The aircraft was fitted with stock P-51 wings, and its powerplant, a Rolls-Royce Griffon 57A driving contra-rotating propellers, came from an Avro Shackleton.

However, its success would be short-lived, as during the race the aircraft suffered an engine failure and was forced to make a belly landing.

[1] Don Whittington lost interest in air racing following the death of Gary Levitz in 1999 and put Precious Metal in storage.

[2] Levitz, a friend of Whittington, died during the Reno Air Races when his own Griffon-powered Mustang, Miss Ashley II, broke up in flight.

[1] In 2011, Precious Metal was sold to Thom Richard, who made several modifications to the aircraft, including a feathering pump.

In 2012, Richard flew Precious Metal in the Gold Class race, but he did not finish because one of the landing gear doors came off in flight.

Levitz modified the aircraft as a race plane and fitted it with a tall tail from a P-51H, naming it Precious Metal, and sold it to Don Whittington in 1976.

Whittington briefly flew the aircraft as Miss Florida II before renaming it back to Precious Metal.

[9] However, these plans were never realized as on July 27 of that year, Precious Metal II collided with P-51D Stang on landing after performing a simulated air race during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.

Beck was killed when Precious Metal II flipped over and impacted the ground inverted, while Stang pilot Casey Odegaard survived.