Part 2017 Shelby GT350, part 1962 Ford Falcon, the Sheely GT350 Falcon Wagon is a body-swapped, all-metal, purpose-built race car.
Pat Sheely is a man of many titles. Veteran. Businessman. Leader. Philanthropist. Father. Grandfather. But watching him in the family’s California shop with his son, Eric Sheely, Pat is a man who can’t sit still. He’s got a classic F100 to sell. Cars to build and prep for the next race day. There’s an LT4 crate motor tucked deep into the custom firewall of a C10. Here’s a Pantera being restored. And in the center, the Sheely GT350 Falcon wagon, a dark blue metallic 1962 Ford Falcon station wagon with the heart and chassis of a 2017 Shelby GT350.
Two Fords separated by more than five decades fused together with careful fabrication and a touch of artistic flair.
This is the story of how it came to be.
Work Hard, Play Hard
Pat Sheely started his career as an apprentice electrician for Hensel Phelps Construction, working his way up to become the company’s Chief Estimator. In 1999, he founded his own construction and project management company, Sygnos, Inc. Along the way, Sheely’s passion for Corvettes and American-made automobiles evolved into two tangential hobbies. His children, lead by Eric, began competitive racing, moving from quarter midget to go-karts to spec trucks along the way. And Pat started a car collection that’s since grown to 12o cars, 25 of which the family built or bought for racing.
That’s where the GT350 Falcon wagon fits in…
Prior to 2016, Pat and family collected all-original American classics. But after attending a Goodguys AutoCross event in Delmar, California, with a Factory Five Cobra Daytona, Pat got hooked on racing and shifted his efforts from collecting to building and buying race cars. The Sheelys stick mainly to autocross events, but Pat and Eric have also raced road courses as well. And, in 2018, Eric won the GT Class on Optima Batteries’ Search for the Ultimate Street Car on TV.
The Sheelys’ first build was this 1962 Ranchero. As the lightest possible vehicle one could get for truck class racing, Pat wanted an edge. So they started with a 19,000-mile straight-6 model and tore it apart. Custom front shock mounts. A heavily modified Mike Mire Mustang kit out back. JRI adjustable coilovers on all four corners. All-metal flares added by Ron Jones Garage in Windsor, CO. And, more recently, a Roush 427 small block pumping out nearly 650 ponies.
The Falcon is so dominant at events like Goodguys and the NMCA autocross series that the rules were changed to move Rancheros out of the truck class. (I guess the other trucks now have a chance.)
Shelby GT350 Falcon Wagon
Several years ago, Pat Sheely started to think about a body or chassis swap project, to which there are essentially two approaches. Hit up a company like Speedtech or Roadster Shop and buy a brand-new chassis with modern brakes and suspension components designed for specific classics. Or go buy a modern version of, say, a Mustang or a Camaro, and transplant the old body onto the newer chassis. Either way, the idea is to blend lighter bodies (with arguably more style) with present-day performance and engineering.
In early 2017, Pat found an online auction for a 74-mile Shelby GT350 that had fallen off a carrier and crushed its roof. He bought the salvage Shelby for around $36 grand and started looking into classic vehicles with similar wheelbases. As it turns out, two-door Falcon wagons are within a half-inch of sixth-gen Mustangs like the Shelby GT350.
The only problem? No fabrication shops wanted the project unless the Sheelys were writing a blank check. So they had to take the lead on the build and fabrication themselves.
What you see pictured is mostly a clean, formerly all-original 1962 wagon with a few parts from two donor junkers. True to his nature, one sleepless night, Pat went to the shop and cut away 70% of the Mustang by himself. Then, to move the Falcon body around, the team had to install temporary metal bracing to keep it square. Mating the two Fords was predictably time-consuming — the dash needed extra trimming and the door jams were a big challenge — but the results are spectacular and all metal. Even the dramatic front splitter. That’s right, there’s no fiberglass on the car at all, an unusual move for performance Falcon builds.
Pat’s fabricator, Wes Drelleshak started the car and got the swap done. Then Everette Bros Garage, in Fallbrook, CA, and owner Chad Everette, helped bring the Falcon to where it sits now.
Specs (Spring 2023)
Mechanically speaking, the Shelby GT350 Falcon wagon is very much a near-stock 2017 GT350. Its 5.2L flat-plane-crank Voodo V8 makes 526 horsepower at 7,500 RPM and 429 lb-ft of torque at 4,750 RPM. With an incredible 8,250 RPM redline, it remains the most powerful naturally aspirated Mustang ever built (with the 2024 Dark Horse coming in a close second at 500 hp.) The stock Tremec TR-3160 six-speed manual remains as do the factory radio, gauges, SYNC 3 touchscreen, backup camera, and steering wheel.
If the Falcon were a street-focused car, the Sheelys could have kept the factory heated and ventilated front seats along with other features like the active-valve exhaust and the magnetic ride control suspension.
But this isn’t a street car.
Instead, the Sheelys installed a race seat, Cortex coil overs all around, upgraded the front and rear swear bars, and typically run a set of 19″ Foreline wheels that were powder-coated bronze. Inside, you can see extra bracing running between the rear wheel wells, but otherwise, the chassis is stock.
The interior was unfinished during my visit, and it still needs power locks and windows. But the wagon will soon be off to Colorado for a custom interior. (Fun fact: it’s apparently cheaper to ship a car to Colorado and back than to pay local California shops to do the work.) Afterward, the Sheelys hope to mod the race wagon to about 550 rear-wheel horsepower without having to add turbos or a supercharger. Then it’ll be time for a re-paint in the same sparkling metallic blue.
How Much Did It Cost to Build?
Following the GT350 Falcon around to take a few photos, the wagon attracted a metric crap ton of attention. The most common question asked — following the obvious What IS that? — is How much? Here’s how Eric broke down the parts involved (with a few rough estimates):
- Salvage 2017 GT350 Mustang with 74 miles – $36,000
- Clean 1962 flacon wagon – $4,000
- 2 – donor junk yard ’62 wagons – $3,500
- Cortex suspension – $6,000
- Forgeline wheels – $6,500
- Body/ Paint – $45,000
- Mics parts & materials, welding gases, shop supplier – $15,000
Eric says that, before body and paint, one could probably do a similar project for about $75,000 in parts (possibly less with different cars). With roughly three and a half years of blood, sweat, and tears, they have about $180,000 to $200,000 into the project. But, if you went to a shop and said, “build me this,” that figure would balloon to something like $250,000 to $350,000.
What’s Next?
Pat Sheely bought his first collector car — a 1973 Corvette — in 1995. And although that one got away, most of his cars and race cars become part of his growing 120-vehicle collection. 15 of which Pat built with his full-time fabricator and a few local shop collaborators. As we said above, Corvettes are Pat’s true love — he’s currently waiting on his Z06 and E-Ray orders to be delivered. But there’s a lot of love for Ford as well.
He owns a 1929 Model A that gets used for parades. His 1968 Shelby GT500 was one of only 50 built for drag racing and has only 24,000 original miles. Two 1961 unibody pickups. And a 1965 Ford Fairlane 500 that’s all original (he’s the second owner).
In terms of future projects and builds, they’re considering swapping a 1950s heavy-duty truck onto a 2017 Ford F-450 Super Duty (which we absolutely NEED to see come to life here at Ford Truck Enthusiasts). And they’re looking to see if they can body swap a 1960s C10 onto a fifth-generation Camaro Z28. They’re also currently working on a 1956 2-door Chevy Nomad with a full Speedtech chassis and an LT5 powerplant alongside the previously LT4-powered C10 that’s also on a Speedtech chassis.
