Shelby American Winter 2012

The SHELBY AMERICAN

#88

The magazine of the Shelby American Automobile Club WINTER 2012

Copyright © 2012 Shelby American Automobile Club. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or translated without prior express written permission from the Shelby American Automobile Club. saac@saac.com

ON THE COVER. Surprised that there are Cobras on the cover of this issue? Well, it IS the 50th Anniversary of the Cobra, so it’s appropriate. Just about everything that could be said about these cars probably has been over the last five decades, but that won’t stop anyone from continuing.

They really are iconic. The cover we chose to commemorate the Cobra’s Golden Anniversary was taken in 2011, during the Cobra tour through the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park. 24 original Cobras participated in four days of asphalt gobbling, sightseeing and general frivolity. The photo was taken by Jim Sfetko.

Has it really been 50 years since the Cobra was born? Yes, by golly, it has. Everyone seems to be planning to include some tip-’o-the-hat to the Cobra this coming year, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone that SAAC is leading the charge. We even considered dedicating this entire issue to nothing but Cobras, but that seemed a little extreme. Nevertheless, we went out of our way to wrangle a number of Cobra-related articles for this issue. While not everyone can own an original Cobra, that doesn’t mean that we can’t all appreciate reading about them.

THE MAIL SAAC. 16 pages. The Cobra’s 50th Anniversary celebration begins.

We’re betting it will be one you won’t easily forget. This is also the 30th anniversary of the twelve ‘66 GT350 continuation convertibles, if anyone is popping a champagne bottle. There’s a new Buccaneer Shelby poster available. And what’s the deal with Forrest Straight and Pamela Anderson? Are they an “item” or not?

Then there’s the Cobra in the Lark cigarette commercial. Who is Pat Mernone?

Jesse James does some agricultural racing in his 1000-hp Ford GT. And more.

SHELBY AMERICANA. 9 pages. We start with a review of ex-Cobra team engine man Gordon Chance’s new book about Jim Travers, one of the legends behind TRACO Engineering. Chance worked there as well as at Shelby American.

The Eagle-Eye battle between Ken Young, Jim Hutchison and Ted Warren continues unabated. We thought the concept of Pardeeabilia in the last issue was just a fluke. Not so, it seems. We hope reporting on it does not serve to encourage it. And, NO! Say it ain’t so! The sound effects in “Hey Little Cobra” were faked?

CSX2021 AT 50. 6 pages. This is the first of our Cobra commemoration articles in this issue. Frank Zizzo shares the history of his early Cobra, back from Day One—which was October 1, 1962. The car has run the gamut from street car to race car, to street car, to open track car, back to race car, and finally retired race car. It couldn’t have found a better owner than Zizzo. He even scored a set of sidedraft Webers (which the car had early in its life) and a Vertex magneto—which you hardly ever see. Good thing he is a tinkerer.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012

DRIVIN’. 6 pages. Jeff Burgy joined the 2011 “Cobra 1000” driving tour as one of the wranglers in the chase vehicle. They started in Sun Valley, Idaho and a thousand miles later the sixteen snakes had completed a tour of Idaho and Montana, through some of the most scenic landscape the west has to offer. Dinners in rustic lodges, winding roads with a wink at the speed limit and memorable lunch stops. It’s only a matter of time that a couple of dozen Shelby owners catch on to this idea and plan something like this on their own. If they do, you’ll see it here.

THE 427 VIBE. 6 pages. Throughout Shelby American’s history, all roads eventually led to the 427 engine. In this respect, Ken Miles was a visionary who saw the Cobra’s second generation clearly, even while he was demonstrating his mastery of the first. Every time somebody at Shelby American thought outside of the box, a 427 FE big block was there, casting a large shadow: Cobra Coupe, Ford GT, GT350-R, ‘67 GT500. Those three numbers— 4, 2 and 7—were, somehow, magical.

We try to tie it all together.

COBRAS AND SHELBYS IN PLAYBOY Part 2. 5 pages. When we included an article about Shelbys and Cobras in Playboy in the last issue, we stopped around 1972. We knew there were two more cars awarded to Playmates of the Year in the late 1990s, but we decided to cut it off where we did and save those for a separate article. We wanted to delve into the Shelby American/Playboy connection a little deeper, and that took a little more time. There were a few additional threads that had to be woven into the story. We think we got them all.

DOUBLE-0-1. 3 pages. There was a 001 of every year Shelby car made. Because the cars were not produced in strict numerical order, a car carrying the serial number 001 was not necessarily the first one off the production line, out the door and into the dealer’s showroom. Nevertheless, by whatever coincidences that took place, the “first” car of any year or model is special. Vern Estes begins what will be a series examining each double-0-1 car. We begin with the last double-0-1 of the series: a red 1969 GT350 convertible now living in Australia.

MANHATTAN MAYHEM. 5 pages. Marty Schorr was the publisher of Hi-Performance CARS magazine, one of the staples of gearheads in the 1960s. The magazine was the geographical opposite of all the west coast buff books and provided a nice counterbalance. In 1967, Schorr drove a GT40 MK III, provided by Bill Kolb of Gotham Ford, on the streets of Manhattan. His pictures accompanied the report. As a recent owner of a new Ford GT, and a SAAC member, his interest in these cars was reignited. He shares some of his experiences with us.

MILES MANIA. 4 pages. There are model builders, and then there are MODEL BUILDERS. If you think you might be in the second group, before making that determination you may want to meet SAAC member Paul House. His interest in Ken Miles and his hobby of building models intersected and the result was a desire to build every car that Ken Miles raced during his career. He’s not there yet, but he has an astounding start. Some cars had to be scratch-built because no kits existed. The depth of his enthusiasm is amazing. See for yourself.

NOTES FROM THE PASSENGER SEAT. 3 pages. Cana Comer has racked up her share of seat time in husband Colin’s various Cobras on those thousand-mile rallies. She keeps coming back for more, leading us to suspect that she has acquired some secrets to making the trips enjoyable. Cobra Guys probably won’t gain too much from this article, unless they’d like their passenger seat filled.

Long solo drives tend to be a little dull. Sharing the trip is much better. Think of this as a “how-to” article. And no—that’s not Cana in the picture at the left.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012

ZACHARY TAYLOR REYNOLDS. 5 pages. Zach Reynolds, an heir to the R.J. Reynolds tobacco fortune, grew up like a perpetual lottery winner. He was a daredevil, a motorcycle racer, and a stunt pilot. But his real passion was street racing.

He was a legend around the Winston-Salem, North Carolina area in the 1960s and 1970s. He burnished that legend with a 1,000-horsepower rocket-powered 427 Galaxie. It proved to be a bit much for the street so he looked around for a suitable replacement. That was a brand new 427 Cobra S/C. Still interested?

50 YEARS IN COBRAS. 4 pages. They don’t call Lynn Park “Mr. Cobra” for nothing. He was one of the very first Cobra enthusiasts, beginning back in 1962. And he has maintained that enthusiasm ever since. We asked him about those early years. You know, when cars weren’t selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars, any part you needed was available directly from the factory, and if you stopped by the Venice facility you could just walk in and have a look around. Unimaginable today, but it was no big deal back then.

AFTER 48 YEARS. 3 pages. Peter Brock’s Cobra Daytona Coupe design originally included something called a “ring foil” rear spoiler and roof extractor vents, but they were never incorporated into the car, mostly due to the pressures of a race deadline but also because they were so outside the envelope of current thinking that no one else at Shelby American thought they were worth the effort. Like a dog who will not let go of a bone, it took Brock 48 years to prove the roof extractor vent concept would work. Was he expecting to get paid by the hour?

SAAC-10. 10 pages. SAAC celebrates a decade of channeling enthusiasm for Cobras and Shelbys during a time when we pretty much had it all to ourselves. Our tenth national convention was the sixth one held in the East and our second at Great Gorge, New Jersey. We spent a day tearing up the asphalt at Pocono International Raceway before returning to the Americana Resort. We didn’t spend a lot of time patting everyone on the back after ten years but we did put on a multimedia show to commemorate the club’s milestone. It hardly seems that long ago.

CHRISTMAS 2011. 3 pages. ‘Tis the season. Here’s this year’s crop of car-related Christmas cards that arrived at SAAC headquarters, some to our post office box and some through email. We love seeing people’s creativity and what they consider their favorite photos. You’ll want to check out the All American Racers’ new DeltaWing racer. Think of this as a peek behind a curtain that will open fully at LeMans this coming June. Racing won’t be the same after that.

Unlike a birthday, the Cobra’s 50th Anniversary lasts all year. We’ll do our best to shake the tree until a few more Cobra-related articles fall out for the next issue. Speaking of Cobras, here’s a studio shot of CSX2430. There’s nothing like a studio shot to make your blood start pumping. We’ve had this image in our files since 1990, which doesn’t seem like that long ago.

Time really flies. CSX2430 was originally Tom Payne’s race car, which he was driving when he became famous for driving in a coat and tie. It is presently owned by Steve Volk of Boulder, Colorado and was restored to perfection by Bill Murray.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012

THE COBRA’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Notes from the SAAC mail room.

It seems like everyone is planning a gala 50th Anniversary Celebration for the Cobra for 2012. Will too many commemorations trivialize them and make them all lose their significance? Are we about to witness a live demonstration of too much of a good thing? We shall see.

When it comes to choosing an honoree or an honored marque for an event, Carroll Shelby and the Cobra are at the top of everyone’s short list.

The question is, if they’re all the same, at what point will they begin to lose their juice?

When event organizers begin to consider who or what they will be saluting, they consider several things. One is if the year of their event provides any particular significance. Commemorating the anniversary of something, for example: 40 years since Ford’s victory at LeMans, or 30 years since the introduction of the GT500. This is a one-time opportunity. Notable events are made special by being linked to passages to time calculated in numbers of years—usually centuries, half or quarter centuries or decades. The exception is an event like a birthday or a wedding anniversary, which is celebrated anew with the passing of each year.

Another consideration is if the same person or marque has been saluted by the event in the past, and if so, how long ago? Different honored marques are chosen for different vintage weekends, and there are enough that it can be a long time before they repeat. The exception is a special commemoration (like a 50 year anniversary, for example) where it may be important to have the tribute during a certain year.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Ten years ago there was a celebration of the Cobra’s 40th birthday at the Petersen Automotive Museum in downtown Los Angeles. Forty Cobras were arranged up on the roof and it was captured by ace lensman Bob McClurg. Here’s a question: how many Cobras would be needed to form a “50”? Wonder if we’ll find out at SAAC-37?

As Sundance famously said, in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “Who ARE those guys?” 1. Don Lee; 2. Ron Marks; 3. Jim Lewis; 4.Hank Williams; 5. Tim MacDonald; 6.

Tom McIntyre; 7. Ruben Garnica; 8. Jim Schield; 9. Bud Williams; 10. Phil Schmidt; 11.

Ed Mazula; 12. Carroll Shelby; 13. Frank Zizzo; 14. Carroll Shelby; 15. Jim Barnes; 16.

Jim Barrett; 17. Billy Kincheloe; 18. Bill Hammerstein; 19. Jay Russell; 20. Phil Gallant; 21. Rick & Shar Mason; 22. Tony Drissi; 23. Dick Smith.

Winter 2012 1

Another factor is if the location has anything to do with the celebration. “ We’re at Watkins Glen to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Cobra’s first victory here,” or, “ Exactly twenty-three years ago, in this very spot, the first...”

All this will add up to a year Cobra enthusiasts will never forget, or one in which one more Cobra commemoration will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and sends them into a dizzying rage.

Perhaps some background is in order. Carroll Shelby became an exracing driver in 1960 when his doctor told him that his heart problem was serious enough to keep him out of a race car. He had no choice but to walk away because he could no longer pass the physical required to maintain a competition license.

Shelby didn’t walk very far. He settled in Southern California, the place where automotive trends were born. Cars might be made in Detroit, but they were injected with life in California, like some Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, laying dormant on a table on top of the castle until charged by a bolt of lightning. Shelby realized this was where things were happening, and he had a desire to be part of it.

He was able to negotiate a contract with Goodyear to distribute their racing tires on the West Coast.

It was a small slice of their business at that time, but Shelby hung with it and it continued to grow a little each year. The racing tire business was on the periphery of racing, but Shelby needed to get closer. He started the first school for performance driving in this country. Originally it was going to be a school that instructed drivers only about racing but he astutely reasoned that by limiting it to race drivers he would be limiting the pool of potential students. So it became the Carroll Shelby School of High Performance Driving. It wasn’t exactly a license to print money, but it didn’t lose any.

Shelby continued casting about for other automotive projects. What he really wanted to do was build a sports car of his own. A year later he heard about the new Ford lightweight V8 small-block engine at the same time he was told that the AC Car Company was losing their engine manufacturer. The light bulb

The SHELBY AMERICAN

AND SPEAKING OF ANNIVERSARIES...

6S2389 Let’s file this one under “Has it Really been 30 years?” Back in 1982, Carroll Shelby realized a couple of things that came together and gave shape to what was, back then, an exciting project. Twelve years after closing the doors of Shelby Automobiles, and after attending half of SAAC’s six national conventions, Shelby continued to be surprised by the high level of enthusiasm for the cars that carried his name. His financial antenna also detected the rising values of Shelbys in general, and the affect that low production numbers had on values in particular.

Shelby was intrigued by the idea of building another ‘66 GT350 convertible.

He had always regretted that the one he had in 1966 had been sold while he was out of town. He asked Al Dowd, working as his special projects director, to look around for someone who could do the job. Dowd found J. Orion Brunk, the owner of Beverly Hills Mustang, an upscale restoration shop that restored early Mustangs for trendy socialites who were tired of driving BMWs and Mercedes around Rodeo Drive. Brunk and Shelby put their heads together and

came up with the idea of disassembling early, rust-free Mustang convertibles and restoring them to 1966 GT350 specifications. Brunk suggested that they build a dozen cars under the umbrella of Shelby American, giving them serial numbers continuing after the last GT350. They figured to sell four cars for $40K each (five times the going rate of a ‘66 GT350 fastback). They could build all twelve for that amount. As soon Shelby realized that both of them would end up with four cars out of the deal, he was all in.

Carroll Shelby’s getting back into the GT350 business created instant buzz and before the excitement subsided, all four of the cars were sold. Shelby would personally present the key to the each new owner as soon as Brunk finished their car.

Shelby, of course, got the first one completed and he drove it whenever his sixth sense told him there was an automotive photographer within telephoto range. By this time there were monthly magazines dedicated only to Mustangs and Shelbys.

The interest in these continuation cars spilled over to the original Shelbys.

6S2389

Winter 2012 2

went off over his head and the Cobra was born. That was 1961. On February 2, 1962 the first car was airfreighted from England to New York.

And the rest is well documented history. It just doesn’t seem possible that the Cobra’s beginning is a halfcentury old. Let the commemorations begin.

•Barrett-Jackson Auction Scottsdale, Arizona January 16-17-18-19-20-21-22 We don’t know what these guys are planning but they never miss an opportunity like this.

