missing, so I had no idea what # the car was. When I was looking through the car, I found the dash plaque in the glove box! While I was talking to the previous owner, his friend walked up and it turned out to be the same guy I bought my Omni GLH from over two years ago in Boulder CO. That was quite a coincidence. It turned out the guy I bought the Shelby Lancer from was there the day I bought the Omni from the other guy. Small world.

Anyway, I hope to get #371 sometime this week. I'll take some pics of the car and let you guys know what I do with it. Hopefully it can be saved.

[iTurbo]

Well I hope my long-windedness didn't kill this thread. I'd love to hear about other peoples Shelby Lancers; from garage queens to resurections.

[BLASINTEBO]

Great stories. That is so weird that you bumped into the same guy who sold you the car that started it all... and he was from CO. and you ran into him in Wyoming...? That is freaking weird. That was a good story because you really capture the trials and tribulations of being a Shelby owner... the pitfalls, and then the triumphs!

[iloveshelbys]

post pics of the lancers too! best looking TD aside from an omni of course

[Greensnake]

I've had #555 for about a year. Lots of rust, but for right now it runs and drives good, as it is my daily driver. But its life is short. Will be parted and gone soon.

[MO-E-Bodyman]

I've owned #045 since 1991. It had 39,xxx miles on it and had some damage on the right front corner when I bought it. I fixed it using all new parts and used it as a daily driver for 2 years. In 1993 I put it in storge with 51,xxx miles on it. While it was in storage it was damaged by vandals. I took it out of storage about a year ago, fixed the damage, put new tires on it, did some mechanical freshening, and have been driving it some since. It now has almost 53,xxx miles. I'm going to sell it as I don't drive it much since I now have a Barracuda convertible that gets most of my attention.
Dallas

[ShelbyLancer455]

I am the proud owner of SL #455 (if you couldn't guess already lol...)

Here is the FULL story up to this point and time. Currently undergoing a restore that will hopefully be completed in time for the MOPAR Nats. BTW, it's the Steel City Chapter's only Shelby Lancer lol...

Any questions just shoot me a line!

[LANCER#319]

I have #319 Auto/Leather. The car is in St. Clair Shores Michigan. It runs and drives; but needs work. It has 140,000 miles on it and no rust (car was purchased in Oklahoma). I have almost every piece for this car to finish the restoration. I will probably get this project back into full swing at the end of August when my other two project vehicles are completed.

[cletis234]

I have #640 Cloth/5 Speed. Hit in the front last year been in garage and at track since then. Missing all emblems except the rear decklid one and one wheel cap center, typical chysler paint, and converted it to a H body digi dash.

I need to fix the front nose on it to make it street legal. I love the car though and will never sell it and it has 163,XXX miles on it and runs strong on 18 psi and pump gas bone stock with a map bleed and grainger.

I will be although gutting the car to make it all drag only and yes you can bash me all you want cause I have given up on trying to find parts for this car as far as the specific stuff for it, I am not rich and never catch the parts being sold before the vulchers get them and do not even own a SL.

I have found that making people look at you and go damn that thing is fast for a 4 door and a 18 year old car that is stock with that many miles, that is what makes me happy. If I were to get all the Shelby parts for the car then yes I would happily resto the car that was the original plan but as it stand that is not going to happen.

I bought the car for $400.00 from a scrapyard and they towed it to my house for that price over 25 miles away. The car sat for a long time according to the guy who picked it up. I swapped gas tanks with my old Daytona (R.I.P.) and I was good to go. I drove the car for a year and a wrecker backed into me pushing me back about 12 feet before stopping. I have yet to see any money from this and don't plan too.

All in all I LOVE THIS CAR, I miss driving it everyday, lord knows my mini does not even compare to the way this car drives.

If anyone has a center cap for cheap I will gladly pay but I am cheap as money is tight but I have been searching for one for over 2 years. If anyone needs any interior pieces let me know as I am gutting the car from the center console back to lose weight and make room for the cage(WOOT). Thanks and nice thread.

