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As a young man working a summer job digging up old cable, Ralph Hindle was introduced to the Ford Mustang. This was 1973 in the Ottawa area, and one of Hindle’s workmates was fanatical about Shelby Mustangs. The workmate owned a 1970 Boss Mustang, but would always point out a Shelby at any opportunity.

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“I got to drive his Boss when he lost his driver’s licence for six months,” the Calgarian recalls. “And then, I bought a blue 1965 Mustang fastback. That car had lots of issues — the floors were rusted out, it would overheat, and it used oil.

“Every time I stopped for gas, I’d put in a quart of oil and fill the radiator. There were leaks all over the place.”

But that didn’t prevent Hindle and his high school friend Mike Grant — with whom he’s still friends — from driving the car across Canada, making it to British Columbia and back to Ontario.

Hindle, an analytical chemist, moved to Calgary in 2000 and was kept busy with motorcycles for several years. During that time, he didn’t have a hobby car. However, he’d long dreamed of owning a Porsche Carrera until his long time high school friend, Mike Grant, also now in Calgary, showed up in a brand new 2006 Mustang fastback.

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“This fifth-generation Mustang (introduced in 2005) had a retro appeal and had the looks of the car we’d driven across Canada,” Hindle says.

After selling his share of a lab he’d helped open and operate, Hindle had a few extra dollars in his pocket.

“My wife said to me, ‘Buy the car of your dreams,’” he recalls.

Instead of the Porsche, Hindle was so enamoured by the fifth-generation Mustang that he began searching for a 2007 Mustang Shelby GT500. Wanting a road trip, he was looking to buy a car from a dealer far from Calgary. He found a black 2007 convertible in Hamilton, Ontario, worked out a deal and flew east to drive the car home.

Is one ever enough, though? Hindle didn’t think so, and he started looking for a ’07 Mustang Shelby GT500 coupe. “I found a blue coupe at a dealer in Las Vegas, and Mike and I flew down to pick that car up. We drove it home,” he says.

The 2007 Shelby GT500 was a product of Ford’s Special Vehicle Team and Shelby Motors. The recipe included a more powerful engine — a supercharged 5.4-litre DOHC V8 good for 500 horsepower paired with a six-speed manual transmission — in a Mustang imbued with better handling and braking capabilities.

But Hindle wanted more Shelby, and after purchasing both of his GT500s he booked his cars at Shelby Automobiles in Las Vegas for the addition of special packages – the blue coupe for the 40th Anniversary package, followed by the convertible and the Super Snake package.

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He drove the coupe down first and flew home, leaving the GT500 in Las Vegas while Shelby Automobiles installed the 40th Anniversary package. Six weeks later, when it was ready, Hindle drove the convertible down for its Super Snake package and returned home with the coupe. Of course, he flew back down again to retrieve the convertible when Shelby Automobiles was finished.

“After the Shelby modifications, which included many changes such as upgraded brakes, suspension and on the coupe, a Kenne Bell supercharger that was good for 725 hp, the cars started and drove the same, but they weren’t the same anymore,” Hindle says. “You don’t really know what you have until you put your foot into it. The coupe, especially, is like it’s had too much coffee and always wants to go.”

Since buying the cars, Hindle has tried to do one summer road trip per year in each. He occasionally commuted in them, too, however there are only 45,000 kilometres on the convertible and 17,000 on the coupe.

“I don’t drive them as much as I used to, and I’ve listed the convertible for sale,” he says. “The blue coupe, because it reminds me of the 1965 Mustang that Mike and I drove across Canada, is the one that interests me the most.”

Greg Williams is a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Have a column tip? Contact him at 403-287-1067 or gregwilliams@shaw.ca.