Likely it will include a special limited edition Cobra commemoration model created

by BJ sponsor Shelby American.

•Boca Raton Concours de Elegance Boca Raton, Florida February 24-25-26 A Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Carroll Shelby.

•50th Anniversary Celebration at Shelby American, Las Vegas March 14-15-16-17 Car show, open track, parade laps, cruise, factory tour, dinner.

•Amelia Island Concours Amelia Island, Florida March 9-10-11 Display of unique Cobras.

•NHRA Ford-Cobra-Shelby Reunion NHRA Museum, Pomona, Calif.

April 19-21-22 Shelby driver/employee reunion dinner honoring Carroll Shelby; track time on the original (19561963) Pomona road race course.

•SAAC-37 Watkins Glen, New York June 7-8-9 National Convention with SVRA vintage race weekend; special all-Cobra/Shelby vintage race; original Cobra display; Shelby American Tour stop.

•NORCAL Mini-Nats XXVIII Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, CA August 3-4-5 Shelby American Tour adds the Mini-Nats to its schedule. Car show, open track, vintage race.

•Shelby American Collection Picnic Boulder, Colorado August 4-5 Celebrate the Cobra’s 50th Birthday in the middle of the largest bunch of comp Cobras in the country.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

6S2381 So, here we are thirty years later.

Shelby used the continuation GT350 convertibles to test the water and he dove directly to the deep end of the pool, building a handful of 427 S/Cs for $500K a pop. By the time the early 1990s arrived and Shelby American could assure a buyer that a car would be completed in a reasonable amount of time, the rollercoaster had crested and began to dip. Top-of-thepyramid 427 Cobras were no longer bringing $500K, so Shelby’s continuation cars proved a tad pricey. That’s what prompted the CSX4000.

Anyway, thirty years have passed and the twelve convertibles have been accepted into the fold, more or less, and some of them are even being restored. Jeff Burgy happened to see one, 6S2381, owned by Rick Nash from Saginaw, Michigan, under

going a total, rotisserie restoration at Jeff Jane’s shop in St. Charles, Michigan. Jeff reported that the car will be finished using period-correct components. Brunk’s cars were loaded with Mustang bling; things like Pony interiors, ear-blasting sound systems and a roll bar. Sharp-eyed Burgy noticed that Nash’s car had an extra set of holes to lower the upper A-arms. We’re not sure if all the continuation cars were originally built with this modification.

Ever since Jeff Burgy retired from 30+ years at the Blue Oval, he has become something of an automotive vagabond. He turned up in Sun Valley, Idaho during the 2011 “Cobra 1000” tour. When a dozen original Cobras stopped at a local resort, word spread quickly. One of the cars that showed up was David Stone’s 6S2389, helped along by a Paxton supercharger.

Winter 2012 3

•Monterey Motorsports Reunion Mazda Raceway, Monterey, Cal. August 17-18-19 Cobra is the honored marque so expect them in spades. A separate race for original Cobras is being planned with a 40-car field expected.

•Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance August 19 A special Cobra class will be included in the program.

•SVRA Zippo Vintage Races Watkins Glen International September 7-8-9 SVRA’s largest vintage race weekend will be a tribute to Mustangs (Shelbys and Cobras included); parade laps, special Mustang & Shelby race and downtown festivities.

•Goodwood Revival West Sussex, England September 14-15-19 30-car Cobra-only 45-minute race will be center stage at Lord March’s annual vintage race extravaganza.

For the owners of original Cobras, 2012 is going to be an unforgettable year. At any event they choose to bring their car to, they will be welcomed like gold-laden potentates visiting some third world backwater rathole. Unless, of course, they act like conceited debutantes, sitting at home waiting for an invitation to the prom from the captain of the football team, and refusing to go with anyone else.

And let’s be honest here: it’s also going to be a great year for the owners of all other Cobras, from CSX4000s, CSX7000s and CSX8000s to AC MK IVs, Superformance Daytona Coupes and replicas of every stripe. All of the 50th Anniversary hype will make anything that looks like a Cobra pure gold for a year.

And probably for the following year, because this much hype doesn’t evaporate immediately. Expect the warm afterglow to last for a while.

All this makes us wonder if there is anyone out there in SAACland who, like the Deadheads following the Grateful Dead around the country as they play a 50-city concert tour, will follow the Cobra 50th Anniversary celebrations. It would be cool if you could do it in a Cobra.

What a story that would make!

The SHELBY AMERICAN

ANOTHER BUCCANEER POSTER: PRICELESS

Curtis Burton, SAAC member and Houston oil tycoon, enjoyed his behind-thescenes involvement with the Buccaneer/‘69 Shelby poster pictured in the Summer 2011 issue [2011 Annual, page 145]. He reported that his efforts on the poster required that he work closely with the poster’s model, Eydie Anderson. “It was a tough job,” he said solemnly, “But somebody had to do it.” The success of that poster led him to consider doing a second poster, pictured above. This one features Burton’s ‘66 GT350H, 6S1991.

“We needed a Hertz car quickly, and luckily, I just happened to have one in my garage,” said Burton.

If you would like one (or more) of these posters (18˝ x 24˝) they are $15 each (that price includes postage). You can order yours through PayPal, or use a credit card. The email address is: membership@saac.com and tell us you’re ordering the Hertz poster.

Prefer to pay by check? Make it payable to “SAAC” and send it to: SAAC, PO BOX 788, SHARON CT 06069

We’ve been trying to stay close to this project and managed to get a hold of some of the “prototype” layouts. The process requires trial and error; rarely is the first rendition the final one.

Winter 2012 4

JESSE JAMES MIGHT WANT TO STICK TO CHOPPERS WAN TED : Impetuous individual with a markedly adventurous streak. If you are interested in attending each one of the events listed above (with the exception of the one in England), you are invited to contact SAAC HQ. You can email us a report and photos after each Cobra 50th celebration and we will prepare it as an e-blast and send it to all SAAC members immediately. We’ll also fashion a complete report of all events and it will be included in the 2012 Annual. War ni ng : this adventure could cause fame, fortune and instant recognition in the automotive world, along with a mob of thrillseeking groupies who will chase you through the streets wherever you go. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Contact Rick Kopec at saac@saac.com

The Cobra isn’t the only car celebrating it’s 50th anniversary. There will be a celebration in England commemorating 50 years of James Bond cars at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu. Located in the county of Hampshire, the museum has more than 250 cars in its collection, including Donald Campbell’s Bluebird CN7.

For 2012 the museum will collect 50 cars, what they describe as “ the largest collection of Bond cars ever.” The show will run from January to December. Most of the cars are Aston Martins, of course, and among them will be the DBS from “Quantum of Solace,” the DB5 from “Goldeneye,” the Jaguar XKR from “Die Another Day,” and the 1937 Rolls Royce Phantom III from “Goldfinger.” No word on the most famous Bond car of all, the ‘64 Aston DB5 which first appeared in “Goldfinger.” It is presently in the hands of well-known collector Harry Yeaggy of Cincinnati, Ohio. Yeaggy, it should be noted, was, until recently, the owner of Cobra Daytona Coupe, CSX2601. [ See The Shelby American, Fall 2011, page 231.]

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Our e-mail “in box” is perpetually clogged with messages from desperate people in Nigeria asking for our help in retrieving $23 million dollars from frozen accounts, merchandise offers from every company we’ve ever purchased anything from on-line, political stories, health tips, jokes we heard in junior high school, and the occasional unsolicited piece of porn. In between this never-ending stream of Internet flotsam and jetsam are messages relating to Shelbys, Cobras and SAAC in general. And some blogs.

One of our favorites is “Jalopnik.” These guys break stories on just about anything relating to cars and racing, and most of it is worth a quick read. They must have feelers and sources everywhere. Take this recent story. Chopper builder and one-time volatile cable television personality Jesse James got in over his head with his 1000-horsepower Ford GT and catapulted off the road near his Austin, Texas home at a high rate of speed.

Super-tuner John Hennessey, who reportedly built the twin-turbo monster, was asked for a comment by Jalopnik reporter Matt Hardigree. “We’ve built a couple of vehicles for Jesse including our GT 1000 twin turbo upgrade on his Ford GT,” said Hennessey. “It’s nice to know that Jesse drives his Hennessey GT hard enough to find the limit. After all, if you don’t crash or break every now and then, you’re not going fast enough.” Spoken like a true businessman who derives a portion of his income from repeat customers. The car was apparently not heavily damaged. http://jalopnik.com

WE POINT THE FINGER OF BLAME AT PETER BROCK It’s the automotive equivalent of the Rorschach Ink Blot Test. Whenever someone sees a fastback coupe with a rounded nose, headlights sunk into the fenders and a cut-off back end, the first words out of their mouth are “Daytona Coupe.” Think we’re exaggerating? Direct your attention to Exhibit A: a 1967 Lyrad GT MK I, created in Canada. It’s powered by a Jaguar in-line 6 engine with what appears to be a 9-inch Ford rear end. It was spotted on eBay by SAAC’s Internet explorer Dave Redman of Smithfield, Virginia. When he saw it, the bidding had reached $2,716.

Cast aluminum wheels, fiberglass body, 3spoke wood wheel, bullet mirrors...who says there are no bargains left out there?

Winter 2012 5

THE FORREST STRAIGHT-PAMELA ANDERSON CONNECTION It is a tenuous connection, we admit, but a connection nonetheless. After seeing the article in the last issue of The Shelby American about the appearances of Cobras and Shelbys in Playboy magazine, SAAC member Forrest Straight of Los Gatos, California wasted no time in contacting us to note that his 427 Cobra, CSX3183, had appeared in the German edition of Playboy that featured Pamela Anderson on the cover (February 1999). Straight’s daydreams aside, that is where his relationship with Anderson dead-ended.

bikinis who were also part of the shoot. He refused to provide specific details, claiming some sort of photographer-client privilege which we have never heard of.

That first Cobra shoot led to other shoots. Straight was asked to bring the car to the airport at Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco, early one Saturday morning during the weekend of an air show so it could be photographed with some war birds that had flown in for the weekend.

Kimball allowed us to use one of the photos from this shoot on the cover of The Shelby American #74 back in 2005.

posters or advertising shots. He maintains a large portfolio of his work, and occasionally it is used to fulfill some of these requests. If he already has a shot someone is looking for, it doesn’t make much sense to organize a new photo shoot just to get something similar.

So, when the editor of Playboy’s German edition contacted him, looking for some photos to use in an article they were working on about Carroll Shelby, one of the photos Kimball sent was the American flag shot of CSX3183. They liked it, they used it, and Kimball was paid for the shot. And everyone was happy, except maybe Straight, who never got to meet Pamela Anderson. Which is probably just as well, because she is not his type.

If you’re left wondering how, exactly, his car got to be in that issue, there is a reason. As we have always explained, rarely are things like this ever a coincidence. To connect the dots, we start with the fact that professional photographer Ron Kimball has a studio near Straight’s race shop. Driving by one day, he noticed the red Cobra parked outside and stopped in. He had been looking for a photogenic sports car to use as a prop for a glamour shot he had been planning. “Would the car,” he asked, “be available?”

When Straight heard the term “glamour shot,” his ears went up like a bird dog on full alert sensing a pheasant in the tall grass. He told Kimball that he could, of course, use the car but he would have to be there during the shoot to make sure the Cobra was properly handled. Kimball agreed and a date was set. On the appointed day, Straight spiffed up the car, took a shower, splashed on a little cologne and drove to Kimball’s studio. One of the shots had the Cobra parked in front of a As a professional photographer, Kimhuge American flag. Straight was unusu- ball receives requests to photograph all ally vague about the details concerning a sorts of things for everything from magacouple of well-endowed models in string zine articles and covers to calendars and Other photos in Kimball’s portfolio.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 6

1967 GT350 GETAWAY CAR This 1967 GT350, #67200F4A01691, has played a central role in the Milliken family ever since 1967. Gerald Milliken purchased the car new from Metke Ford in Bellevue, Washington. In 1977, he sold the car to his son, Mark, who used the car at open track events and autocrosses. At SAAC-32, at Miller Motorsport Park in Tooele, Utah in July of 2007, Mark passed the torch to his son Eric. It was his first convention open track event, and he took to it like a fish to water. The car was moved along by a 289 Weber carbed engine that Eric had rebuilt.

Fast-forward to June 11, 2011 when Eric and Jenna Milliken tied the knot in their hometown of Casper, Wyoming. The Shelby was used by the newlyweds to blast away to their honeymoon. Chances are very high that the car will eventually pass from father to son a second time in its life.

67200F4A01691

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 7

SMOKING WILL KILL YOU ANYWAY - WHY WORRY ABOUT A ROLL BAR ?

We ran across these photos on the Internet, taken at Sebring in 1963 by Nigel Smuckatelli. They were shot during the filming of a Lark cigarette commercial.

The tip-off that the car is not an actual race car is, of course, the luggage rack—although it’s easy to imagine that being necessary piece of equipment for Cobras to bring back the trophies they won. The car’s serial number is a mystery: even “Cobra Ned” Scudder wasn’t able to pin that down. Enlarging the photos shows a rackand-pinion steering wheel and a narrow white center-stripe. We can’t ever recall seeing a Cobra with red wire wheels but we have to admit that they do grow on you after a while. If anyone knows the serial number of this Cobra, please let us know so we can solve yet one more mystery.

fill ‘er up? check the oil and water?

We’re getting a fair number of pictures of late model Shelbys for the upcoming registry [No, it’s not too late, Bardahl breath], and when a really good one arrives it seems like a shame that we have to crop it and convert it to black and white for the book. But because we have a magazine that uses color photos, we can share the better ones with you. Matt Shannon took this picture of 9F02R480881 at this restored Texaco service station in DeSoto, Missouri (about a half-hour south of St. Louis). This station goes back to the 1900s and it is presently one of the oldest buildings in the town. It was active about 12 years ago. Its owner, Tod Mahn, also owns the Mahn Funeral Home which sits across the street. He was going to tear the building down but his son convinced him to preserve it. The restoration took two months.

There was a time in this country when service stations actually provided “service.” Your oil, water and battery were checked—and tires, if need be. And your windshield was washed. This was back when gas was 30¢ a gallon, and the only “conveniences” available came out of vending machines.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 8

DOING A TRIPLE-TAKE

9F02M480395

Bob Dallas of Westminster, Colorado emailed us pictures of his ‘69 GT350 for the registry. By our estimation, this one is near perfect as photographs go. The long shadows indicate it was taken either in the early morning or late afternoon—the optimum times to shoot a picture like this because the light is soft. Shooting near noon provides harsh light which washes out colors. The background doesn’t get much better than a P-51 Mustang. This one has been owned by Mike Bertz for 45 years.

The name on the fuselage is “Stang Evil.”

