This unbelievable 1965 GT350, SFM5S383, is heading from my garage to Mecum Auction’s Kissimmee sale in January 2025! She crosses the block as Lot S200.1 on Saturday, January 18th. I will be on site at Mecum with the car, of course, but am happy to answer any questions about 5S383 prior to the sale. It is a quite special example with full history from new, and having lived within 10 miles of its original selling dealer for nearly its entire life. After 34 years in storage she underwent a two-year, no-expense spared restoration by Curt Vogt and his Cobra Automotive team, some of the best in the business.
Included with the sale, and available for review, are over 250+ photos of the car spanning from its removal from its 34-year hiding spot through its restoration at Cobra Automotive.
Also, below are some highlights, brief history, and a link to the auction. If you’re looking for a great ’65 GT350 it will be awfully hard to top 5S383!
Highlights:
SAAC Gold Concours Winner
Delivered new to Tasca Ford, Providence, Rhode Island
Sold new by Mutual Ford, Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts
Fully documented history from new
One owner for 34 years prior to restoration
Featured display car at SEMA show for Koni
Featured in the Shelby American Magazine, Summer 2014 Issue
Factory original matching numbers 289/306 HP K Code V-8 engine
Original T10-M 4-speed transmission
Original Shelby VIN tag and all Ford VINs
Factory 3.89 Detroit Locker rear differential
Wimbledon White with Guardsman Blue LeMans stripes
Shelby Cragar wheels with Goodyear Blue Dot tires
SAAC VIN verification done in person by Howard Pardee
Letter from Curt Vogt detailing high level of car’s originality prior to restoration
Restored by Cobra Automotive 2014-2016
Fresh service and concours detail by Cobra Automotive December 2024
“This 1965 Shelby GT350, SFM5S383, was originally shipped to the famed Tasca Ford Sales on August 1, 1965, before later being traded to Mutual Ford of Springfield, Massachusetts, just a few weeks later to be sold to its original owner Bill Ferente of Southwick, Massachusetts. Ferente enjoyed 5S383 for five years, at which point Bobby Cahill of Agawam, Massachusetts, became its second owner in 1970. Shortly thereafter, it is reported that Cahill thought something broke in the steering box, so he parked 5S383 for nearly 10 years. The car then passed to its third owner, Lou Santaniello of Springfield, Massachusetts, a serial Ford and Shelby collector who intended to return 5S383 to the road in short order. However, 34 years later 5S383 remained sitting in Santaniello’s garage, having never seen the road under his ownership. Curt Vogt, owner of Cobra Automotive and a long-time friend of Santaniello’s, eventually convinced Santaniello to sell him 5S383 by virtue of trading a vintage Trans-Am ’65 Mustang coupe and an excellent early production 1966 GT350 so that Santaniello, finally, had a GT350 he could indeed drive on the road.
Vogt removed 5S383 from its three-decade-plus hiding spot, which became the topic of an article by Rick Kopec in The Shelby American magazine’s Summer 2014 issue. Kopec, never missing a trick, also used photos of 5S383 emerging from storage as the subject of an April Fool’s Day joke for SAAC in 2014, the premise of which was a 99-year-old mother (Mrs. Santaniello) selling her 70-year old’s (Lou Santaniello’s) 1965 GT350 (5S383) to her attorney neighbor for $5,520, the amount of storage she was owed at $10 per month. Thankfully, nobody believed it, so all of the Santaniellos were marked safe from this April Fool’s event.
Vogt recounts that 5S383 was an untouched and unaltered ’65 GT350 and that it retained its original drivetrain and all of the rare Shelby American components that make a GT350 special. It was a rare, time-capsule ’65 GT350, something certainly nearly unheard of today. Howard Pardee, SAAC’s 1965-66 GT350 Registrar, also personally inspected 5S383 prior to restoration, witnessing 5S383’s original Shelby American VIN tag rivets being carefully removed for the first time to verify its hidden confidential Ford VIN was a match.
Not long after Vogt had safely tucked away 5S383 at his renowned Cobra Automotive shop in Wallingford, Connecticut, his customer John Sloane spotted it on top of a four-post hoist in the back room. Sloane immediately approached Vogt about purchasing 5S383 as he had been looking for one to restore to perfection. Vogt, being in the restoration business, found it a perfect fit as Sloane would buy 5S383 and Cobra Automotive would get to perform an open-checkbook restoration on it with the ultimate goal of winning a coveted SAAC Gold Concours award at the end of the journey.
Over the next two years, Vogt and his crew restored 5S383 to the highest level, taking great care to photo document every aspect of the restoration and also truly restore all of the original components of 5S383 wherever possible rather than just throw on reproduction parts. And, this was to be no one trick pony, as Cobra Automotive was instructed to make sure it ran and drove as good as it looked. 5S383’s original engine was comprehensively rebuilt in Cobra’s in-house race shop and dyno tuned, and all other mechanical systems were also rebuilt to the highest standards.
When 5S383 emerged from Cobra Automotive’s shop, it was whisked to SAAC-41, the Shelby American Automobile Club’s 2016 National Convention. When the dust settled, 5S383 scored the coveted SAAC Gold Division II Concours award. Since then, 5S383 has again led a very quiet life, with its only other public outing being chosen by Koni to be displayed in the company’s booth at the 2021 SEMA Show. In 2024, noted Shelby historian and author Colin Comer added 5S383 to his personal collection, and, in December 2024, in preparation for this sale, had Cobra Automotive carefully service and detail 5S383 to make sure it is ready for its next custodian to show, or even better, drive with great enthusiasm just as Carroll Shelby, Chuck Cantwell and Phil Remington intended.”
Link to the Mecum Auction listing with further info: 5S383 at Mecum Kissimmee
Year: 1965
VIN: SFM5S383
Condition: Concours Gold
Transmission: T10-M1
Final Drive: 3.89:1 Detroit Locker
Engine: Original matching numbers 289 HiPo
Drivetrain: RWD
