[Historybuff]

From what I understand in the latest Donald Farr book on the Boss 302, the Gurney Weslake heads were tested on the 302 as a possible Trans Am configuration but Ford rejected running them. Though they were efficient, Ford might have had to offer them as an over-the-counter part to make them legal for Trans-Am and maybe had doubts that they could be mass produced. They might have been tested for the Tunnel Port 302 earlier but rejected for the same reason (in fact that Tunnel Port engine was never released in a production Mustang).

But that didn't stop Shelby from later using them on a Can Am cars (he owned a Lola and commissioned one of his own from Len Terry). The Daytona coupe's goose was cooked when Ford decided they wanted the GT40 to be the no. 1 priority in racing so I don't think Shelby ever entertained improving them beyond the 1965 racing trim and never thought of making them for the street until modern times with the replicas from South Africa.


If in your research you can find out why it was that Shelby didn't seem active at Gurney's AAR when he was an investor in it, let us forumites know. It would seem that Shelby stayed out of the limelight at AAR though he is reported to have owned a part of the firm until 1970.