The picture was taken at the Rocky Mountain Metro Airport in Broomfield, Colorado. Then, two more photos rolled into our email box. Dallas owns three Shelbys and he shot all of them on the same day, using the same positioning. In fact, they were parked in almost exactly the same spot. As the pictures popped up on our monitor they caused us to do a triple take.

LOCAL BOY MAKES GOOD

8T02R211015-03888

George Watters II has been a SAAC member for more than 25 years. He presently owns a ‘66 GT350 and in the past has owned both ‘65 GT350s and R-Models. He recently retired and said good-bye to Hollywood, where he has worked as a supervising sound editor for 35 years. He received an Academy Award for The Hunt For Red October and was nominated for eight other movies you’ve probably seen.

He has also received a truckload of other awards and was recently chosen by the Motion Picture Sound Editors to receive it’s 2012 Career Achievement Recipient Award. George is a good friend and has browbeaten us into seeing every movie he’s ever worked on. Congrats, George!

The SHELBY AMERICAN

8T03R210084-03463

Winter 2012 9

ARE THERE ANY P-51 MUSTANGS LEFT NOT USED IN A SHELBY PHOTO ?

A couple of weeks after we got the pictures from Bob Dallas [see previous page] we got another Shelby/P-51 photo. Kenny Bradshaw of Virginia Beach, Virginia sent us this photo of his GT500KR fastback, 8T02R210355-03739 for the registry. It was taken last year at the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, which has 50 planes in its inventory. This particular Mustang, a P-51D, was built in 1945 and was assigned to the 8th Air Force in Europe. The markings on the plane designate it as belonging to the 353rd Fighter Group’s deputy commander. The plane (as well as the museum, itself) is owned by Jerry Yeagan. A total of 16,766 Mustangs were produced. According to the FAA, there are presently 204 privately owned P-51s. Most are still flying, and most of them have been used as backgrounds for Shelby pictures. Or so it seems.

IT WAS A TOUGH JOB, BUT SOMEBODY HAD TO DO IT When the Cobra Caravan started it’s month-long cross-country trip in November 1966, the plan was to put four race cars on Shelby’s transporter (a Daytona Coupe, a 427 S/C, a GT40 and an R-Model). At each of the 12 scheduled stops, a local Shelby dealer was asked to provide a few street cars, because dragging a second transporter on the trip would have been too costly. The cars, usually including a 289 or a 427 Cobra, were used to give rides to members of the press. The demo rides were given by Pat Mernone. Who? Mernone was an SCCA racer from the Washington D.C. area. She raced a Sprite, Morgan and a Porsche 911 at tracks like VIR, Cumberland, and Marlboro and was invited to the ARRC in 1964. She attended the Carroll Shelby School of Hi-Performance Driving and was asked if she would like to join the caravan. She wasn’t doing much in the winter, so she signed on.

This picture of Pat Mernone was included as an 8x10 in the Cobra Caravan press kits, but aside from giving her name and explaining briefly what she did when the caravan hit town, nothing else was known about her. When the photos of her in a white 289 Cobra in New York City turned up on the Internet, we googled her and solved the mystery.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 10

1967 GT500 AND 427 COBRA VOTED TOP MUSCLECARS msn.auto.com is an on-line car magazine that has enough stuff to keep a car enthusiast browsing for hours. Which is, we suppose, the general idea. We are suspicious of the amount of time that SAAC member Dave Redman spends on the Internet but we stop short of criticizing him because he could be doing worse things and we know what they are because we look at thesmokinggun.com once in a while. Anyway, Dave brought to our attention a survey msn.auto.com took of their readers. They asked them to vote for the best musclecar from a list of ten cars.

We were not surprised that the 427 Cobra and the ‘67 GT500 were on the list.

But what surprised was that the ‘67 GT500 got the most votes, and the 427 was second. 38,138 votes were received. The results are as follows: #10 - ‘70 Buick GSX - 2% #9 - ‘68 Firebird Coupe - 3% #8 - ‘69 Dodge Charger - 7% #7 - ‘70 Boss 302 - 7% #6 - ‘65 Pontiac GTO - 11% #5 - ‘70 Hemi Cuda - 11% #4 - ‘70 Chevelle 454 - 13% #3 - ‘69 Camaro Z/28 - 14% #2 - ‘66 Cobra 427 - 15% #1 - ‘67 GT500 - 17%

TRICK OR TREAT

SAAC member Bob Garland of Charlottesville, Virginia sent us this picture of the pumpkin his son Greg carved for Halloween this past year. It’s pretty neat, and although you probably didn’t see any other jack-o-lanterns like this one during the 2011 Halloween season, we’re betting that Greg’s handiwork is going to give other SAAC members an idea they will be tucking away in the back of their mind for next year. Our prediction: we expect to receive a bunch of pictures of Cobra or Shelby carved pumpkins around October of 2012.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

In all honesty, we are at a loss to explain how a ‘67 GT500 got more votes than a 427 Cobra in this survey. Could it be that with all the replica Cobras, CSX4000s, AC MK IVs, etc. on the current scene—in addition to original CSX3000 cars—all of them, together, are considered generic 427 Cobras and are no longer considered unique in the automotive world? Could the 427 body shape be suffering from over-exposure?

DYNACORN BODY: PROBLEM OR SOLUTION ?

This e-mail was sent to ‘65-’66 Registrar Howard Pardee and he provided a response that needs to be shared. We see no need to identify the writer.

“This inquiry might be a little heretical, but here goes. I have a ‘65 and a ‘66 GT350 that I vintage race. Wonderful and well kept cars as they are, but as long time racers, they have suffered from years of track rash—mostly on the undercarriage.

As I near the end of my racing career (48 years), I’d like to restore them to pristine racing condition. As such, I have become aware of this company, Dynacorn, who is making Ford officially-licensed chassis and selling them for $15,000. The ‘65-’66 fastbacks are actively on the drawing board but not yet in production. Getting two of these might be a lot less expensive than sending my cars out to a restorer. At least that’s my thought. Is this something, if done, that SAAC would recognize as a legitimate course of action? Do you have a “re-body” provision or would date codes, etc. be a problem? What are your thoughts and the club’s position, if it has one?”

Speaking only as one of the Registrars for SAAC, I would list the car in the Reg-

istry as a rebody only if the inner fender panels from the original body were grafted on to the Dynacorn unibody or at least the original numbers welded into the new inner fender panels (all three Ford serial numbers and the Shelby serial number stamping). If the Dynacorn car has no numbers, then it has to be classified as a fake and the original unibody is still the real thing, even if it has been stripped and discarded. All this is separate from the legal questions revolving around tampering with vehicle identification numbers.

There is no question in my mind that the value of such a car would probably be worth one half or less of what the car would be with the original body. Saving money now means losing it later. I’ve never seen one of the ‘67 Dynacorn unibodies, but I have been told that they are very easy to spot by an expert. I would expect that their '65 bodies would be the same.

So your choice, as I see it, is if you would prefer to have an authentic diamond with some flaws in it and maybe a couple of scratches on the facets, or would you prefer to have a perfect zirconium?

Howard Pardee

Winter 2012 11

EXPOSED ! “HEY LITTLE COBRA” SOUND EFFECTS WERE FAked !

Glen O. Jacobsen of Camano Island, Washington was one of the very first enthusiasts to join SAAC back in the fall of 1975. If we were giving out 37-Year pins (and we’re not, so please don’t even ask), Glen would get one. He spotted something in the 11/1/2011 issue of Everett, Washington’s “Herald.com” on-line newspaper that will be of interest of all SAAC members. The article was about a Marysville, Washington resident Barry Hilbert, who used his classic cars, over the years, to give VIPs rides in parades. The article was titled, “Marysville car enthusiast recalls driving the famous and powerful.” The article included a photo of Hilbert with his ‘59 Thunderbird and Beach Boys Bruce Johnson and Mike Love when the group played a concert in the area the previous year. The caption below the photo is as it appeared in the article.

Bruce Johnson (left), Barry Hilbert and Mike Love, pose in front of Hilbert’s 1959 T-Bird at a 2010 concert of the original Beach Boys at the Tulip Amphitheater. Johnson told Hilbert that when he did sound effects for the song, “Hey Little Cobra,” he taped himself making “vroom, vroom” sounds inside a plastic garbage can he put over his head. Johnson recalled that his brother had a brand new T-Bird in 1959.

There are three “Hey Little Cobra” records that the true hardcore collectors must have.

The LP album, pictured above, is the most common one. It was a monaural album (recorded on only one track for record players that had only one speaker).

There was also a stereo version (same album cover) and a 45 rpm single which had a generic paper cover.

Jacobson’s tidbit was certainly interesting enough to include in the magazine, but it really needed a photo of the original Rip Chords album, so we contacted someone we knew had a copy and asked him to take a picture of the album’s cover and email it to us. That collector was Howard Pardee, and we should have known that Pardee would not be able to assist us without demonstrating a little one-upmanship. The Rip Chords album he just happened to have was originally owned by Peter Brock, and the album cover was signed by three of the four singers (Phil Stewart, Arnie Marcus and Rich Rotkin; there’s no explanation why Bernie Bringas didn’t sign it, much to Pardee’s considerable consternation). “To Pete - best wishes to our real good buddy.” Pardee has been trying, without success, to find a Bernie Bringas autograph just to complete the signatures of the group. He says he knows he has obsessive compulsive tendencies, and this is one of the things that keeps him awake some nights. Some people count sheep to try to get to sleep; Pardee reviews all of the items his extensive collection of Cobra and Shelby literature and memorabilia lacks. “I guess this is just a cross I have to bear,” says Pardee, shrugging his shoulders laconically. Ahab chased Moby Dick, and since 1892, more than 8,000 people have, at one time or another, searched unsuccessfully for the Lost Dutchman Mine in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix, Arizona. The more difficult something is to find, the more valuable it becomes. At least, to some people.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 12

shelby on two wheels How do you explain the connection between performance cars and motorcycles?

Until the 1990s, there was a line between the two that usually didn’t get crossed.

They were both powerful and empowering but, like oil and water, they didn’t mix. If you rode a bike, you didn’t drive a performance car. They were two different worlds and there wasn’t much room for overlap.

But something happened in the 1990s.

Mostly it was the intersection of demographics and technology. When owners reached the big 4-0, they realized that they had the disposable income to have it all.

They were reaching their peak earning years and the kids were grown up. And gone were the days when an owner had to do his own work on his car or his bike. You could pay someone to maintain your car— or buy one that didn’t need anything. And the newest generations of motorcycles were turn-key machines that only needed periodic maintenance. Suddenly, you had the time to have it all.

Harley Davidson led the way, and made it look deceptively easy. Being a Harley Davidson dealer in the 1990s was a license to print money. There were more buyers than there were new motorcycles, so there were no discounts but there were long waiting lists. By the end of the decade Shelby’s people caught on. If someone drove a Shelby car, and they also wanted a motorcycle, why not give them the opportunity to ride a Shelby motorcycle? A deal was cut with the Titan motorcycle company. They would build a special Shelby model with serial numbers matching Shelby’s new Series 1 roadsters. Shelby’s people threw the number 500 around. That was how many Series 1s they intended to make. That number certainly put stars in the eyes of a small manufacturer like Titan in Phoenix, Arizona who put a price tag of something close to $50K on their 112 cubic-inch 115 horsepower window rattler.

Shelby would also include Titan in their promotion program with Playboy.

Things didn’t work out quite as planned, however. Series 1 owners didn’t jump to get Shelby-Titan choppers. Series 1 sales ended up just shy of 250 cars, and only 6 owners saw the wisdom of putting a matching serial number Shelby-Titan in their garage next to the Series 1.

Marketing types have short memories.

In 2007, Rucker Performance stepped up and took their shot. They created a custom bike that was touted as rivaling the 427 Cobra S/C’s power to weight ratio. Rucker chose an S&S 128 cubic-inch V-twin with

The SHELBY AMERICAN

fuel injection (pumping out 160 horsepower). They chose to emphasize performance rather than trying to cue into the Cobra’s looks like the Titan did. While the press release described Shelby as “looking for an opportunity to apply 40 years of experience to a world class motorcycle program,” this partnership was actually more of a licensing/royalty deal. We’ve never seen figures indicating how many of these bikes were actually sold. And despite former Shelby Automobiles president Amy Boylan’s comment that Shelby “has ridden motorcycles most of his life,” we never expected to see Carroll Shelby fly past us in the passing lane on one of these.

Shelby wasn’t the only company to try to cash in on a two-wheeled Cobra. A company in China was producing a scooter they named the “Cobra” and a bunch of them were imported into the U.S. and sold for off-road use—in the pits and paddock area of a race track or on private property.

They were never intended to be driven on the street, and at about $900 or so, they were a little pricey. The only thing they had going for them was the “Cobra” name.

They seem to have disappeared just as fast as they appeared; they weren’t around long enough to even rate a footnote.

Winter 2012 13

Not to be left off of the ballyhoo bandwagon, Orange County Choppers built a custom “Carroll Shelby Bike” back in 2003, when the GT500 Eleanor cars were in the spotlight. The OCC phenomenon began as a series on the Discovery Channel on cable television. The premise was that a camera crew would document a small motorcycle shop trying to build custom choppers with an immovable deadline. Stir in a continual tug-of-war between an overbearing, blowhard father with hamhock arms and a walrus mustache and his dim-bulb, short-tempered, tool-throwing son who is an argumentative know-it-all and you have the basic ingredients of a an entertaining television show that developed a following. However, the same basic premise got tired after a while; the constant pressure and conflict became a farce.

“American Chopper” was a spin-off of a similar reality-type show constructed around West Coast Choppers’ owner Jesse James.

That show, “Motorcycle Mania,” chronicled James’ every day life. A lot of it was posturing for the camera, which is common when you follow someone around with a videocamera on them and a director suggests things for them to do which make “good television.”

Continual crisis, personality conflicts and financial crunches all added a sense of theater. The show got higher ratings than anything else on the Discovery Channel, and Jesse James was asked to host a new program called “Monster Garage.” These shows also spawned a handful of similar “gotta-get-it-built-before-the-deadline” programs filmed in motorcycle, custom and hot rod shops, one of which was “Orange County Choppers.” The company was located in eastern New York State, about an hour north of Manhattan.

The one-of-a-kind custom motorcycles built by Orange County Choppers were not designed or created to be ridden on the street (although they could be); they were examples of creative workmanship built around a theme. For example, the Shelby bike had a “Shelby” rear spoiler and the tank resembled a cobra’s head, complete with fangs below the handlebars. The handlebars had wood inlays, reminiscent of the Shelby’s wood steering wheel. Shelby logos adorned the body and Shelby’s signature was embroidered into the leather seat. The engine was supercharged, producing 131 horsepower. The finished bike was more of a caricature of a motorcycle. In consideration of the bike and the publicity on the television show, OCC owner Paul Teutul received a yellow GT500 Eleanor from Shelby. The car had a 725 horsepower 427 engine and was reportedly one of 75 Super Snakes. Paulie Jr. got an Eleanor model with similar equipment but had been customized and painted by Chip Foose. Both cars were consigned to the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale. Paul Sr.’s car had 19 miles and fetched $210K. Paulie Jr.’s car had 75 miles on it and went for $235K.

