Ford Mustang Shelby Cobra GT500

A skilled potter can turn a lump of clay, after carefully kneading it to perfection, into a work of art by throwing the inert substance onto a potting wheel, adding some water, and spinning it into a thing of beauty. Sometimes these works of art bring big bucks to the potter, although often the craftsperson does it for the joy of the work-money is only a by-product.

So it must be for Mark Potter of Junction, Kentucky, although his clay was decidedly impure and imperfect when he started. The GT500 pictured was, at one point, four different colors. So Mark decided to do a rotisserie restoration and completely disassembled the car. We'll let Mark pick it up from here: "It was painted a dark metallic gray. The entire bottom of the car was light gray, the front suspension was painted orange, and the rear suspension was painted yellow."

The advantage for Mark was that once the car had been put on the rotisserie, he was able to remove the light-gray paint using a pressure washer and some Castrol Super Clean, to find the original red-oxide primer still beautifully intact. Of course, the hard work didn't stop-it intensified. The body was fairly straight, and Mark had to do little in the way of welding in new metal. In fact, the only required sheetmetal work was the result of the battery being placed in the trunk. A 1-inch diameter hole had to be patched in the lower-right quarter, just behind the wheel. Aside from that, Mark's work consisted of filling and sanding several dents with the help of Tim McAllister, and opening the radio-antenna hole that the previous owner had welded shut. Luckily the AM radio was still in place-weird.

After the body was set to rights, the car was painted the original Brittany Blue, and nonoriginal LeMans stripes were added in Wimbledon White. The basic engine was there and ready to go, but Mark had to supply a few components for the 428 Police Interceptor. "I had to find an intake manifold, carbs, distributor, vibration damper, accessories, and all the pulleys and brackets to finish the engine," says Mark. The driveline, with its Top Loader four-speed and 3.50:1 axle ratio, was in good shape but still underwent Mark's handy work. The rest of the car, namely its black, deluxe interior, was fortunately quite intact, although missing one seatbelt. For some reason, the person who had willfully trashed the exterior had remarkably left the inside alone. Still Mark's work is evident in its comfortable confines. What Mark has is a rare piece of art-one that he can proudly say was assembled and finished by his own hands.