In the mid-1960's, one of the most comprehensive motorsports newsletters was COMPETITION PRESS & AUTOWEEK (now just AutoWeek). Comp Press was published weekly and included everything "cars" from thorough race coverage to auto shows to classifieds. During this time, one of the hottest cars available for racing and street use was the Shelby G.T. 350. In the fall of 1965, a decision was made at Comp Press to purchase two 1966 G.T. 350s. On November 5, 1965, the Shelby racing trailer pulled in to the gas station next to Comp Press' office in San Francisco and delivered SFM6S289 and SFM6S290. Russ Goebel, the Publisher of Comp Press' at the time, recalls that when the trailer pulled in and started pulling out the cars, the crowds begin to gather around. Russ became the driver of 6S289 for the next year and a half or so until August 1967.

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This is when my parents read in Comp Press that they were selling a 1966 G.T. 350. When they contacted Comp Press, the car had already sold. It turned out that this was 6S290, which was driven by William Finnefrock, the President of Comp Press. My parents were disappointed that the car had been sold but as fate would have it, Russ, though not planning to sell "his " car, decided to offer to sell 6S289 to my parents. We all jumped in our car and drove to the AutoWeek building in Lafayette, CA to see the G.T. 350. I can vividly remember, as a 7 year old, sitting on "the hump" of the rear seat as my parents took the car for a test drive. After the drive, I remember leaving and not knowing if my parents were going to buy the car. It was a few days later as my brother and I were at my Grandmother's house in Half Moon Bay that we found out the answer. We heard a car pull up to the house and ran outside to see that indeed they had bought the G.T. 350. They had purchased it for $2600.

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6S289 became one of our family's daily drivers. My dad drove it to work everyday and mom took it to go grocery shopping. The first trip to Disneyland for my brother and me (age 8) was in 6S289. My dad, being a race driver, would take 6S289 out for a drive on a couple of the tracks in the Bay Area. One of these tracks, Sears Point, is where my dad participated in a race as part of the RDC on the first weekend the track was open in December, 1968 (see photo taken during the race on this page).

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As time went on, 6S289 started to get to a point where it needed some work. Since we had other cars, the decision was made to store the car in the garage until we could get the work done. Unfortunately, being only 17 years old at the time, I got the opportunity to drive 6S289 only once (I wonder if mom knew about this) before it went into the garage. This was in November 1977. It stayed there, without moving, for nearly 28 years.