As long as we’re talking about motorcycles, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention Dan Gurney’s ‘Gator. He has had a fascination with motorcycles since he was a kid and had been toying with the idea of building a cuttingedge motorcycle of his own design for about 25 years. In 2002 he began working on the project. The result was a hand-made bike with a dropped seat which provided a lower center of gravity. It is powered by a singlecylinder 710cc Honda-based engine. Gurney’s All American racers produced 36 of them (the number on his Eagle when he won the Formula 1 race at Spa). Price was $35,000. They’ve probably all been sold by now.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

And what about this Ferrari two-wheeler? It’s not retro, that’s for sure. Pass the towel and drool cup.

Winter 2012 14

TERLINGUA RACING TEAM NEWSLETTER: DO YOU GET ONE ?

There are a handful of small-circulation newsletters that are just fun to read. They’re like a private, insider’s joke and if you’re on their mailing list, you get it. Literally. The Polish Racing Drivers of America, Bolus and Snopes, The R-Model Scoop and Brock Yates’ “Cannonball Ex-Press” all had this insider’s flavor. Here’s one more: the Terlingua Racing Team. It is cleverly written and clearly has a strong aroma of Bill Neale. To get their newsletter you have to be a member.

The cost is only $20 a year. To join: www.terlinguaracingteam.com Once on the site, go to “General Merchandise” and then “membership.’

RODE HARD AND PUT AWAY WET. WAIT A MINUTE – THEY DIDN’T START YET. In the Summer 2011 issue, we reported on SAAC member Tim Suddard’s project car: a ‘67 GT350 barn find (#1781) that he decided to restore partway. As publisher of Classic Motorsports, he is always on the lookout for a new project. The chassis and undercarriage was done to concours standards but the body was left in its barn-find patina. Go-juice comes from a 500-hp Ford Racing 363 cubic-inch Boss crate motor. After the work was completed a shake-down run was mandatory and what turned up on the schedule but the annual Texas 1000 Vintage rally.

“Originally we had no intention to build the car as a rat rod,” said Suddard, a twinkle appearing in his eye. “But the world is full of overly-restored Shelby Mustangs, and everyone we showed the car to begged us to leave it unrestored.”

He intended to drive the car, so it made little sense to shun the mechanicals.

The driveline, brakes and suspension were gone through. “It’s a blast to drive,” said Suddard. “And it’s pretty low-maintenance. While the others were fastidiously cleaning their cars at the end of each day, we were in the bar getting a beer.”

The SHELBY AMERICAN

67201F7A01781

Winter 2012 15

CROWN GASOLINE COLLECTIBLE GOLD

Crown Central LLC, formerly the Crown Oil and Refining Company, was begun back in 1917 in Harris County, Texas when an oil crew struck “black gold.”

That well became the foundation of the Crown Central Petroleum Corporation and the revenue generated by it enabled the company to construct one of the first oil refineries on the Houston ship channel. A group of Baltimore businessmen bought 48 percent of the company in 1930 and established a chain of retail gas stations in the Houston area. The company pioneered the manufacture of 100-octane aviation gasoline which was used by the U.S. Navy during WWII. After the war, the company built a marketing and distribution chain which spanned the distance between Texas and New York.

CSX3008

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Crown currently has gas stations throughout Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. Their corporate headquarters is in Baltimore, so it wasn’t a coincidence when, in 1966, Hal Keck knocked on their door and walked away with a sponsor commitment for his 427 Cobra SCCA A/Production race car, CSX3008. He was also running under the Archway Ford banner at that time. Archway was the Shelby/Cobra dealer in Baltimore. The previous year, Archway had sponsored Mark Donohue’s ‘65 GT350 R-Model, 5R105 so they were no stranger to sports car racing.

As part of the sponsorship deal, Crown used pictures of Keck’s Guardsman Blue Cobra in advertising and promotional materials. One such promotion piece was a vertical orange banner, seamed at the top and bottom to hold a piece of wood that ran the entire width. These banners, about 10feet high and 3-feet wide, were attached to the large Crown signs in front of each station. They carried an artist’s depiction of Keck’s 427 Cobra along with the words “Crown Gold” and “Action Gasoline.”

Crown Gold was their high-test brand.

The heavy canvas banners were not intended to last forever, and they didn’t.

The weather took its toll and the company periodically replaced them with newer promotional banners. But there is just something about a Cobra that will attract a collector—or just an enthusiast who thinks it’s worth keeping. While extremely rare, once and a while one turns up and they make a great garage wall hanging. SAAC member Larry Shaffer of Palmyra, Pennsylvania managed to save this one and it is doing just that—hanging in his garage.

Winter 2012 16

RACE MAN – Jim Travers and the TRACO Dynasty by Gordon Chance. 11 3/4˝ x 8 3/4˝ hardcover; 189 pages; 138 black & white and 55 color photographs. $60. Published by Turner Publications, Sequim, WA. turnerpublications.com We’ve come to the point, with books about Cobras and Shelbys, where we have to dig deep to find new information. It isn’t going to be handed to us on a silver platter anymore. After 50 years, most of what could be written about these cars has been.

But like peeling an onion, there is always more. You just have to know where to look.

Gordon Chance spent some time at Shelby American as an engine man, in between stints at many of the race shops in the 1950s and 1960s that are household names—if you consider your garage your “household.” And most of us do.

Rather than write a book about his own experiences, he has chosen to spotlight Jim Travers, of the famed “TRACO” team of Travers and Frank Coon. The book follows Jim Travers’ life, in some of his own words, from his experiences during WWII, through the early hot rodding days and his work with Stu Hilborn and then joining with Coon to form a winning Indy 500 team in the ‘50s. He was a fabricator, machinist and engine builder. TRACO Engineering (TRAversCOon) soon became the top engine builder of the era. They built engines for Lance Reventlow, Roger Penske, and virtually everyone else running Chevy V8s. There was no one better.

Reading Chance’s book is like talking to Tavers, himself. And that’s not going to happen because “Trav” is in his 90s now and lives a reclusive life in Utah. He is not interested in talking to anyone. So we have to thank Gordon Chance for bringing his story to us. Without his work all of Travers’ experiences would have been lost. Magic was worked back then and Jim Travers was one of the magicians.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

MUSTANG BOSS 302 – From Racing Legend to Modern Muscle Car by Donald Farr. 9 1/2˝ x 11 1/4˝ hardcover; 160 pages; 53 black & white and 202 color photographs. $30. Published by Motor Books International, Minneapolis, MN. When a company like Ford resurrects an iconic marque such as the Boss 302, once the cars are moving from the production line into the dealerships, it’s time to chronicle the project with a book. Experience has shown that it’s best to do something like this immediately, before records are lost, memories have dimmed and cars have begun to deteriorate. Right now, they’re all new and all cherry.

There are any number of writers capable of tackling a book like this, but finding just the right one is important. And you can’t do any better than Donald Farr.

When it comes to Boss 302 Mustangs, you would be hard-pressed to name someone more knowledgeable and, as the editor of Mustang Monthly magazine, someone with more contacts within both FoMoCo and the Mustang enthusiast universe.

The first half of the book relates 19691970 Boss 302 history, both production and racing. It is both authoritative and complete. The photos are top quality. The second half of the book covers the history of the marque after 1970, culminating with the prototypes and Boss 302R race cars in 2010, the race models in 2011 and the 2012 Laguna Seca model.

We experienced the initial excitement when it was announced that a “new” Shelby GT500 would be available through Ford dealers. Now, it’s happening again with the Boss 302. Read all about it!

2011 BOSS 302 REGISTRY by Randy Ream and Todd Eby. 8 1/2˝ x 11˝ spiralbound; 302 pages; 10 black & white and 584 color photographs. $50. Published by Randy Ream and Todd Eby, Lebanon, PA. boss302reg@aol.com Registries have a life of their own. The people who dedicate the time and effort to keep them current (which, if done right, is a perpetual task) give them that life. In return, they give up some of their own life.

But their burning desire to maintain what they have created, to keep adding to it, and to continue increasing their own knowledge and expertise as they do, is enough to fuel that desire.

It takes a certain type of person to perpetuate a registry. Randy Ream and Todd Eby have been maintaining Boss 302 records since 1981. They printed their first registry in 1992 and were able to account for 25% of the 8,641 Boss 302s produced.

The second edition was printed in 2000, accounting for 33% of production. This most recent edition has bumped the number of cars accounted for to 42%. [Note: we did some quick mathematical calculations, based on the percentage of cars accounted for vs. the time between editions and then extrapolated the results. At the current rate Ream and Eby have been finding unknown cars, 100% of all 8,641 Boss 302s will be accounted for in their 9th edition, which should be printed sometime around 2068.]

Registries are interesting reading as well as useful tools, for both owners and would-be owners. It’s nice to see everything layed out in some kind of order and books like this, when done well, provide

Winter/2012 17

the reader with a sense of power—because knowledge is power. And this registry is layed out perfectly.

In addition to the usual specs on each car and individual histories, it also has photos of unique Boss 302 parts and options and race parts. And they are in color.

Not enough for you? Boss 429s are also included in great detail. Even if you don’t own a Boss 302, this book is one that probably should be on your reference shelf.

Look closely: those are ‘65 Shelby/Cragar wheels on the back! Dave Redman sent along this photo of the semi-factory-backed Barracuda drag car raced by Pee Wee Wallace of Richmond, Virginia. He ran primarily East Coast match races in this car from 1966 to 1968. It started out as a 1966 model and for 1967 the nose and rear window configuration were updated. It would be nice to find out why he chose those particular wheels, but unfortunately Pee Wee passed away earlier this year. The car has not turned up.

Tommy’s is a burger joint in the Los Angeles area with over 30 locations. They have a following of people who would rather have one of their burgers than anyone else’s. They are celebrating their 65th anniversary and the t-shirt design for that occasion features a ‘66 GTO and a ‘67 Shelby. Good choices, we’d say. Shirts on their website are $10.50 plus shipping: www.originaltommys.com/tommys_store.

SAAC member and long time photographic contributor Bob McClurg, lately of Hilo, Hawaii was recently honored by the Hawaii Classic Cruisers Car Club and invited to display some of his award-winning work in a three-month display. McClurg is one of drag racing’s best known photographers from the ‘60s and ‘70s and has writted several books illustrated by his photography. He was also editor of a number of Mustang and repluca Cobra magazines over the years. Well done, old man!

The SHELBY AMERICAN

It’s called schadenfreude and it’s defined as the satisfaction or pleasure you feel at someone else’s misfortune. It’s not evil, and experiencing it doesn’t necessarily make you a bad person as long as you don’t obsess about it. Or do something to cause it. We’ve probably mentioned the website www.wreckedexotics.com before.

It delivers a small jolt of schadenfreude to us every week. Sign-up is free and once they have your email address they will send you photos, as their website says, of exotic cars which have been wrecked recently. We are especially attentive to Cobras and Ford GTs. Ford GT Registrar, Jeff Burgy, can usually track unlucky Ford GTs by serial number and he includes info and photos of wrecks in his database. This may not endear him to owners of these hard luck machines in the future if they advertise them as “pristine,” “original” or “never damaged”

but potential buyers may carry him out of the stadium on their shoulders.

You might not recognize the location from the these photos because they were taken in Qatar. The yellow Ford GT had been recently purchased for $150,000 in early December 2011. That was shortly before its proud new owner lost control, resulting in a long debris field of shredded parts. What happened to the car after the dust settled is anybody’s guess. It will almost certainly be repaired (or sold and then repaired). Caveat emptor.

Winter/2012 18

EAGLE EYE CLASH : is it A STAND OFF ?

This is beginning to remind us of the three-way gunfight at the end of “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” and we won’t go there as far as identifying which characters Hutchison, Young and Warren represent. All we can say is that each round of submissions continues to amaze us—and sets the bar that much higher. One of these guys will eventually have to blink. A war like this can’t last forever. In theory.

Ken Young got his hands on a top end motor coach/RV catalog and, just his luck, the photo of the sleeping area shows a flat screen television with a Daytona Coupe on the screen. How does this keep happening?

Ted Warren was browsing eBay and found an auction of black and white prints. Evidently the seller purchased thousands of negatives from an estate sale and these photos were among the dozen or so being displayed (more were promised, and with over a thousand, it could take a decade to market each one). They were taken in 1964 at the 4th annual Rose Cup Races in Portland, Oregon. Of course, trying to ascertain this Cobra’s serial number won’t be easy but we’ll leave the detective work to Sherlock Scudder. If he is able to come up with anything he will let us know.

We are continually impressed with Jim Hutchison’s ability to find stuff like this in catalogs (this one from the Pyramid Collection—whatever that is). He must get just about every mail order catalog that is printed. We feel sorry for his poor postal carrier. The weight of all those catalogs must be breaking the poor guy’s back. Or gal, as the case may be. We’re not sure we’ll be seeing one of these on Pardee’s ear any time soon.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter/2012 19

Ted Warren sent us pictures of some interesting tattoos he found on a website which contains hundreds and hundreds of examples.We can understand someone finding the picture of one Cobra or Shelby tattoo while browsing the internet, maybe by googling “Cobra” or “Shelby.” But when the same person finds this many it tells us that he is tattoo shopping. Trust us on this: it’s only going to be a matter of time before Warren sends us a photo of HIS Cobra or Shelby tattoo.

If it was up to us to pick a cobra tattoo for Warren, this is the one we would settle on. Only maybe a little larger. We’re guessing that all it would take is a dozen Tequila shooters and the rest would, as they say, be history. Pass the lime, please.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Warren even found a tattoo magazine with a cobra on the cover. Once this guy goes after something, he is like a pit bull that won’t let go. We can hardly wait to see his tattoo. And this magazine? The guy pictured on the cover bears an uncanny resemblance a SAAC member who runs a tattoo emporium outside of Philadelphia.

Winter/2012 20

Highway 59 in Carthage, Texas, on the way to Houston. Leave it to Warren to drive with his camera on one hand. Not much gets past this guy.

There are a lot of things that fascinate us about Cobra replicas. One is that the owners of these cars have total freedom to do whatever they want. Unlike the owners of original Cobras, who are constricted and stifled by a need to keep their cars the way they were originally configured—or could have been at the time they were new— the replica owner has an unlimited palate. Ted Warren happened on this example. Have you ever wondered what you would get if you crossed a 427 Cobra with an NHRA funny car? Well, wonder no more.

This one is a stretch—even for Hutchison. We won’t even hazard a guess at what kind of new wave, peace and harmony, wackadoodle catalog he was looking through when he saw these small, bronze yoga statues. Of course, his eye was drawn to the “Cobra pose.” Our incredulity aside, we couldn’t help but wonder why the artist who sculpted the originals would choose to model them after a yoga practitioner who is so obviously in need of a severe diet and exercise regimen instead of some lithe and graceful paragon of feminity. But it could be that we’re missing something, here.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

The Crystal Cobra. “Enlist the legendary powers of the cobra, sparkling ion scales of faceted black crustal, coiled in a ring of mythological proportion...”

