The first competition Shelby Mustang, the first to be raced and the first to win, 5R002 simultaneously served as Shelby American’s factory engineering mule—a rolling test bed for ideas and components, including those that would constitute both the second team car (5R001) and all 34 customer R-models. It was presented to the FIA for homologation for SCCA B Production class racing in 1965 and was illustrated in the official homologation papers. Ken Miles, Bob Bondurant, Chuck Cantwell, Peter Brock, Jerry Titus and several other world-class drivers drove it extensively in testing and development. In the film “$1,000,000 Mustang,” Carroll Shelby states that “Ken Miles and Chuck Cantwell drove 50,000 miles in the test mule Mustang” (5R002). When asked about this quote, Chuck Cantwell replied, “I wonder which month of testing Carroll was referring to? I’m sure we put a lot more than 50,000 miles on that car.” Simultaneously, 5R002 also served as a demonstrator, being used to convince prospective R-Model buyers of the car’s tremendous potential. Physically, 5R002 is completely unique; the only car built to its specific configuration, it features numerous parts and design attributes not found on any of the R-models that followed it. Upon its completion, 5R002 commenced its promotional duties on January 27, 1965, at California’s Riverside International Raceway for the GT350’s formal press introduction. Journalists were invited to drive street models, while Ronnie Bucknam gave demonstration rides in 5R002, inspiring the superlatives peppering the rave reviews that followed. Sports Car Graphic was the first out of the gate with an illustrated feature article on the GT350 written by Jerry Titus, who had driven 5R002 with Ken Miles at the Riverside press event. As a result of that drive, Titus would soon go on to sign with Shelby American as a team driver, spending most of the 1965 season piloting this exact car. In the meantime, 5R002 made its racing debut on a brisk but sunny Valentine’s Day (February 14, 1965) at Green Valley Raceway near Dallas, Texas, where it made history as America’s first Mustang in space. The image leapt from the pages of practically every enthusiast magazine in the country and spread through the motoring world like a stampede: a Wimbledon White Ford Mustang fastback, soaring over a rise at full song and clearing terra firma by a foot, a grinning Ken Miles at the reins. Frozen in mid- flight, the first competition GT350 was on its way to sweeping the B Production races that day, proving to one and all the Mustang’s transformation—in the words of Hot Rod magazine—from a “gentle little colt into a roaring, snorting stallion.” "Ken Mile o Jerrve it dr y s, Bob Bondurant Titus extensivel y and several o ting in te ther s w , Chuck and development orld-cla C antwell, Peter Br ss driver ock, s . "
