Gary Bowers owns Producers Supply Co., an oilfield supply company in Waynesburg, PA. Not long ago, Gary was visiting his local Ford dealership to purchase a few new work trucks. He wanted to update his fleet with trucks that would match his corporate colors of orange, black and white. While in the showroom, he spotted a hot, new, orange Shelby GT500 and knew he had to have it. Rather than drive his new Shelby home, Gary had it sent directly to the Ringbrothers custom Hot Rod shop in Spring Green, WI.



The Ringbrothers are known for their extreme custom creations such as Kona, Reactor and Copperback – three amazing 1967 Mustangs. Ringbrothers is also the first custom car builder in 14 years to have won two back-to-back Goodguys Street Machine of the Year Awards.



Gary Bowers sent his new Shelby GT500 to Ringbrothers with the intention of giving the car a custom and unique look, but emphasize the colors of his company. He also wanted to increase the overall performance of the car.



Mike and Jim Ring started under the hood, where they installed a Kenne Bell supercharger to pump the horsepower to 600 at the wheels. To help glue that power to the ground, they swapped out the stock suspension with a kit from Eibach.



Gary also wanted a big brake upgrade for both the front and rear axles, but this was before Baer/Shelby or AP Racing had a kit for the rear. The solution was to modify the rear axle. The entire rear-end was sent to Strange Engineering where it was modified with a big bearing retrofit to accommodate the Baer brakes. Unfortunately, the modified rear could no longer support the ABS sensors or traction control, causing an error code to trigger within the computer. To fix this, the Ringbrothers consulted a Ford technician and devised a solution where the rear ABS sensors were wired into the front system, which cured the problem. The traction control was also eliminated as part of the brake conversion.



The entire Shelby was completely stripped down and repainted. The factory orange hue was reapplied, albeit with the utmost perfection. Although its difficult to see in the photos, the color simply pops like no factory paint can. Silver Shelby stripes were painted over the vehicle. The glossy stripes are outlined with subtle, half-inch matte silver borders. The rear quarter windows started as Saleen Extreme pieces, but were further modified with custom rivets and painted black.



The body has several modifications as well. The front fenders were reworked to include louvered vents. There are no plastic tack-ons or fiberglass here. The main opening was formed in metal and the two louvers on each side are bolted-in metal pieces.



The hood pins are custom pieces, now part of the Ringbrothers catalog and available for purchase. These are beautiful pieces that use a custom bearing that allows you to set the angle of the pin. To wrap up the body mods, a custom carbon fiber gas door was created. Black, 20-inch, OZ Galileo III, 3-piece wheels set the stance.



The style is unique and may not be for everyone. But the craftsmanship and attention to detail is amazing. I’m a big fan of the GT500, so I would love to read your comments below.