We’re not sure if the wording of this catalog description prompted Hutchison to purchase one of these rings, but if it did, it only cost him $39 to participate in the mythology.

The Historic Vehicle Association (HVA) is a watchdog group that monitors the automotive hobby and makes its members aware of anything which might effect their enjoyment of their cars. Their website is full of information and members receive an e-mail newsletter that is packed with things that make you think. There is so much going on in and around the automotive hobby that it’s impossible to stay abreast of everything. The HVA does that for you. Ken Young spotted this ‘67 Shelby in one of their little blips. Full membership is $25 a year; associate memberships are free: get the newsletter simply by signing on and providing an email address. w ww.historicvehicle.org

Winter/2012 21

A Monterey, California manicurist got the idea of making nail covers out of actual snakeskin when her son brought a shedded skin home from science class one day. She cuts them to size and seals them in place with a gel varnish, hardening them under a UV light.

They last about three weeks and the cost is $300. We have Jim Hutchison to thank for this information. He spotted a story in London’s “Daily Mail” (his Should we be starting to worry about Ted Warren? He dove into the deep end of this Cobra-feelers are everywhere). Look for Eagle Eye pool head first. He has been sending us a steady stream of stuff—so much, the line outside of her shop in August... in fact, that we can’t include all of it in the magazine. He drives with a camera on his console so he can snap a picture within a heartbeat. Now, he sends us a photo he took while he was watching “Charley’s Angels” on television. It’s not a perfect shot, but there’s no question it’s a Cobra. A replica, judging by the single loop roll bar on the passenger side (the driver’s side roll car is obscured by the actor). The only way he could do better would be to watch TV with his camera aimed at the screen, ready to shoot in a nano-second. Maybe we shouldn’t give him any ideas.

This walking stick reminded Hutchison of the one in the snakeskin jacket ad he sent Hutchison noticed eight different sets in for the last issue. We say close, but no of Shelby coasters were advertised on cigar—although it looks like you COULD the genuinehotrod.com website. Four open a bottle of beer with it. A reason in itfor $25 bucks seems a bit pricey, no? self to get one.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Another television screen grab from Ted Warren. He spotted West Coast Custom’s boss Ryan Friedlinghaus wearing a WCC t-shirt with a Shelbytype snake on it. When Shelby American CEO Amy Boyland left the company in May of 2010 she landed a job as president of WCC. So, we’re not surprised to see the snake on one of their t-shirts. However, a quick check of their website reveals no such tshirt for sale. And Amy is no longer there, either, so WCC’s six degrees of separation from Shelby disappeared.

Winter/2012 22

BROCK ‘O THE MONTH CLUB wall displaying Brock’s milestones, such as a picture of his first car, an MG TC as well as one of him (at 18) winning the Oakland Roadster Show with his chopped and channeled ‘46 Ford. Also included were his work at GM Styling, Shelby American, BRE, UP (Ultralite Products, the hang gliding company he founded) as well as his current activities. Noted automotive artist Dennis Brown unveiled a painting of Brock and some of the cars he designed.

It’s likely this will be available as a poster at some point. As soon as we find Issue #18 of the BRE Cobra newsletter out about it we’ll report it. In the meanwas blasted out to everyone on their mail- time, BRE has a 22˝ x 28˝ poster of 16 of ing list at the tail end of November. Big the cars that are associated with Peter news was that Peter Brock was presented Brock. It’s only $49 (plus postage). www.bre2.net with the Art Center College of Design’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Surrounding the presentation of the award were examples of some of the cars that carry Brock’s fingerprints (a Superformance Daytona Coupe, the Triumph TR-250Y, a BRE 240Z and 2000 roadster, and a couple of GT350s. The whole deal was sprung on him as a surprise. The school had a history

Peter and Gayle Brock finally tired of putting on dry socks all the time and have moved from Washington State to Henderson, Nevada. BRE now operates out of a new shop reminiscent of the original El Segundo location.

Pardeeabilia: IT’s BAAAAAACk We have been holding our breath and crossing our fingers ever since we printed the “Pardeeabilia” section in the last issue, hoping it was just a freak oddity that would not be repeating itself. Well, it’s back. We are left asking ourselves, are we enabling members who are otherwise psychologically predisposed to ferret out this stuff by providing an outlet? What would happen if they were collecting this stuff in private, with no one else to share it with? Could the pressure build up over time, with no pop-off valve, allowing it to be released? Would it result in frustration and explosions of rage? Think of this as a public service. We’re just trying to help.

We never got an invitation, or else we would have been there.

Maybe. The Sacramento Bike Hikers throw a “Party Pardee” on the first Saturday of every April. If we would have gotten an invitation to something like this, in early in April and so close to April 1st, would we have believed it? With so many April Fools pranks afoot, it might have sounded a little flaky. This Internet homepage was sent to us anonymously. “I won’t identify myself because I don’t want anyone to think I was actually looking for stuff about Pardee. This came up when I was searching for something else.” Is this what Pardeeabilia has come to? Being passed around anonymously? It’s the equivalent of a plain wrapper.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Chuck Schwab, of Wallingford, Connecticut (one of two surviving SAAC Lifetime Members) sent this picture along with a potential explanation. “I always wondered how Howard Pardee managed to get around to gather up all those serial numbers. It looks like he spends his weekends flying around in a WWII vintage warbird. Note the ham-handed attempt to disguise his name, like P.L. Newman used to use on his race car.”

Winter/2012 23

Bob Barranger of Toms River, New Jersey seems to have become SAAC’s official Hagerty observer. They have something Shelbyrelated in almost every issue of their monthly magazine. We can’t fault that!

Lee Mathias of Cartersville, Georgia sent us this photo of the sign in front of the Gear Head Inn in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. We’re not sure what gray haired bikers don’t get (we can think of a few things...) but that’s undeniably a Cobra on the sign. In case you weren’t aware, Maggie Valley is near the southernmost point on the famous Blue Ridge Parkway, which is often described as the most scenic driving route in the country. It runs 469 miles through the Blue Ridge Mountains from Cherokee, North Carolina to Front Royal, Virginia.

Ok, this is one of the weirder EELH sightings we’ve received.

But considering that it came from Jim Cowles of Green Bay, Wisconsin—and “weird” is his middle name—we shouldn’t be too surprised. He directed our attention to an eBay entry for a music CD [pictured below] titled “GT350.” Bear with us here, because current music groups are not among our strengths—and Pardee, a professional musician himself, was absolutely no help. The artist is called “G.T.” and the album is described as, “GT350 by GT350.” Need we go a little deeper? Ok. It says, “GT350 takes a little of the old (Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Rolling Stones, Neil Young, and Aerosmith) and blends it with the new (Soundgarden, Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth and Nirvana) to produce a very present day sound for everyone with the warm analog stylings of the great albums that have become a part of music lovers’ collections worldwide...”

Cana Comer was looking for a bicycle in a vintage bike shop in Madison, Wisconsin when, amid a thousands of bikes hanging from the ceiling and rafters, her eye was drawn to this one. They pulled it down for a test ride and she and husband Colin bought it for $250. Note the Goodyear tire. The store’s owner said it had been in his “collection” (it was clear he was a hoarder) for more than 20 years. The bike has nothing to do with Carroll Shelby, but that doesn’t mean much to those mesmerized by that name. The Shelby Cycle Company, in Shelby, Ohio manufactured bicycles from 1925 to 1953. They produced a special model celebrating Charles Lindberg called the “Lindy Flyer” and also produced a series of bicycles using Donald Duck’s likeness on the tank. The bikes are popular collector items today with a large following and many of the parts have been reproduced (including decal sets for the tanks).Colin Comer also wanted to take the bike out for a test ride but because it was a girl’s bike, he was reluctant. “That’s all I need,” he said. “Somebody with a cell phone could take my picture and it would turn up in The Shelby American.” You bet, Colin: in a New York minute.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

We thought the combination of Hendrix, Led Zepp, ‘Sabbath and Aerosmith would have given Pardee technicolor flashbacks, but that new stuff must have spooked him out of the zone. A little known fact about him is that between the late 1970s and early 1980s (a period of time he refers to as his “Lost Years”) he was a confirmed Dead Head and followed the band across the country, driving a clapped-out brown Audi Fox, accompanied by three burnedout adult movie starlets. The girls earned money to pay their expenses by reading palms and telling fortunes while Howard set up a 3-Card Monte table outside the concert hall. “On a good night,” he recalls, “I could make $500 from those stoners.”

Winter/2012 24

Gary Goeringer of Morgan Hill, California passed the Garage Scenes website <www.garagescenes.com> to us, and we have to admit that they have a pretty neat idea. They offer a couple of hundred different super enlarged photos (6´ x 4´, 9´ 6˝ x 6´ x 10˝or 12´ x 8´) printed on vinyl, wallpaper, canvas or fabric. The price is $250. Their website shows each photo in their inventory, and to no one’s surprise (least of all, ours), it is heavy on Cobras and GT40s. There are also famous photos of hot rods, drag racers, sports car racing, garage scenes, Dan Gurney’s cars, gas stations, cruisin’ scenes, Indy cars, Route 66, custom cars and a few other categories. They can even put a photo of your car into one of their stock photos. The idea is to decorate one entire wall of your garage, office, playroom or, if you live alone (or will be soon) your bedroom. Most of the photographs are in color but some of the vintage shots are black and white. $250 might sound like a lot of money but think about this: it would cost you more than that to buy enough posters and frames to cover six to twelve feet of wall space.

Should you find yourself with an extra $12K burning a hole in your pocket, one way to make it go away is by putting one of these Cobra golf carts in your garage. The announcement at the left showed up in the in-box of SAAC’s venerable webmaster Ron Richards. It was sent as part of an e-mail publicity campaign. At that price they’ll need all the publicity they can get because they probably won’t be “making it up in volume.” The availability date is January 2012.

We recall that Sterling already has a Cobra golf cart in their inventory (we’ve seen one at Shelby American displays) but from what we can tell by the latest artist’s renderings, the new model doesn’t look as much like an amusement park ride as the old one. We’ll have to withhold judgement until we see the real thing. We’re betting that will be at the gala Cobra Anniversary Party in Las Vegas in March. <www.sterlinggolfcarts.com>

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter/2012 25

– Frank Zizzo

CSX2021 was invoiced to Shelby American on October 1, 1962—when I was a car crazy high school sophomore with a 1953 Mercury that cost me fifty bucks. It was powered by a venerable flathead V8 which quickly acquired a pair of Stromberg 97s with bad needle valves that would periodically stick and flood the cylinders with 25¢ a gallon gasoline. It had a non-functioning hood scoop, until I got an axe and used it to chop a hole sort of near where the air intake should be. The 3speed had a very un-cool column shifter, so I saved my money until I had enough to get a Fenton floor shift kit. I was happy to have my own car, but it was much heavier to push than my mom’s Rambler. When I would sneak out of my bedroom window at night to go cruising, I had to push the Merc down the block before I could start it, so I wouldn’t wake her up.

On November 30, 1962 there is a receipt from Shelby American for two Lucas 50-amp fuses (at 8¢ each) and two 25-amp fuses (11¢ each). It appears that the “Prince of Darkness” hovered over Cobras from the very beginning.

On December 3, 1962 CSX2021 was purchased by Dick Newhall, a Stanford Ph.D., for $5,995.00 plus $1.25 for rust inhibitor in the cooling system. DMV fees were $16.00 for 1962 and $91.00 for 1963.

Stories abound about the earliest days of the car, told by Newhall, who passed away in the late 1960s/early 1970s. He remains a legend to his nephews. Prior to buying the car, Carroll Shelby took Newhall for a ride in the Cobra. Newhall had his young nephew in his lap and Shelby took off, full throttle, toward a nearby pier. He came to an abrupt stop within a few feet of the end of the pier, with nothing ahead except the Pacific Ocean. When Newhall got out of the car, his pants were wet; he blamed it on his nephew.

Newhall was an avid SCCA racer and lived in San Francisco. He had raced both an MG TC and an AC Bristol, and was soon racing the Cobra. However, the relationship was not a happy one. The car was The SHELBY AMERICAN

more than he wanted to handle, so he soon gave up and bought an open-wheel, singleseat Stanguellini to race. The Cobra became the tow car (the hitch receiver brackets are still welded to the chassis tubes). Newhall is said to have received a speeding ticket while driving the Cobra and towing the Stanguellini up the Grapevine at 85 mph. There are a ton of Newhall stories, wistfully related by his nephews. He married late in his life. Following the wedding ceremony, everyone threw rice at the newlyweds in their Cobra getaway car. Newhall could not bear the rice kernels littering the car’s interior, so he and Pat stopped between the church and the reception hall to pick them out, one by one. They arrived at the reception three hours late, making a lasting impression on his new in-laws who had paid for the lavish affair.

The Newhalls had no children but a pack of nieces and nephews made up for it.

They recall how much he loved the car and was neurotic about it. His wife Pat was from Massachusetts, and after he passed away she moved back home, taking the car with her. She sold it sometime in 1968.

Between 1968 to 1973, CSX2021’s whereabouts or who owned it are not

known. However, in 1973 it was listed for sale in Westboro, Massachusetts. The individual selling it had it parked in a two-car garage next to his house next to a 427 Cobra without an engine or transmission.

The price for either car was $5,000. At that time it had a roll bar, a Weber induction system and Ferrari-style side vents cut into the fenders.

It was purchased by Ward and Richard Heinrich from Litchfield, Connecticut. In 1983, Ward moved to Texas and took 2021 with him. He drag raced the car occasionally and in 1984, he entered it in the Dallas Grand Prix vintage race. The car failed to finish. He put it up for sale in 1989, and it was purchased by a buyer who “promised to keep it forever.” In the following ten days CSX2021 changed hands four times, ultimately being purchased by Mike Tangney and brought back to Northern California. He enjoyed the car until 1994 when I bought it from him.

My father raced Midgets after WWII until the late 50s. There were a lot of dirt tracks and a lot of people who had made it through the war came home eager for competition and looking for a different kind of

Winter/2012 26

well as every other Christmas. Every summer in Florida, he would take me to the dealership with him and let me “work” in the service bays. I would be “assigned” to one of the mechanics and would be given various jobs—mostly cleaning things and, in general, getting dirty. I loved it.

At that time in Florida a 14 year-old could get a drivers license. Equipped with that little pink piece of paper, I had quite a time sucking Custom Supreme down the barrels of the various behemoths that my father would give me to drive. I couldn’t imagine life being much better than that.

Back in California, I was fortunate to live about a half-hour’s drive from Riverside Raceway. It was an amazing place in the early 1960s. In those days, before OSHA, a person could walk, stand, or sit just about anywhere without signing a gazillion waivers. People were trusted to take some responsibility for themselves.

