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Car lovers take in Charter Middle School show
Talk about a car-lover’s delight.
Many of the finest antique and muscle cars in Southwest Florida were exhibited Saturday at a car show to benefit the Marco Island Charter Middle School building project.
Approximately 50 vehicles entered the event at Mackle Park. Donations were excepted at the gate instead of an admission charge.
Many spectators admired a vintage 1932 Plymouth coupe owned by Chuck and Joan Lister. The Listers are members of the West Coast Muscle Car Club. The immaculate coupe is powered by a 1969 Chevy 427 with 475 horsepower.
Ron Morris, another member of the club, brought his black 1923 Bucket to the show.
A 2007 Dodge Hemi Superbee owned by George Stamatis was parked alongside the Bucket. Under the hood of the Hemi was a 6.1 liter SRT engine that can pump out 425 horses.
Other go-fast cars joined the Superbee at the show.
Marco Island’s Bill Filbin brought his red 2005 Corvette LS2 convertible and yellow 2007 Shelby GT 500 Mustang convertible. The Shelby label returned to the Mustang for the 2007 model year. Carroll Shelby’s work on the car actually began about two years ago.
In 2005, Filbin put a blind ad in a national automotive magazine stating he wanted to buy one from an authorized Ford dealer. He received responses from dealers in California and Ohio.
A Columbus, Ohio, dealer said he was only allotted two coupes and one convertible from the factory.
“He had no idea what the price was going to be,” Filbin recalled. “We negotiated for the convertible over sticker.”
He sent the dealer a deposit.
As the production date for the car got closer, the public’s interest in the GT intensified.
The Barrett Jackson auction company had already obtained the prototype. The company auctioned it off for charity at their famous annual event in Arizona. Shelby and Edsel Ford attended the event. Filbin said the car garnered $600,000 for Ford’s children’s charity.
“Obviously, I started drooling and jumping up and down in my living room because they hadn’t built mine yet,” Filbin said. “I knew the value just skyrocketed.”
Six thousand coupes and 3,000 convertibles were built. The factory shipped the GT to Filpin about three weeks ago.
The 5.4 liter supercharged V-8 is matched with a six-speed gear box. Filpin had the horsepower cranked up from 500 to 568.
The engine of his Corvette was modified to 465 horses by Breathless Performance of Dania With the addition of the six-speed gearbox, the car can zoom-zoom-zoom more than 200 mph.
“It will do zero to 60 in 3.8 seconds,” Filbin said.
The show also had an international flair.
Bill Young brought his 2007 Ferrari 430 to the event. His gleaming 1956 Austin Healy 100M was parked alongside the Italian import.


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