Jeff & Ben Francis' 1967 Shelby GT 350 wins the 2006 Pismo Classic

Local car collectors Jeff Francis and his father Ben won the “Meguiars’s Platinum Best
of Show” award at the 2006 Pismo Beach Classic Car Show on father’s day with their
1967 Shelby Cobra Mustang GT350, it was truly a special day for both men. “It was
really neat for us to win this prestigious award, but to do it on fathers day made it
even more special for the both of us”, exclaimed Jeff Francis after accepting the
crystal trophy designed by SpeedChannels ‘Car Crazy’ host Berry Meguiar, of
‘Meguiar’s Car Polishes’.

Classic car restoration is a labor of love, and Jeff and his father Ben personally
restored the very rare 1967 Shelby Cobra Mustang. It took 2 years to restore the
beautiful and powerful version of the FORD Mustang made famous by auto racing
icon Carroll Shelby. Their pristine classic has been documented by the Shelby Club
of America as being 1 of 5 built with it’s special order Silver paint color and additional
features. As a testament to their painstaking efforts, it only took the Pismo Classic
judges one glimpse of the car to deem it worthy of the Meguiar’s Gold Award, which
was awarded to the top 17 competitors that would go on to compete for the “best in
show” honors.

After the judges carefully inspected all 17 final entrants, the Meguiar’s Platinum Award
for best in show was awarded to the Silver Shelby GT of Jeff and Ben Francis. Francis
claimed it was one of his most proud accomplishments in his 20 years of showing his
collector cars, as the Pismo field was approximately a thousand entrants strong. Jeff
and his Shelby were featured on the local CBS primetime newscast, to inform and
promote the Pismo event. It was the second Meguiar’s award for the Francis’s, as the
other win came with their 1956 Austin Healey LeMans Roadster, at the Visalia Historic
Grand Prix races.