When the Cobras arrived at the track, it was just stunning. The heretofore “fast guys” in the Vettes and Jags just watched as the Cobras flew by them. I guess what I experienced was the classic “love at first sight.” At that point I would have given a body part, one which I was not making full use of at that time and of which I had two, to own a Cobra. Unfortunately, in those days a Cobra cost half as much as my mother’s house. Owning one, at that point, was not possible. However, coveting one was deeply ingrained by my Riverside experiences.

Fast forward to 1994. Being over-educated and over-paid, I soon managed to acquire (in sequence) a 1970 Boss 302, a Sunbeam Tiger, a ‘66 GT350 Hertz car, a ‘65 GT350 5S313, and another ‘65 GT350 5S467. My good friend Jeff Gilbert owns both a small block and a big block Cobra.

When I visited him and we gravitated to his garage, I would drool over his cars.

Once, he let me take CSX2106 up to Willow Springs for an open track event. Did I

say “good” friend?

Shortly after that, he sat me down and told me, “I don’t know how you’re going to do it, but if you don’t buy a Cobra NOW, you will never forgive yourself.” I whined about money and he answered, “You will hate yourself every day for the rest of your life if you don’t make the leap.”

My calculator mind started whirring.

I could sell 5S467 and maybe the Tiger or Boss and come close to what a small block car would cost. So I put the word out. I met Some psychologists believe that children are imsome VERY interesting people in the purprinted before they are five years-old. Frank Zizzo, age 3, is living proof of that theory. This suit of a Cobra. Some people wanted photo was taken in 1950. Some 45 years later he money for information. Others who met me would be racing his own #68. at coffee shops intimated that they had the inside track on “the perfect car.” None of risk. My dad’s car carried the number 68 this proved fruitful. and it was the first race car I ever rode in.

I came close one time with a lead I really don’t remember it, because I was about a Cobra parked under a tarp on the about 18 months-old. Family legend has it side of a house. I zipped over there and that my father put me on his lap and did a found the car, exactly as described: under few hot laps (this in the days before roll the tarp. There was a motorhome parked bars and lawyers). He didn’t have goggles in the driveway. It turned out that the for me and as a result, I was blind for a Cobra belonged to one of the Offenhauser week from the dust. My mother never let family. The owner and I pulled off the tarp, him live that one down. most of which stuck to the car. It did start One of my earliest memories is laying and I drove it up and down the block with on the back shelf of our car, under the rear the flat spots on the tires thumping away. window, and looking at 68 on the trailer When I returned, we went into the mounder the flickering lights of the Holland torhome. The owner’s wife was very tunnel. Being a part of racing, first as a guarded and suspicious. She thought I was mascot to the Midget racers and then as a a cop and refused to sell it to me. Shortly die hard fan, nurtured a strong desire to thereafter, Lynn Park discovered the car drive my own race car. Unfortunately, my and was successful in wrestling the car wallet could never match my aspirations from them. He still has it. until I was much older and was better able Then another of my friends told me to afford the financial black hole that is about a guy in Northern California who racing. had a Cobra for sale. I got the number and My folks were divorced when I was spoke with Mike Tangney. He turned out around eight. My mother moved to Califorto be a really nice guy who needed to sell nia and my dad moved to Florida. He bethe car at that time. We negotiated back came the president of the National Service and forth for a while and agreed that I Managers Council of Ford and worked at a would pay him cash plus give him his dealership in Miami. He was an ace mechoice of either the Boss or the Tiger. chanic and enjoyed the evolving muscle car In February of 1994, Mike pulled into market. The custody arrangement called my friend Steve’s shop, towing a trailer for me to spend summers with my dad as with a Cobra on it. The car looked great. In fact, it was beyond my wildest dreams. We did the deal and he headed back up north pulling a trailer carrying a Boss 302.

That night I couldn’t sleep. I went down to the garage and just looked at the car. A real Cobra. MY real Cobra. All of my Riverside memories came flooding back.

That melding of the past and the present was profoundly meaningful; as meaningful then as it is now. As time passed, the Cobra became more and more a center point in my life. It was almost if it had a soul with it’s own personality that meshed perfectly Most drug dealers will give you your first taste of heroin or crack for free because they know that’s with mine. all it will take to hook you. The hook was set for Zizzo at Willow Springs in 1993 when his pal Jeff Like many other enthusiasts seriously Gilbert let him take his small block, CSX2106, to an open track day. He experienced an epiphany considering vintage racing, I began to atand was never the same again.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter/2012 27

After learning that CSX2021 was for sale, Zizzo contacted the car’s owner, Mike Tangney. And the dance began. This is one of the photos Tangney sent, and that’s pretty much all it took. Note the Ferrari-like side vents

Zizzo had his car shipped across the country so he could drive it at Lime Rock at SAAC-25 in 2000. Peter Brock caught up with him in the paddock and noticed that the engine was a quart low. After topping it off, he advised Zizzo to spend a little more time under the hood. “You can sign autographs after the race is over.”

At the Route 66 celebration in San Bernardino one year, Carroll Shelby was invited to be the event’s Grand Marshall. He was not able to attend and asked Zizzo to stand in for him. The event’s schedule included a parade, with VIPs riding in convertibles which had their name taped to the side. Riding in the car that said “Carroll Shelby,” Zizzo smiled and waved to the crowds, until a number of people began heckling him. “Hey—you’re not Shelby!” Zizzo hollered back, “Yes I am. I got a face transplant, not a heart transplant!” After the parade, he returned to his Cobra and found Carol Connors hovering around. She had been attracted to the car like a moth to a front porch light. If the name is somehow familiar, she wrote “Hey Little Cobra.”

The SHELBY AMERICAN

One of the first events Zizzo brought the car to was the June 1994 Wine Country Classic at Sears Point. It was billed as a salute to the Daytona Coupe (four were in attendance) and was also a Shelby American team reunion. All of the former Cobra guys were given rides around the track in a Cobra. Zizzo’s passenger was Daytona Coupe fabricator John Ohlsen who came all the way from New Zealand. When they came back into the pits he was heard to say, “I’d sooner be set on fire under a Daytona Coupe than take another lap with this guy driving.”

Brock holds the hood latch key used on the very early Cobras instead of twist-latches. “If I took this with me, your race would be over.” The thought of losing that key made Zizzo break out in a cold sweat.

Zizzo was providing passenger rides for contributors to Shelby’s Heart Fund. Things were going well and everyone was feeling warm and fuzzy until one of the Cobra’s rear hubs chose Las Vegas Motor Speedway to help the rear wheel and tire escape. Depending on how you look at it, the damage was minimal or horrendous. The car was loaded on a rollback transporter and put in an appearance at the car show on Sunday before heading back to Los Angeles. Carroll Shelby was there to commiserate with Zizzo, who was still shell-shocked. Shelby recalled that back in the day, not every Cobra race resulted in a victory. Zizzo asked Shelby if the car’s warranty was still in effect.

Just as this photo was snapped, Shelby was advising Zizzo to perform an anatomical impossibility.

Winter/2012 28

Jay Russell’s Cobra, CSX2015 [pictured on the right] was prepared to the same basic specifications as CSX2021. The two cars probably sat side-by-side at Shelby American in Venice as they were being completed in 1962. Zizzo and Russell raced against each other frequently, usually changing positions several times during each race.

When you start vintage racing seriously, one of the first things to go is originality. The 289 race engine in 2021 is a long way away from concours. But the goal in racing is to go faster and win races, not to adhere to what was considered correct during a certain time frame when the car was brand new. An obsessive tinkerer, Zizzo became infatuated with the Spalding “Flame Thrower” magneto which was popular in the early 1960s—especially on drag cars but also on some sports racers. He could never get the thing to work without hiccups, so he went to a Vertex magneto.

When he opened the hood at a car show or in the paddock, many people who expected to see a distributor car with nine wires coming out of the top would point to it and ask, “What’s that?”

The SHELBY AMERICAN

tend open track events. By this time Riverside was closed and had been turned into a shopping mall. Willow Springs became my home track. I got to know it pretty well and eventually flogged my GT350s around Turn 9 without excavating the desert next to the track. When Jeff loaned me CSX2106 for an open track event it was the first time I ever drove a Cobra on a track. I can still recall it. It was an amazing experience and the car handled really well. It was actually much easier for me to drive than the GT350.

When I got 2021, I knew that the track was where both of us belonged. I chose the race number 68 because that was my dad’s race number on his midget. I attended the University of VARA and obtained my competition license. And then I began climbing the learning curve. Over time I broke both hubs and both spindles on the Cobra. The British metallurgy was abysmal. I had new ones made out of decent metal and never had another catastrophic failure.

After twisting the splines off of a stub axle, I converted the car to pin drive. The wire wheels were replaced with some new Phil Schmidt aluminum kidney bean Halibrands. I also added dual brake master cylinders for a little extra piece of mind.

In racing, as you prepare your car for the track, youeventually discover what works and what fails. It all becomes part of an evolutionary process between car and driver. Over time, you begin to intuitively “know” what your car will do in a given situation. You know what every little noise means and you know when and when not to push things. I quickly began to feel like the car was becoming an extension of me.

At speed, there is only the present moment. Your concentration is total. Nothing else exists. CSX2021 was awesome in that regard. It could literally be steered with the throttle. Point it and punch it is one of the magical qualities of driving a Cobra.

You can be in a four- wheel drift at 70 mph and feel that the car is solid and as predictable as a rock.

When I first got 2021 there were a number of Cobras that would participate in vintage racing in Southern California.

Over the years, the number became fewer and fewer. As Cobra prices increased, the risk of racing became excessive for those people. Other than the Cobras attracted to the annual Monterey Historics, there were only a few of us on the vintage race circuit.

After racing for a few years, it was interesting to see how my car friends changed. At one SAAC event at Las Vegas, I was giving charity rides for Shelby’s Heart Fund when a rear hub broke. The wheel and tire ripped out of the rear

Winter/2012 29

fender, leaving a savage gash in the back.

Fortunately, the rest of the damage was minimal. During the repairs we decided to strip the paint off the car. Underneath, the aluminum showed the results of more than forty years of sometimes hard use. I didn’t want fresh paint to diminish my enthusiasm to continue racing, so I decided to polish the raw aluminum with steel wool (like Shelby had done originally with CSX2000) and keep racing.

No longer were the concourse people interested in hanging around with my paintless, dented old car. Instead, most of my time was spent with other drivers in my run group. When we got together there was always a lot to talk about—and none of it concerned polishing and detailing tips.

CSX2021 without paint actually became notorious. People would come up to me and ask, “How can you do that to a real Cobra?”

I found that I was really enjoying the negative attention, to the point where I would bring the car to shows so I could sit next to it in a folding chair with my feet up on a fender, smoking a cigar. I would tell people that it was only an old race car and its purpose was to go faster—not look good. A couple of times at the track when I had a tire rub problem, I took a knock-off hammer to the fender. People standing around were wincing like they could actually feel the pain. It was too much for a few and they walked away shaking their heads. The car started to look like a junkyard dog—mean, ugly and nasty.

Trust me, looking at a Cobra is very different from racing one. They are certainly wonderful cars to appreciate for their appearance, and the history they made makes them even more special. But

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter/2012 30

it is also a car that, after some seat time, leaves you with a feeling about what it does and how it does it.

My friend Jay Russel has CSX2015. It

was invoiced in 1962 along with CSX2021.

Jay is a great driver and we’ve had a lot of great times on the track. I think that the best moment I’ve ever had racing was at

Buttonwillow, out by Bakersfield. Jay and I were on the last lap of the race. We came around the final turn together and we both just punched it. There we were, two geezers in 1962 Cobras, headed for the checkered flag. It was a helluva drag race.

I remember pushing the loud pedal as hard as I could and hearing his side pipes blasting, just inches from my door. In the end, my transponder made it across the finish line first. It was quite a moment— in part because it may never happen again.

Despite dents and dings and broken pieces of engine, suspension and axles, CSX2021 has been a part of me for a very long time. When I turned 60, back in 2008, I decided to retire 2021 from racing and get it cherried-out and painted. I had gotten to the point where I was paying more attention to avoiding contact with other cars rather than charging into Turn 1 and letting the chips fall where they may. Nevertheless, I cannot conceive of going out to the garage and not seeing it sitting there, filled with memories and looking meaner than a Junkyard Dog.

CSX2021 had side-draft Webers when the original owner raced it in 1963. When Zizzo decided to take it off the track and restore it, he began looking for a correctly-numbered original 260 cubic-inch short block. He figured the chances of turning up a Weber side-draft intake and carburetors was about the same as finding a vegetarian in a hot dog-eating contest. But that didn’t stop him from looking. When he saw one on Craig’s List he nearly fell out of his chair. A Chevy guy had a complete set-up that he got as repayment for a debt. He had no use for them and was happy that a buyer materialized. Zizzo reports that the side-drafts work better on the 260 than down-drafts did on a 289.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter/2012 31

Nancy Sinatra’s boots were made for Walkin’...but Carroll Shelby’s Cobras were made for

A

very rare opportunity to take an unusual trip that only a few people get to take presented itself last September. It started with a phone call from my friend Dave Wagner of nearby Northville, Michigan. Dave and I both worked at Ford for over thirty years. Since retiring, Dave has been keeping himself busy restoring original Cobras and building Kirkham Cobras to period-correct specifications. Dave called and asked, “…would you be interested in riding along with me in the chase vehicle for the 2011 Cobra 1000 tour?” Say what?

Would I be interested in hanging out with a dozen or so original Cobras and their owners for a week? Did I get to Heaven already?

For years I have heard whispered rumors about a thousand-mile road trip taken by group of original Cobras every

The SHELBY AMERICAN

– Text and Photos by JEFF BURGY year through the scenic countryside of the West. It’s a very special event, by invitation only, and if your Cobra’s VIN doesn’t begin with CSX2 or CSX3, you’ll never see an invitation. They don’t recognize replicas of any kind—not even Shelby’s own CSX4000 or 7000 series cars are eligible to participate. If you were on a previous tour and drove recklessly, or your wife complained and whined too much, you’ll never get invited back. I knew this was a unique opportunity and I was delighted to get a chance to participate.

Most of the group are long-term Cobra owners from California. Most have been participating in this road trip for twentyfive years. This year would see sixteen original Cobras making the trip. Dave and I would be driving an Econoline van filled with Cobra parts of every description, in-

cluding spark plugs, light bulbs, master cylinders, a pin-drive and a spline-drive spare wheel and tire, and enough tools to rebuild a Cobra on the side of the road.

Just in case, we had an open trailer hooked up to the back of the truck. If there was some kind of problem that Dave and I couldn’t handle on the route, we could tow the car to a nearby town where we could get the parts or facilities needed to affect a repair. I figured that with sixteen fiftyyear-old sports cars, chances were pretty good that our services might be needed somewhere along the trip. Whatever the case, it sure wouldn’t be boring.

