For 1968, there were plans on the burner for a mid-year introduction to the Shelby line when the new 428 Super Cobra-Jet V-8 would be released for production. He had his legal team do a quick check to see if Chevrolet had already registered the phrase, "King of the Road" and when he found out that the name was still up for grabs; he contacted his representative from 3M, the suppliers of decals for his legendary Mustang based cars, and ordered up two letters to tack on to his GT500, -- "KR", representing "King of the Road." And Shelby didn't make the same mistake Chevrolet did, he registered the title ‘King of the Road’ as his, thus was born the most sought after and hottest of all Mustang based Shelbys.
This Shelby is one of the finest GT500KRs to be found. The Shelby American Registry documents this car having been shipped to Day-Royhans Ford, Inc of Columbus, Ohio on 8/20/68. The original owner was Robert Carsey, also of Columbus. He surely had fun with he car as it was drag raced in pure stock classes during the 1970-1971 seasons. It was then purchased by Dave Binning of Denton, Texas in April 1971 with 26,000 miles on the odometer. It is unknown what kind of leisurely life it had for the next three decades, but it was advertised for sale in Indiana in 2002 as a “two-owner, 34,123 original mile car.” It was said to have undergone a total nut and bolt rotisserie restoration with everything rebuilt and restored to original condition. Factory equipment includes the four-speed transmission, power steering, power disc brakes, fold-down rear seat, AM radio, tilt/swing-away steering wheel, and 3.50 limited slip rear end. The car was restored using 98% NOS parts, including a very rare NOS "Arvin" exhaust system. The only known reproduction parts on this Shelby are the wheels and tires, hoses, battery and cables, trunk mat and the plug wires. The interior is exceedingly original and in very good condition. This restoration took years to do because of finding rare and hard to find NOS parts. All Shelby tags are stated to be the originals. This Shelby KR is in remarkable condition, and would be an excellent museum piece or highly prized in any Shelby collection.