PoFoMoCo's 1971 Shelby Europa build October 2022

tpj71mach said:

Wow that's awesome! I don't know how you find all of these very specific parts, you must be part bloodhound.

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Thanks Tom! I am thankful for the Internet... Craigslist, FBook and eBay since I don't have a parts/donor car for my build. Oddly, everyone I have gotten Shelby or Europa specific parts from have NOT tried to hijack me over the price. So, I am thankful for that as well. I guess my car is a world-wide amalgamation as parts have come from the US, Germany, Belgium, UK and Canada.

So, this is a shocker, but I couldn't wait to get home to work on the wheel. I jetted over to Walmart and grabbed some supplies and worked on the wheel this morning. It was filthy, but it turned out really nice. I'll polish the stainless wheel spokes to finalize the wheel before I install it.



I also ordered a custom horn button emblem from Belgium, it's already shipped and it will look like this.

That looks great! I second Tom's comment. I have fun watching all the members' builds progress.

I have been working on refurbishing my Shelby valve covers. I re-painted them, as original, with black VHT Wrinkle Plus paint. HOLY SMOKES this stuff takes forever to dry.... I sprayed them early Monday morning and they were finally dry this afternoon. I hit them with a Hi-temp air dryer and left them in the sun for hours, in 85 degree heat thinking it would speed up the drying process but I'm not sure it helped. LOL

I began the process with a low pressure media blast followed up with lightly polishing the fins and Shelby lettering. The paint calls for a light coat, followed by (3) three heavy coats. Once the valve covers were dry I cut and polished the fins and Shelby lettering with 80, 110, 220, 600, 1000, 1200, 1500, and 2000 grit sandpaper.

On the fence if I should leave them as-is or should I clearcoat them with Hi-temp VHT satin clear!?!? The internet is flooded with opinions on both sides.

PoFoMoCo said:

I have been working on refurbishing my Shelby valve covers. I -re-painted them, as original, with black VHT Wrinkle Plus paint. HOLY SMOKES this stuff takes forever to dry.... I sprayed them early Monday morning and they were finally dry this afternoon. I hit them with a Hi-temp air dryer and left them in the sun for hours, in 85 degree heat thinking it would speed up the drying process but I'm not sure it helped. LOL

I began the process with a low pressure media blast followed up with lightly polishing the fins and Shelby lettering. The paint calls for a light coat, followed by (3) three heavy coats. Once the valve covers were dry I cut and polished the fins and Shelby lettering with 80, 110, 220, 600, 1000, 1200, 1500, and 2000 grit sandpaper.

On the fence if I should leave them as-is or should I clearcoat them with Hi-temp VHT satin clear!?!? The internet is flooded with opinions on both sides.

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Wow! Those turned out better than new! Congrats!

Great job! They look amazing, nice work!

Where are you @PoFoMoCo ?

Very nice!

Sheriff41 said:

Where are you PoFoMoCo

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Good morning sir - I’m still around!

rackerm said:

Very nice!

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Thanks Rich

PoFoMoCo said:

Good morning sir - I’m still around!

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Lol! You went dark on us for a while. Didn't want you to think we didn't notice.

A quick update.... with a wedding, summer fun time with the grandkids, summer vacation, and momma's honey do's my mustang time has been cut down a bit. But, that being said, I have accomplished a few goals and I have finished locating all of the Shelby Europa specific parts that I need to do this build justice.

Original Shelby Cal 500"s:



Original & correct dated coded Italian "Personal" steering wheel w/ correct Europa horn button and trim:





NOS pin Shelby trunk lettering or OEM stick-on, now i have to decide which one LOL :



Ansen oil baffles for my OEM Shelby valve covers:





(2) original-styled (fabricated) gas caps, 1 Aluminum and 1 stainless, good to have choices.



I made a custom wiring harness for my Cibie 35 sport lamps.



Shelby exterior and interior trim stuff:





NOS Shelby performance intake:



Shelby Europa Cibie 35 Sport Lamps:



Retractable front seat belts w/ Shelby emblems:



It's been a productive couple of months. Now the real fun begins!

Great job hunting down and acquiring all those parts! That's a third of the fun! The other two thirds are installing the parts and driving your (re)creation!

I've said it before, but that's amazing that you were able to source all of those parts. All the parts look great and your resto on the wheels makes them all look brand new. Great job! I can't wait to see the car "Shelbyfied"

Holy smokes PoFoMoCo, way to go!

Thanks gents. It has been fun sourcing the Shelby parts and getting the car ready to be up-fitted the same manner as the Dubois team would have assembled it in 1971.

DUDE!!!! those parts look so AWESOME!!!!

Great job finding those parts. They are going to look fantastic once you get them in/on the car! Impressive work hunting them down.

All the work you done to scrap up those parts and to pay attention to all the small details is what makes a difference between a nice car and a great car. Can't wait to see the finish car.

wow. This is an amazing amount of work and good quality of it! Keep it going. You are very close.

That's awesome!!!