This year, the trek started out in Sun Valley, Idaho. Participants know only the starting point; details of the route and destination are kept secret,

Winter 2012 32

Brendan Finn leads the group of sixteen Cobras out of the Sun Valley Resort’s parking lot on Day One. The chase van and trailer Dave and I were driving in is off to the left.

Jim and Judy Barnes follow the pack while Drew Serb uses the passing lane, intent in grabbing a few positions.

and only revealed each morning at the start of each leg of the tour. Obviously, a LOT of planning went into putting this tour together. The routes, hotels, gas stops, and lunch and dinner stops were all prearranged and scouted out long before the actual trip started. Some of the restaurants and hotels on the route would be places visited on past “Cobra 1000” tours and some would be new. Everyone had to be ready to go each morning by 8 a.m. when a driver’s meeting was held in the parking lot. Breakfast, packing, primping, car detailing, etc., all had to be done and ready before that time. At the drivers’ meeting, a Xerox copy of the area, with the day’s route highlighted, was handed out. A separate sheet listing turn-by-turn directions and identifying gas and food stops was also provided.

Since Dave and I were going to be bringing up the rear with the chase vehicle, we were invited to attend a pre-tour briefing meeting with the organizers Drew and Janet Serb to go over the trip plans with the guy who would be driving the lead Cobra. Brendan Finn would be leading the tour in a Weber-carbureted, green 289 Cobra, CSX2178. Jim Barnes and his wife Judy would be the last Cobra, followed by Dave and I in the van. During the briefing, Drew mentioned that Brendan’s wife, who usually helped navigate and read maps, was unable to attend this year’s tour. He asked if I would be willing to ride along in the Cobra with Brendan after the first hour of the tour, to help him navigate through some tricky sections of the trip. I was only too happy to oblige.

The night before the trip started, we had a banquet at the Sun Valley Resort.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

One of the traditions the group has followed is a gift exchange between participants. The gifts are frequently car related, or things that might come in handy on a road trip. Everyone, driver and passenger, gets a gift, so, for sixteen cars, you buy thirty identical gifts to distribute to all of the other participants. Among the items in the gift goodie bags this year were: an embroidered “Cobra 1000” shirt, a set of David Bull Cobra photo “Thank you” cards, an embroidered “Cobra 1000” microfiber towel, a set of Post-it pads with Cobras imprinted on them, a stainless steel water bottle with the “Cobra 1000” logo imprinted on it, and a bottle of Sonoma Valley California wine with a custom Cobra label.

Some of the group were probably wondering if they’d be able to fit all of these goodies in the trunk of their Cobra along with all of their other travel essentials.

The drivers’ meeting started at 8 a.m. sharp the next morning. At that time, highlighted maps of the day’s route were passed out, along with a one-page trip log indicating the planned stops for fuel, lunch, and dinner. By 8:15 a.m., a dozen multi-carbureted Ford V-8s were roaring to life in the previously quiet Sun Valley Resort parking lot. I hopped in the van and Dave and I drove out of the lot. We pulled off the side of the road to block traffic so the whole group could start out together.

Once they were all on the road, Dave and I jumped back into the van and sped off after them. I guess I should have known that once the Cobras hit the open road, well, let’s just say that some of them started to “blow the carbon” out of their carburetors. The roads and scenery in Idaho were absolutely amazing. There was

very little traffic on most of the roads we travelled, so we were pretty much able to keep the caravan together. Keeping the Econoline and trailer up with the Cobras was another story.

Whoever “brings up the rear” in a caravan of seventeen vehicles will almost always have to run a little faster than the lead car is cruising, especially once you come upon traffic that you have to pass to keep up. Passing a couple daydreaming motorists on a mountain road with a 289 or 427 Cobra is a pretty simple feat: you wait for an opening, put your foot in it, and blast by the numb-nut holding up traffic.

With an Econoline and a trailer in tow, it requires a lot more thought, and quite a bit more highway. I have to hand it to Dave; he was handling that rig like Bondo at the ‘Ring. Some of the curves reminded me of Highway 1 up the California coast—a little guard rail that you know would never stop you, and drop-off so steep that you can’t see the bottom. The Econoline was swaying and squealing its tires trying to keep up with the Cobras. To Dave’s credit, he was never more than a couple minutes behind the last Cobra to reach any rest stop. At the first gas stop (about one-and-a-half hours into the journey), they asked me to take a seat in the lead Cobra to help navigate a difficult portion of the trip. As I turns out, much to my delight, I spent the rest of the “Cobra 1000” riding in Cobras.

Dave insisted he didn’t need a navigator or co-driver, so I spent my time riding shotgun in one Cobra after another (I managed a stint in five of the sixteen Cobras).

At the second gas stop, shortly before lunch, we had a visit from the local sheriff.

Seems that one of the daydreaming SUV

Winter 2012 33

A car-friendly Stanley, Idaho sheriff talks to the group and signs autographs after a local driver called in and complained of being startled and passed (allegedly in a no-passing zone) by a group of speeding sports cars. No harm/no foul. Wide open spaces, light traffic and lots of scenery makes it easy to see why this area was chosen for the 2011 Cobra 1000 Tour.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 34

Shaun Lowryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s small block, CSX2497, and Rich Avelarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 427, CSX3142, after they pulled into the Shore Lodge in McCall, Idaho.

Don and Amanda Lee in CSX3010, leading a line of Cobras

The SHELBY AMERICAN

As scary as this looks to someone who continually sees the glass as half empty, passing on the left on a left-hand curve is much safer than trying the same maneuver when the logs are leaning in your direction.

Cobra-style roads if ever there were any: smooth twists and turns.

Winter 2012 35

The Double Arrow Lodge in Seeley Lake, Montana was what you’d expect in that neck of the woods: rustic. Gary and Sheryl Hunter [left], in CSX3318, pull into the night’s destination. The driveways of most ranches in that area have front gates made out of large trees. This one is larger than most.

drivers called the law after getting passed by all sixteen Cobras on twisty mountain roads. I specifically remember her, as she was driving very slowly (doing about 35 mph in a 45 mph zone), and obviously was not paying any attention to the traffic building up behind her. There were plenty of turn-outs for slower cars to get out of the way (local law specifies that a slow driver MUST pull over if there are three cars or more backed up behind them), but she had been totally ignoring them.

I was riding in the lead Cobra, and I know that we and the first four or five cars passed her in a legitimate passing zone.

When we blasted by, the side pipes must have awakened and scared her, because then she slowed down to 25 mph. The rest of the group got impatient, and some of them passed her in no passing zones. She called ahead to the sheriff’s office and complained. Both she and the sheriff pulled in at the gas station where we were refueling.

The sheriff asked her to identify which Cobras passed her in “No Passing” zones, and she said, “I don’t know…ALL of them!” He told her to go on her way, and that he would handle the situation. He was quite understanding, and after posing with us for a few pictures, he just asked us to “take

it easy” on the rest of our trip.

After covering about 270 miles, we rolled into the Shore Lodge in McCall, Idaho. They were all ready for us, and had even blocked off a portion of their parking lot just for Cobras. I knew when we walked in to register that we were in for a good time because as I walked up to the front desk, each guest was offered a free glass of wine! The Shore Lodge is located on the 5,300-acre Payette Lake in the west central mountains of Idaho. It was an incredibly spectacular setting, a place where you might like to spend three or four days relaxing. We had our first minor technical

Lynn and Susie Park are all wrapped up and ready to rock as they hit the road for the day’s adventure. Lynn owns ten Cobras and CSX2176 is the one he uses on the annual tours. He has made it as reliable as an anvil.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 36

malfunction on this first day of the trip.

One of the big-block Cobras arrived at the Shore Lodge on the trailer. We spent an hour or so trying to find something wrong with the fuel delivery system, but no faulty parts were found. In the end, we decided that the altitude and heat (it was in the high 80°s in the afternoon) had probably caused the car to vapor-lock. The car was driven off the trailer in the morning and made the rest of the trip without any issues.

At 8:00 a.m. the next morning, we had another drivers’ meeting and map handout. The temperature overnight had dropped to thirty-five degrees. I didn’t realize it at the time, but, nobody brought a convertible top with them. These guys and gals are hard-core; they just layered-up, pulled their gloves, caps and scarves on, and they were ready to roll. We headed out north toward Missoula, Montana, and covered about 320 miles that day. Our destination was the Double Arrow Lodge in Seeley Lake. The Double Arrow was quite rustic compared to the Shore Lodge, but still a beautiful facility. We stayed in individual log cabins with no TV or phone.

Our dinner that evening was a plentiful buffet in an open-sided pavilion on the property. A “white-elephant” exchange program took place after dinner. Everybody brought some kind of wrapped gift to exchange. One of the more unusual gifts was a hat that looked like an Egyptian Pharaoh’s headdress. The “white elephant” gift that I received was actually quite nice —a stainless steel corkscrew affair with a knife-blade and a few other attachments.

I knew, however, that TSA was never going to let me get on the plane with that thing, so I gave it away to one of the guys who was driving home instead of flying.

The third day was relatively short, only about 130 miles, to the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort in Fairmont, Montana. We got there early enough that we were able to spend the afternoon trying out the huge water slide and heated outdoor swimming pool. Nearly half the group hit the pool and slide. With promises of free “Cobra rides,” one of our guys was able to secure nearly

The SHELBY AMERICAN

unlimited free passes for the water slide.

So far, we had enjoyed delightfully beautiful weather, with very cool mornings (in the low thirties), but warming up every afternoon into the mid-eighties. We had seen some incredible sights of majestic mountains, rambling rivers, and uncrowded highways. Dave had worked on a few cars, adjusting points and valves, but we still had all sixteen Cobras running and the only parts we replaced were a couple of taillight bulbs. It had been a dream trip so far. Mother Nature, however, had a surprise for us on the last day.

The weather forecast called for rain overnight, but it was expected to be light and would clear up by morning. Well, neither was true. It rained overnight and the winds blew hard enough to snatch the covers off several of the Cobras. We started the ceremonial drivers’ meeting in the dry, but by the time we hit the road, it was raining. And not so lightly. Like I said before, no one had a top or side-curtains (there was no room for such amenities on a week-long trip in a Cobra with a passenger). The preparation for rain included covering the leather seats with black plastic garbage bags and pulling on rain slickers and ponchos. Everybody was prepared—

except me—because I thought I was going to be riding in the van. Well, I couldn’t wimp out now, so I just hunkered down in the passenger seat, and took turns wiping the rain drops off the inside of the windshield. The last day driving from Montana back to Sun Valley was over 300 miles and, unfortunately, it rained most of the day.

An hour or so before we reached Sun Valley, the rain stopped and the sun came out. We pulled into the Sinclair station in Stanley, Idaho (the same place we had talked to the sheriff three days earlier) for our last fuel stop. Around three o’clock that afternoon we rolled back into the parking lot of the Sun Valley Resort.

All of the Cobras were still running nicely, but we had one driver who required a trip to the ER. 427 driver Peter DeSilva had developed a kidney stone problem on the last day. He was doubled-over in pain all the way back to Sun Valley before he was able to get treatment. Fortunately, he got some good meds at the local hospital that allowed him to almost enjoy the barbecue that evening. The mayor of Sun Valley, Wayne Willich (he’s a car guy with a couple antique autos in his garage) and his wife joined us at the evening program.

They presented Drew and Janet Serb with a key to the city.

The 2011 “Cobra 1000” tour came to a successful conclusion with no tickets, no accidents, no injuries, and lots of wonderful memories. Shaun and Suzanne Lowry were recognized for the “Long Distance” award, bringing their 289 Cobra all the way from Xenia, Ohio for the trip. There was no “Hard Luck” award, as nobody really broke down, but Peter DeSilva would get my vote. His Cobra was the only one to get a trailer ride (later dismissed as merely “vapor-lock”). Then the guy gets stung by a bee at lunch, and on the last day of the trip was in pain all day long due to a kidney stone. He refused to go to the hospital before reaching the final destination.

These guys and gals are doing what CarGary Hunter [left] introduced Sun Valley Mayor roll Shelby meant for them to do with Wayne Willich after the evening’s final dinner.

Willich presented event organizers, Drew and these cars…driving them and enjoying Janet Serb, with a key to the city. He later had them! the lock changed.

Winter 2012 37

No matter what the problem, the solution was always a larger hammer.

It’s pretty much common knowledge that the original Cobra was born out of the mating of a British, aluminum-bodied two seat roadster with an American small block V8 engine that easily fit into it. Carroll Shelby’s wild ride took the country by storm. It grabbed the imagination of American sports car enthusiasts who yearned for something more hairy-chested than small, four-cylinder English cars with spindly wheels and tires and an exhaust note that sounded like an angry lawnmower. When Cobras were raced, they left almost every event they entered with a trophy. Had there been no Cobra, Chevrolet’s brand new Sting Ray would have monopolized the American performance spotlight in 1963. But timing, as they often say, is everything; the Sting Ray was the victim of the Cobra’s untimely genesis.

The heart of the Cobra was the 289 cubic-inch V8. In full-race form, topped by four dual-throat Weber carburetors, it produced 385 horsepower with the reliability of an anvil. This was the engine that propelled Cobra Daytona Coupes to speeds of 185 miles per hour at LeMans. It led the Cobra to win the SCCA’s A/Production Championship, the United States Road Racing Championship and the World Manufacturers Championship for GT cars, which pitted the Cobras against the very best sports cars that European manufacturers could produce. Set up for quartermile drag racing, a Cobra “Dragonsnake” tripped the clocks at 11.51 seconds in 1965 to win the NHRA National Championship in its class. The 289 Cobra engine was also the heart of Shelby American’s new Mustang-based GT350, a competition version of which immediately became the SCCA B/Production National Champion. And the engine also powered Ford’s GT40, the endurance racer on which Ford had been pinning its hopes to trounce Ferrari at LeMans.

There is a saying in racing that nothing is as old as last year’s car. Next year’s car is always expected to be better and

The SHELBY AMERICAN

– Rick Kopec faster, and if it isn’t they have a name for it: loser. Shelby American continued winning with its well-proven 289 engine, but a handful of visionaries inside the company knew that more would be needed.

More was always needed. That “more” came by way of Ford’s big block FE engine, the high performance 427 version. This was the engine that pushed NASCAR stock cars around super high-banked speedways like Daytona and Charlotte at 170 mph for 500 miles. Dropped into Mustangs set up to drag race, 427 engines were capable of turning heart-stopping 10-second elapsed times. In special 427-powered Fairlanes, called “Thunderbolts,” they could dip into the high 11-second range.

