WOW propayne, talk about deja vu!!! I actually saw that '67 Shelby 'vert prototype at a Mustang show over the weekend in Olathe, KS. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me. It is completely restored now. John
Thanks Don!
68PUMA - Brian Styles, the owner of the 1967 Shelby convertible shared with me the scan of the prototype G emblem that I started this thread with. That is a really beautiful car, isn’t it?
Another cool thing about that '67 Shelby prototype is the 10 spoke wheels. It and the blue fastback (which is more than likely the Shelby on the Hertz Rate Card along with the G) were used in the first photo shoots and appear in a lot of the ads and promotional materials for the 1968 Shelbys with those wheels, but virtually all of the production 1968 Shelbys came from the factory with hubcaps. Only about 5 had 10 spoke mags originally and I’m pretty sure that includes the styling prototypes.
Yeah, it sure is a beauty and did have the 10 spoke wheels. The spare tire was mounted on a '67 Mag Star (if that’s the correct name) type Shelby wheel in the trunk. One other thing, there was a colored drawing in a binder of the same prototype XR7-G emblem in your 1st post. John
This is some good stuff. Where do you get all these neat toys? 
What cars were featured in the calander?
Steven
Along with the G prototype on the cover, the blue calendar has photos of a Cyclone Fastback, Lincoln Continental, Montego MX, Colony Park Station wagon, a Mark III and a Park Lane with paneling.
The calendar also has a section on the L-M Sports Panel members and a letter from Dan Gurney about that years Daytona 500. It also contains a list of what races are occurring in each month.
The green calender has a different letter from Dan (see attached) along with a photo of him. Along with all the cars listed above it also contains a pic of two NASCAR Cyclones racing side-by-side on the track.
On a somewhat related note I love that Lincoln-Mercury Sports shield logo and I’ve used it as the basis for the re-designed CCOA logo (I did the old logo also).
We are planning on having some new shirts printed up and eeevvvveeennntttuuaallly you should see the new logo show up on CCOA stuff.
Hopefully…
I like the logo’s and the fact it has some historical ties to the Cougar. I’m sure you have seen this photo Phil of the 68 Mustangs arriving on rail cars at A.O Smith in Ionia MI. Do you know of any photo’s of Cougars arriving at the A.O Smith plant? I have a couple of photo’s from inside the plant with G cars being built. I had contact info from an employee of A.O smith at one time that was still living in Ionia about 45 minute drive from my place. I was going to visit him and never did. I’ve lost his infromation 
Hey Brian -
I’ve seen that picture over at Pete Disher’s excellent “Coralsnake” site dedicated to 1968 Shelby Mustangs.
http://www.thecoralsnake.com/PHOTOS.HTML
The only other photos I’ve seen of the Gs being worked on at A.O. Smith is from that newspaper article that Royce has a copy of. I tracked down the guy that has those original newspaper clippings that Royce’s copies are made from and got to see them. I offered to buy it from him but he wouldn’t sell. I would have also loved to take those clippings and do some quality scans of them but I met up with this gentlemen at a SAAC convention and he wouldn’t let me borrow them (which I don’t blame him).
I would love to see what you have Brian, could you post them here?
Below are the poor quality copies of news paper article. You’ll notice they miss-identify the Gs 
Last of the Smith article and an often seen photo of a Cougar that was at Smith (purportedly a styling prototype for a rear spoiler) that was donated to a local school or prison (sorry, I can’t recall now and I’m too lazy to go check my notes).
This Cougar still exists.
Never knew those newspaper clippings ever existed, very,very cool. thanks.
Great pictures Philip. That photo looks like a 1967 standard but with the XR-7S / GT-E side moldings. Maybe the side moldings were part of the spoiler styling exercise??