[layapatch]

I Have #800, 5spd/cloth, it spent a number of years at the plant before one of Shelby's golfing buddies niece bought it. She kept it for several years and then one of Brett Lindsey's friends spotted it in the back of the lot at Glendora Dodge. He called Brett and he bought it right away. He kept it for several years and then sold it to his friend in Portland and then Brett bought it back 3 years later. It sat in storage for 5-6 years until I bought it. Now it sits in my garage and collects dust!


It's also an evaluation unit #1, there's a plate on the radiator support. They took 6 cars and used them to determine how long it would take to convert the Lancer ES's to the Shelby Lancer.

Currently the car is all stock except for it had a 555 that Brett put in and Eibach springs. I put a 2.5" mandrel bent exhaust on it and a Mopar Stage 2 computer. I have everything to put it back to orginal condition. It even has the Monroe Formula GP struts and shocks on it. Last year I took it road racing/driving school at the last SDAC. The car handled great and I was pretty impressed with it's performance. The car currently has around 135k on it.

If you want to see some cool pics check out Brett's homepage
The SHELBY Garage

I found #447 in a junkyard in Minnesota after talking to Jessie Burr. I went and bought the car in hopes of bringing it back to life. But the rust was to great on it, it had holes in the floor boards that you could put your foot through. The frame rails were gone as well. I stripped it down to the frame and junked it. It was a auto/leather car. I sold a ton of parts to RampageTurbo so at least the parts went to another Shelby Lancer owner instead of the crusher.

[ludwig340]

I've got 315 and 383 and I'm lazy so suffice it to say that both run well, are driven regularly, well-taken-care-of, and 383 is about to get a full-on 'go' upgrade...

EDIT: 315 is a A/L car and needs lots of small cosmetic attention and generally a good repaint (it's presentable, but just more of a 15-footer). I'm thinking of going with nice black paint and custom red SL decals. I think the car would look just awesome with nice black paint and the leather interior. I need a decent leather back seat!!

[MarshallOne]

Here is the latest any corrections by all means let me know.

number Model Manufacturer Owner name
1 Lancer Shelby Carrol Shelby
10 Lancer Shelby RIP
13 Lancer Shelby Shelbylancer13
28 Lancer Shelby RIP
45 Lancer Shelby MO-E-Bodyman
68 Lancer Shelby RIP
71 Lancer Shelby Uwilluz
78 Lancer Shelby Steve
79 Lancer Shelby BooGTS
103 Lancer Shelby RIP
104 Lancer Shelby RIP
109 Lancer Shelby RIP (Erik Bryant) C/5
127 Lancer Shelby
167 Lancer Shelby RIP
196 Lancer Shelby Erik Bryant (C/5)
204 Lancer Shelby RIP
208 Lancer Shelby Erik Bryant (C/5))
235 Lancer Shelby RIP
248 Lancer Shelby RIP
251 Lancer Shelby RIP
271 Lancer Shelby RIP
308 Lancer Shelby Robert Stiltner
313 Lancer Shelby Steve
315 Lancer Shelby ludwig340 (C/5)
319 Lancer Shelby lancer#319 (turbododge)
340 Lancer Shelby ironman502(shelbyforums)
356 Lancer Shelby Dodgeman87
360 Lancer Shelby RIP
371 Lancer Shelby
383 Lancer Shelby ludwig340 (A/L)
390 Lancer Shelby Lancer390
402 Lancer Shelby lancer#402
403 Lancer Shelby Steve
403 Lancer Shelby Alan Keithley
407 Lancer Shelby Erik Bryant (L/A)
411 Lancer Shelby RIP
417 Lancer Shelby Shelbylancer13
437 Lancer Shelby
447 Lancer Shelby RIP
455 Lancer Shelby Brandon
481 Lancer Shelby RIP
519 Lancer Shelby Robert Stiltner
555 Lancer Shelby Greensnake
557 Lancer Shelby RIP
567 Lancer Shelby glhsken
572 Lancer Shelby 1B3BX68E5HN436107
577 Lancer Shelby RIP
640 Lancer Shelby Cletis234 (shelbyforums)
650 Lancer Shelby RIP
673 Lancer Shelby RIP
714 Lancer Shelby RIP
754 Lancer Shelby RIP
782 Lancer Shelby RIP
800 Lancer Shelby layapatch (evaluation car)