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The export brace was first used in 1965 on cars being exported out of the country which traditionally had rough roads. Ford realized early on that the unibody construction was prone to twisting and flexing and could lead to shock tower fatigue and cracking. This heavy-duty brace was needed to help provide rigidity to the front of the car. Carrol Shelby saw the importance of this brace and made it standard equipment on his 1965-1967 Shelby's. Most know that these braces had even hole spacing on the cowl side, so their cowls were drilled differently, and this brace was not even sold to the public as not compatible with production cars. But what most people do not know is that the first time Ford used the export brace with uneven hole spacing to fit standard production cars was for the 1968 Shelby. When Ford designed this version, it was specifically designed to fit 1968 Shelby's. Initially in Ford parts book its only application listed was 1968 Shelby. But later, it was listed as fitting all 1964-1970 Mustangs. However, since 1964-1966 shock towers and cowls are not identical to 1967-1970 therefore traditionally you must modify both genuine Ford's or previous reproduction export braces that were copied from it.