Steven
I’ll have to make you a copy of them Jon.I got the newspaper spread from Royce as well, which put this question in my mind. On the G registry web site it states “All modification work was performed at A.O. Smith to transform the XR-7 into an XR7-G. If the XR7-G was to receive a sunroof, they were loaded back onto rail cars and shipped to American Sunroof Corporation. ASC would install the sunroof, new headliner and vinyl top before the car would finally enter Ford’s distribution system for sale or lease or in some cases rental under contract with Hertz”. looks to me like the sunroof was installed at A.O smith from the newspaper clippings? Maybe a team of works from ASC was at A.O.Smith installing them on the line?
The story I’ve heard Brian is that at the start G’s getting sunroofs were shipped to ASC but then it was decided it would be cheaper to install them at Smith. The needed equipment was brought to A.O. Smith and the line workers there were trained in the sunroof installation by ASC technicians.
There is humorous story told by one of the former A.O. Smith employees about the first sunroof and it going through a water test. One of the engineers decided to sit in the car during the test so he could monitor any potential leaks. After the water stopped the door opened and out came the engineer… soaked from head to toe.
So I believe the sunroof installation was moved back to ASC.
Hahahaha, a leaking sunroof, go figure. Brian I’d appreciate if you would do that. So maybe they were installed in both places for a while. I heard stories of both, but never could confirm. Brian, do you think our buddy Joe can confirm? I talked to him one time and he did say he knew Heinz Prechter and he was sadden when he passed away. Which I think was back in 2002,
Had the G car at the local Gilmores museum car show this last weekend. Had a gentlemen come up to me that worked at AO Smith and I spent the afternoon with him getting some neat stories and contacts that worked at AO smith. He didn’t have direct responsibility for the XR7-G but was pulled in on a few issues. He work in product engineering and design and said his board was right next to Lynn Griffin who did the majority of the G work. His main work was on the 68 Shelby hood and the Pontiac T/A hoods. He also did the design and work on the 69/70 Shelby hoods. he said they didn’t have a G pool car to drive and only two Shelby mustangs they could drive. He said he didn’t get hardly any seat time in the Shelbys, but did get to drive a 427 Corvette home a few times.
Seat time in a Shelby, who would want that they are a dime a dozen cars. Give me seat time in a Ultra rare XR7G or a GTE…now that would be sweet. 
Ok…Ok I’m just joking about the Shelby’s I really like them also, give me seat time and my face would disappear because my smile would be so big! 
Cool story about being able to chat with the ASC employee.
Steven
Cool Brian, do let me know if you get any inside stories, or if you can find out anymore about those dang mystical xr7-G lanyards.
I’ve got to ask, what are the “mystical XR7-G lanyards”? I’ve never heard or read anything about something like this.
Steven
Steven, this might be opening up a can of worms, but I’ll try to explain the best I can. Brian and I have been going around and around on this subject for a while now, but not really with each other. Seems depending on who you ask there are two different reports on what type lanyards were used along with xr7-G klick pins. (hood pins) One having a swivel end on one side and the other lanyard having both sides with a flat end with maybe a 30 degree angle bent into it. (guessing?)
On Bill’s site here he has two of the original blue prints from A.O.Smith. One showing a swivel end and the other showing the flat bent end. My take on it is, the one for the swivel end is for location purposes for the hood pins and they just used that style for reference and not the actual style of pin & lanyard. (The pin isn’t a G pin in that print either ) The other print shows the one that looks like the one that came on my car. I also have a pic of another G with the same type of lanyard as mine.
Back when I was working I used to work with engineers a lot and they said it was sort of common practice to substitute something if it’s just a reference. Well, at least they said they do it, I don’t know if that’s common practice everywhere. On another one of Bills blue prints it has something to do with a steering wheel, but it shows a 67 steering wheel, and once again I think it was in reference to something else. I’m trying to go by memory (oh god ) on that one, I haven’t been to the blueprint page in quite a while. I have talked to the guy that owns the black xr7-G they were going to give to Dan Gurney and he said he don’t remember it having a swivel end on it, but he hasn’t seen that car in a few years. I did show him both kinds of lanyards and he did say he believed it to be the flat bent style. But as always it’s just a tough thing to prove. If anything it’s me just being a hard head.