Ford Sales District Demonstrators

In 1967, Ford Motor Company (Ford Division) had 37 Sales Districts within seven (7) Regions in the USA. In April 1967, '67 Shelby GT 500 cars were shipped out; one to each sales district as 'demonstrators.'

These 37 demonstrator units were positioned around the country so that they could be driven to and displayed at the Ford dealers within each district to introduce them to the Shelby GT -- now that they would be allowed (encouraged) to sell them -- without the need to become Shelby-franchised. The official news was announced via Ford press release on April 26, 1967.

You may have noticed that, while transmissions, paint, and trim varied, each and every one of the District Demonstrator units was a GT 500 Fastback (4xxF package) with deluxe wheels (either Shelby aluminum '10-Spoke' or Kelsey-Hayes Mag Star). Air-conditioning was still not available on the GT 500 model in April 1967, so no demonstrators were so-equipped.

Given that all demonstrators shipped with upgraded wheels, it is probable that most, if not all, demonstrators would also have been equipped with an AM Radio. Until we gather more paperwork (Production Orders and/or Invoices), we can't be certain. We have *assumed* all demonstrators were equipped with the optional AM radio, and that is reflected in our database and the results of this tropic.

We would expect all Ford Sales District Demonstrator units to be "X50" or "X99" coded and billed on a Continuation Invoice. It is our theory that that the order numbers were sequential, indicating these were all requisitioned at once.

The demonstrator cars would be time-sliced between the non-franchised Shelby dealers in the Ford districts. We've found several newspaper ads from NSF dealers promoting the appearances of the car in their district.

When the demonstrators role was complete, likely around the time the '68s were available, they were sold through a Ford dealership in the district. The selling dealership of most of these demonstrators is unknown, however, it is plausible that the dealer found on warranty repair records may have been the selling dealer.

The SRG believes that the Ford orders ('F' - prefix) for these demonstrators were the first 37 ordered issued by Ford. They would likely have the first 37 Continuation Invoices as well, though not necessarily in the same order.

Unfortunately this is yet another examples of how the syndicate (SAAC) refuses to share paperwork with the SRG for the benefit of the hobby. Without paperwork, what we are attempting is like trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle, without a photo on the box top to reference, and without all the pieces in the box. Case-and-point: In July 2025, we asked Dave Mathews to look at his paperwork for three (3) cars on our list to validate our theory. He refused to help and citing that it is the syndicate's policy to not share any 'confidential' information with anyone other than the car's owner. Bollocks! In December, 2025, the SRG proceeded to backfill the F-order numbers based on our theory. Going with our educated guess is better than nothing at all. It is up to the syndicate to to prove our theory wrong...

See Also

• FoMoCo District Codes

• Shelby Dealer List

• Cars Sold to Ford (X99) for Non-Shelby-Franchised Dealers

• Cars with Unknown Dealer/Disposition