Some of the most adored muscle cars in the U.S. were unleashed in the late 60s and early 70s. The Mustang, introduced in 1964, was a big hit among car enthusiasts. But it’s the ultra-rare 1968 Shelby GT500KR Mustang variant ‘King of the Road’ that still holds a god-like status among petrolheads today.

Not many 1968 Cobra Shelby GT500KR fastbacks still exist today. Only 1,053 units of this classic muscle car were built during a two-month production.

From April 1968, Ford Motors started installing a version of the 428 engine, aka Cobra Jet, on the GT500. It was subsequently called the Cobra GT500 KR. The Initials ‘KR’ stood for “King of the Road.”

The few (original versions) that still exist today are show cars locked up in a garage or rotting somewhere in a barn, waiting to get rescued. Classic car prospector and influencer Dennis Collins recently stumbled upon the latter. An abandoned 1968 Shelby GT500KR 428 Cobra Jet.

Believe it or not, this God-tier ultra-rare muscle car was rotting in a Windham, New Hampshire, property.

According to the previous owner, the mean-looking classic muscle car had been sitting in a field for 25 years. It got into an accident, and the owner at the time stored it in a barn in Methuen, Massachusetts, before it was moved to New Hampshire, when that property was sold.

The classic muscle car only has 50,000 miles (80,467 kilometers) and has been off the road since the 70s.

“You see, this is Shelby Automotive at this time, not Shelby America building these cars, and on the buck tag, there is an essay on there which stands for Shelby Automotive,” Collins said as he inspected the classic Mustang.

The car still had the Metuchen plant tag with the ‘577’ figures indicating its sequence rolling out of the New Jersey factory.

It was in a desolate condition since it had been sitting in a field in New Hampshire for all those years. It’ll need an insane amount of care to get it back to factory standards – nothing Dennis Collins and his team can’t achieve.

We recommended catching that rescue action and more in the video below.

PS: Collins gets a second Shelby from Richard of Gas Monkey Garage.