This 1965 Ford Shelby GT350R is the most expensive Mustang in the world to come up for auction.

Wealthy auto collectors will soon have the opportunity to own an authentic piece of automotive history.

A 1965 Ford Shelby GT350 Competition, Shelby American's first racing Mustang, will be offered at a Mecum auction in Kissimmee, Florida from January 6-16.

The car, with chassis number 5R002, is identical to the one Ken Miles raced at Green Valley Raceway in Smithfield, Texas, in 1965; the GT350 Competition, known as the GT350R, was a sanctioned race (in this case an SCCA event), this race was the first time it was entered in a sanctioned race (in this case, an SCCA event). It was also the first time a Shelby Mustang won a race, as Miles won the race.

This event was immortalized by a photograph that captured the moment the car lifted off the ground. This earned the machine its famous nickname, the Flying Mustang. Other famous drivers who have taken the steering wheel include Bob Bondurant, Chuck Cantwell, Peter Block, Jerry Titus, and of course Carroll Shelby.

This same car was offered at Mecum auction last year and fetched $3.85 million, making it the most valuable Mustang in the world. The equally famous "Bullitt" Mustang driven on screen by Steve McQueen sold for $3.4 million in another Mecum auction held last year; Mecum's current estimate for chassis No. 5R002 is between $3.7 million and $4 million.

This car was one of two GT350R prototypes built in 1965, the other being chassis no. 5R001. It was submitted to the FIA as an SCCA B Production Class homologation. It was also the second GT350 built by Shelby.

Compared to the stock GT350, the R model featured new suspension tuning, a modified 289 cubic-inch Ford V-8, an improved cooling system, fiberglass body panels, and Plexiglas windows. The interior was also modified for racing, with a full roll cage added to meet competition regulations. And as a prototype, chassis No. 5R002 was fitted with many parts that were not included in Shelby's 34 GT350R customer race cars built in 1965

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Shelby sold the car to Ford engineer Bill Clawson of Dearborn, Michigan, in 1966 for $4,000. Shelby then passed into the hands of several others, including a client in Mexico, and was eventually stored at the Shelby American Museum in Boulder, Colorado.

It remained at the museum for 14 years until the well-known Shelby collector John Atzbach, the 2020 auctioneer, acquired it in 2010 and had it restored to its original racing specifications as seen in Green Valley. It is not clear why the previous owner wanted to sell the car just one year after purchasing it.