Pa. man wins rare Ford Mustang with $280K bid

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — A central Pennsylvania man has made the winning bid on an ultra-rare sports car that set the auction world buzzing.

The Centre Daily Times said George Cowfer of Clearfield County paid $280,000 for the 1969 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 Cobra Jet at an auction today. That’s more than the $200,000 the car was expected to fetch.

The time-capsule car’s former owner died last fall. He bought it the Mustang at a Centre County dealership but logged only 8,500 miles before garaging it for 40 years.

State College-based auctioneer Ron Gilligan said the GT500 is one of only 1,534 made. The “jade-black” color car still has its factory-installed belts, hoses, spark plugs and wiring.

Gilligan said there was so much interest in the car that the traffic crashed his website.