In the small town of Nocona, Texas, located just outside of Wichita Falls, a host of classic and rare race cars filled the interior of a brick and mortar building. The collection belonged to Pete Horton who for years collected cars and showcased them to people traveling through the area. However, after Horton’s passing the family has decided to move on and the cars are now headed to auction. Now Carroll Shelby’s GT500 and two Cobra Jets are leaving for Mecum.

Judging by his showroom, Horton pledged no allegiance to one specific automotive company. Instead, his collection was geared towards classic cars, cars related to celebrities, and occasionally sprinkled with modern race cars of all kinds. Days before the Horton Classic Car Museum was set to close we stopped in to take one long final look at what vehicles Mr. Horton had acquired throughout the years.

When walking through a showroom filled with vibrant paint jobs that rival almost any car show, it’s easy to get over-stimulated and miss out on a few. However, for the Ford fanatic a 1968 Shelby GT500 Cobra Mustang would be hard to miss. The car was one of Carroll Shelbys and retains his signature on the dashboard. The car is filled with Cobra emblems and markings throughout and still has the original Cobra push button lock.

If for some odd reason a classic GT500 is not your thing, Horton also had a pair of S197 Mustang Cobra Jet’s sitting beside each other. While the Cobra Jet’s were offered in limited quantities, both of these were crafted in a batch of only 50 serialized units, making them extremely rare. The VIN-less spectacles offered a look into what one could have bought for an out-of-the-box racing platform from Ford Racing.

While we ogled over the beautiful finds that Horton had located all in one place, the staff of Mecum Auctions was preparing for the task of rolling these vehicles down the red carpet and into new homes. VINs were written down, vehicles were inspected, and engines were started in the building. Not surprisingly, the emission of classic car fumes and loud exhaust echoed through the building, which actually cut the final days of public viewing of Horton’s treasure back three days citing safety concerns.

We could write features for months on each one of the cars at Horton’s Classic Car Museum, but it still wouldn’t do justice to the man who brought them all to a small town of only 3,000 people. As these cars leave Nocona, Texas, and head for the big stage, we owe Mr Horton one final salute for being a car guy who wanted to share his passion. Hopefully, the new owners will be just as willing to showcase their proud new purchases and quite possibly bring them to the shows.