It was Carroll Shelby who turned the rather mundane Mustang into the all-conquering GT350, which laid waste to the competition throughout the last half of the 1960s.

The Texan took 100 of the first 2+2s equipped with the K-code engine built at Ford’s San Jose, Calif., to create his own version of the car. He tossed out the rear seats and added oversize front disc brakes, a fiberglass hood and dropped the suspension, while adding larger, 15-inch wheels.

In the ‘60s, the Shelby version of the Mustang was in short supply, and more than a few racers took cars of lesser pedigree and turned them into GT350 clones.

The clone cars aren’t as valuable as the genuine item, but when it comes to looks and performance, they are just as potent.

About the only difference between Rob Vanderzanden’s GT350 and the real thing is the lack of a Shelby-issued VIN number and tag on the fenderwell.

“Other than the number, it’s almost impossible to tell mine from one that came out of Shelby’s operation,” says Vanderzanden.

In many ways, the clone is the same thing as a Shelby, and was built the same way...in a shop that took high performance parts and swapped them for the production line items. That was how Shelby’s craftsmen did it in a Southern California airplane hanger, and that’s how Vanderzanden’s car was transformed.

It began life as a 1965 fastback, A-code Mustang with the high performance 289 engine and four-speed gearbox.

Shortly after it was delivered to its first owner, the car underwent the full Shelby clone treatment and emerged as a dedicated race car, competing in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) events.

Beginning in the mid-1960s, SCCA allowed the car to race in everything from local club events to the nationally-followed Trans-Am Series.

In the Trans-Am, the Mustang went head-to-head with the Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, Mercury Cougar and other “pony cars.” Fans flocked to road courses across the country--from Southern California to New England--in a super heated atmosphere of “win on Sunday, sell on Monday.”

The racing history of Vanderzanden’s car is a bit sketchy, but there’s no evidence it was ever entered in one of the SCCA’s top tier events.

“It was raced mostly in the Pacific Northwest,” he says. “It’s first race was in 1966 and it was raced until the early 1980s.”

When he bought it, the Mustang was a typical, well-used, former racecar. It had spent years in a warehouse, the chassis up on blocks.

“It was pretty solid, but it looked like an old race car,” he says.

There was race track damage in the front and rear, and the dents and dings from lap after lap in close competition.

Vanderzanden did most of the restoration work himself, with the help of a few friends. He’s the kind of guy whose wallet is crammed with photos of cars he has or still owns and his mind is jammed with details about each one.

“I guess you could call me an enthusiast,” he says with a laugh. “I’ve owned a lot of cars, but I’m especially partial to Fords.”

His GT350 will run the quarter mile in the mid-12 second range with a trap speed of just shy of 120 miles per hour. He’s taken the car out on the road course at Portland (OR) International Raceway, where he’s seen 146 mph down the front straight.

“It’ll do better than a lot of the genuine 350s,” he says.

Vanderzanden says he’s been offered three or four times the amount of money he has into the car, but he’s not inclined to sell it.

“You can’t replace it,” he says. “I can’t afford the cost of a genuine 350GT and Shelby won’t sell the parts anymore to build another one. Even if you had a good car to begin with, there are no parts available for sale.”

Vanderzanden’s Mustang looks like a Shelby. It sounds like a Shelby. It performs like a Shelby.

And unlike most GT350, his Mustang carries a competition history that most genuine Shelby’s can’t approach.

So while it may not be a genuine Shelby, in the eyes of some, it’s comes closer than most others to being the car Carroll Shelby intended to build.