The only downside to this engine was its weight, about 125 lbs. more than a similarly out-fitted 289. However, the horsepower and torque it produced more than offset that. And, there was something about the numbers 4-2-7 that were magical, indeed.

an already existing production car that was powered by a larger or more powerful engine. These were not considered production cars, so they ran in a special “modified” class. The 289 Cobra engine, in race trim, could pump out 385 horsepower. Trying to pull more horsepower than that resulted in a drop in reliability in direct proportion to horsepower increases. Miles was invited by Holman-Moody to drive a 427-powered Ford stock car at the 1963 Golden State 400 NASCAR race Riverside Raceway in November of 1963. He finished 11th. The Galaxie’s 427 NASCAR motor, good for 485 horsepower, gave Miles the idea of using that engine in the next generation of the Cobra. It would provide an additional 100 horsepower right out of the crate. To prove his thesis, he soon began fiddling with a 289 Cobra, with a 427 big block shoehorned between its frame rails.

Miles took it to Riverside to test and it went like a pinched watermelon seed. In fact, he had to use the throttle carefully or the car’s rear axles would rip the spokes right out of the wire wheels. The more he and Bob Bondurant tested it, the more Shelby American’s competition direc- they knew this would be the next generator and lead development driver Ken Miles tion Cobra and would replace the small was a master of the “special.” In sports car block Cobra as Shelby American’s stancircles, this was a stripped-down version of dard production model. By March of 1964,

First 427 Cobra Prototype

CSX2196

Winter 2012 38

Miles’ prototype was prepped as a race car and sent to Sebring with the rest of the 289 team cars.

The car was nose heavy, which was to be expected with an additional 125 lbs. in the engine compartment. It was a handful to drive, even for someone as skilled as Ken Miles. The crew nicknamed it “The Turd.” But it bellowed like an enraged beast and it was so fast it would flatten your eyeballs. At Sebring it got everyone’s attention—especially the Ford representatives attending the race. They understood what the Cobra connection had done to the 289 engine and realized that it could do the same thing for the 427. In practice, Miles managed to run off the track, hitting the only tree on the course. He worked all night to pound out the damage to one fender and the car was just barely ready for the race on Sunday. He and co-driver John Morton drove it until they were sidelined by a massive vibration. But the writing was on the wall: a mammoth 427

Second 427 Prototype would propel the Cobra into the future.

The annual Nassau Speed Week in the Bahamas was in November, at the tail end of the sports car race season. It served as a season’s-end holiday for the serious racers. Teams or manufacturers used it to provide a peek into what they were working on for the coming season—which would begin in only a couple of months. The previous year, 1963, the Cobra team had gone to Nassau and was ambushed by General Motors. Three of their new, lightweight Corvette “Gran Sports” were there and in the hands of Roger Penske, Dick Thompson and Jim Hall. They cleaned the Cobras’ clocks. The Gran Sports were nine seconds a lap faster than the quickest Cobra. Two weeks later, Miles—still sting-

ing from the Corvette bushwacking—was at work on lightweight Cobra roadster. A real “special.” He would create a little surprise for the Gran Sports, which he would spring on them the following year at Nassau in November 1964.

Miles began with the 427 prototype he had raced at Sebring earlier, in March. He stripped off the body and subframe. The engine was replaced by an experimental aluminum 390 cubic-inch big block topped by a set of 58mm downdraft Weber carburetors. Everything else was gutted out of the Cobra and a lightweight body was built. The front fenders, hood and grille were configured into a one-piece nose which was hinged to pivot forward, exposing the entire engine, radiator and front suspension. Similarly, a one-piece rear clip was hinged to open in the opposite direction, exposing everything underneath it.

The car weighed about 1,600 lbs. (500 lbs. less than a stock small block Cobra). This engine was a stump-puller, putting out upwards of 550 horsepower. In Miles’ hands it was a potent combination, and the Corvette Gran Sports knew they were in trouble as soon as the car arrived off the ship. At the end of the first lap of the race, Miles flew past the start/finish line a full half-mile ahead of the second car.

CSX2196

The SHELBY AMERICAN

The “Flip-Top” Cobra, however, proved to be only a dead limb on the Cobra family tree. 427 engines would power the new models: both a street car as well as a competition version that would dominate the SCCA’s “A” production class in 1965. But there would be no need for a lightweight version of a 427 Cobra special. Having proved its point at Nassau, the Flip-Top quickly receded into the background and

1965 427 Cobra was eventually forgotten.

The new Cobra roadster was unveiled at a press introduction held at Riverside Raceway. Several of the cars, production prototypes actually, were accompanied by 25 new 1965 GT350s. They were used to provide familiarization rides to the press.

Soon thereafter, production ramped up and before long, street models began turning up on Cobra dealers’ showroom floors. The handful of small-block Cobras still in inventory were suddenly difficult to sell.

For racing, the Shelby American would replace the 289 FIA team cars with 427 Cobra competition versions. In fact, the first 427 Cobras were built at AC Cars to competition specifications. They had flared fenders, a single-loop, rear-braced roll bar, oil cooler behind a scoop located under the nose and a competition fuel tank, filled through a 3 1/2-inch aluminum competition snap-open cap. These cars also had openings in the fenders for outside exhausts, no glove compartment and battery mounted behind the passenger seat.

Shelby American specified that the first 100 coil-spring cars built by AC Cars be full competition models. The plan was to get them homologated for the 1965 racing season. However, by the end of April when the FIA inspectors showed up at Shelby American, only 51 cars were sitting on the tarmac and certification was withheld. Shelby American would be forced to campaign the 1964 small-block Cobras.

The same thing happened to Ferrari. They failed to produce the required 100 exam-

Winter 2012 39

ples, so both teams would be forced to campaign their previous years’ models.

In the U.S., the SCCA’s homologation requirements were not as stringent and the 427 Cobra was accepted for competition in A/Production. The cars already at Shelby American were brought inside to the race shop and completed, based on customer orders. The first ones were racing by spring.

At the same time Shelby’s magicians were massaging the 427 Cobra race cars, the switch had been flipped, turning AC Cars’ assembly line from race cars to street cars. As soon as they arrived in Los Angeles, engines and transmissions were installed, the cars were detailed and went to dealers. Miles’ big block Cobra had become

427 Super Coupe a reality.

Prior to the FIA’s 1965 inspection, a coil-spring chassis had been set aside to be built into a coupe configuration by the coachbuilders at Radford, in England. Designed by Peter Brock, this second generation coupe would be similar to the 289 Daytonas but would have a new silhouette all of its own and would include several “lessons-learned” improvements. Plus it would have an estimated 585 horsepower.

Speeds of 225 mph down LeMans’ Mulsanne Straight were expected. Radford had never before built a race car. The choice to use them had been a political one.

They produced interiors for the new Ford GT40s and giving them this job was a way of keeping the skids greased. When Brock visited to check on the car’s progress he was disappointed by all manner of problems. When it became apparent that the car would not be ready by LeMans what had been completed—basically a rolling chassis and body—was sent back to Shelby American and parked in a corner. It never

CSX2286 did get completed and was sold off as a white elephant. It passed from one owner to another until it was eventually completed in 1981 (with Peter Brock’s input on how he would have finished the car).

Two factors worked to sideline the Radford 427 “Super Coupe.” The first was the failure of Shelby American to get FIA certification for the 427 Cobra. When that happened, work on the coupe immediately ceased. The second factor was that Ford was intent on having their new GT40s in the center spotlight—and in the winner’s circle—so even if the 427 Cobra would have been certified, Ford corporate politics would have dictated that they take the back seat. Battling Ferrari was expected; Ford didn’t want to be fighting itself at the same time.

CSB3054

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Stretched 427 SOHC Coupe Rewind to a year prior—the spring of 1964. One small-block Daytona Coupe had been completed and was raced at Daytona and Sebring. After the 1964 Sebring race, where the lone 289 Cobra Daytona Coupe streaked to victory, three more Coupes were being built. As soon as the chassis work was done on two of them they were shipped to Carrozerria Gran Sport in Modena, Italy where bodies and interior panels were fabricated. Shelby American fabricator John Ohlsen was tasked with overseeing the completion of these cars in time for LeMans in June. One of them was pulled aside and the chassis was stretched enough to make room for a 427 single overhead cam engine that Shelby had been promised by one of his buddies at Ford.

This prototype would be Shelby American’s nasty surprise for Ferrari. With another 150 horsepower on tap, this “super” Coupe would blow Ferrari’s straw hat off his head.

The SOHC engine was so new that the only thing Ford was able to send to Ohlsen was a non-running mock-up that could fit into the car. A couple of weeks later the actual engine arrived, but it wasn’t the promised SOHC motor. It was a 427 medium-riser topped by four 58mm Weber carburetors. With the additional horsepower, this car was expected to top 220 mph on LeMans’ long Mulsanne Straight.

It would make the Ferrari 250LM and 275

Winter 2012 40

CSX2286 LM prototypes look like they were dragging large anchors.

As luck would have it, time ran out and the car could not be finished by early June. Ohlsen was directed to concentrate on the 289 Coupe and the 427 car was sent back to Venice where it sat until the end of the 1964 race season. It was then reconfigured as a standard Daytona Coupe with a 289 engine and completed for its only

427 GT40 MK II race—LeMans in 1965.

Henry Ford II wanted a sports car with a real pedigree that could be sold in Ford dealerships to counter Chevrolet’s Corvette. The Cobra was comparable, but lacked the all-Ford bloodline. He sent his

people to Italy in an attempt to purchase Ferrari in 1962. The deal soured when Ferrari was told that Ford would control his racing program and he said, “No thank you.” HF II — “The Deuce”— decided that if he couldn’t buy Ferrari then he would beat him. In a nutshell, that is the genesis of the Ford GT40. Rather than start with a clean sheet of paper, Ford contracted Eric Broadley, who had built a mid-engined racing coupe he called the Lola GT. It had the mid-engine configuration that Ford wanted and it became the start of what would become the Ford GT40, so named because it was only 40-inches high.

The first car was completed in the spring of 1964 and unveiled at the New York Automobile Show. It was powered by a small block engine (some described it as

the Cobra engine but in actual fact the GT40 engines were specially built Indianapolis race engines measuring 255 cubic-inches). The car was an immediate hit, looking like something out of Flash Gordon in a world populated by Chitty Chitty Bang Bang cars. A separate company called Ford Advanced Vehicles was created in England and was given the task of building and racing the GT40. Three cars were entered at LeMans. They stole the show but failed to finish. There was an old saw that said it takes at least three years for a new car to win LeMans. Ford would prove that true.

After the first year it was obvious that Ford needed the services of a specialist in sports car endurance racing. Who better than Carroll Shelby? The GT40 race program was turned over to Shelby American and the first two cars arrived in December of 1964. By the time the 1965 season commenced at Daytona two months later, the Ford GT40s had been thoroughly gone through, modified, and tested. They received the tried-and-true Cobra 289 race engines and finished Daytona first and third. A month later a GT40 won at Sebring. The cars did not fare as well in Europe, where they demonstrated that they had potential but lacked horsepower on the longer courses in endurance races. The answer was as obvious as the 427 Cobra in Shelby’s garage.

It was called the GT40 Mk II, and it was, essentially a MK I with a 427 engine shoehorned behind the rear seats. It was actually much more, because while the basic platform remained the same (11 MK IIs would be made, out of cars which were originally built as MK Is) the larger, heavier engine dictated that everything else be strengthened: the suspension, wheels, brakes, transaxle and cooling system all required upgrading. By the time the GT40 MK IIs were race-ready, they outweighed the MK Is by about 500 lbs. Two prototypes raced at LeMans in 1965. Neither finished but they were faster than anything else that had ever run there. In 1966 The MK IIs did win LeMans for Ford, finishing 1-23 and proving that the 427 engine did pos-

427-powered R-Model

P/1015

The SHELBY AMERICAN

sess supernatural powers.

With a background composed of NASCAR stock cars, 427 Cobra roadsters and 427-powered LeMans winning Ford GT MK IIs, the 427 engine seems to have cast a magical spell over everyone at Shelby American. By the summer of 1966, a handful of the last GT350 R-Models had yet to attract buyers. One of them was

Winter 2012 41

5R537 picked (at random—it was 5R537) to become a prototype for the 1967 GT500. Ford sent Shelby American a prototype Mustang front end and shock towers, capable of carrying a big block engine. It was grafted to the R-Model’s firewall. A lightweight 427 engine with dual-quads was sitting unused so it was installed. A handmade bundle-of-snakes exhaust system was also sitting around, and it just happened to fit with some minor massaging. A fiberglass Thunderbolt “teardrop” hood was required to clear the carburetors.

The car was taken to Ford’s Kingman, Arizona test track and recorded the fastest time for a sedan. In fact, the only thing faster had been a 427-powered Ford GT MK II. Once the testing had been done, the prototype was no longer needed. The engine and transmission were removed and the car was unceremoniously sold to a Shelby American employee. It was later

sold to an enthusiast who realized its historical significance and began a long-term restoration project that is in the final

427 Super Snake stages of completion.

As soon as 1967 Shelby production was underway, Carroll Shelby directed his Chief Engineer, Fred Goodell, to build a super high performance version of the new GT500 so they could do some high speed tire testing at Goodyear’s testing facility in San Angelo, Texas. Goodell chose, at random, a white car (serial number 67402F4A00544). In the race shop, it received a lightweight Ford GT MK II 427 medium-riser engine with a large oil cooler and a “bundle-of-snakes” GT40 exhaust.

Goodell had a unique set of blue center stripes painted on, in a narrow/wide/narrow layout. The car was shipped to San An-

gelo where Shelby took members of the press for rides, at one point reaching 170 mph in the car. Goodell took over for the actual testing.

When the car returned to Shelby American, Goodell began looking for a buyer because Shelby American didn’t keep projects around very long that had outlived their usefulness. Don McCain had previously worked as one of Shelby American’s sales representatives in 1965 and 1966. McCain was a drag racer who had convinced Shelby’s public relations director Max Muhleman that a special model GT350 drag racer would bring the GT350s publicity and create interest in a segment of buyers who weren’t road race enthusiasts. He built one and almost immediately established a national record. Specifications were drawn up for customer cars, and three more 1965 GT350 drag cars were sold. The drag model was continued with the 1966 GT350 and four were sold. By 1967 McCain had moved to Mel Burns Ford in Long Beach, California to be its high performance sales manager. Goodell made him aware of the car and that it was available. McCain began thinking about the other large performance dealers around the country who were offering their own special models: Nickey Chevrolet in Chicago, Yenko Chevrolet in Pittsburgh, Mr. Norm’s Grand Spaulding Dodge in Chicago, Tasca Ford in Providence, Baldwin Chevrolet on Long Island, and Royal Pontiac in Royal Oak, Michigan, to name a few. With stars in his eyes, McCain convinced his superiors at Mel Burns that offering their own 427 GT500, called the “Super Snake,” would put the dealership on the map. They gave him the thumbs-up.

The 427 Super Snake was a rocket ship, just as everyone predicted. McCain was talking about having 50 built. But the torpedo that sunk the project was the final cost of the car. When the engine and all ancillary parts and components were listed out and added to the base price of the car, it came out to be on the high side of $7,500.

That was more than a brand new 427 Cobra roadster, and that’s what killed the Shelby Super Snake. Only the one car was

427 Factory GT500s

67402F4A00544

The SHELBY AMERICAN

ever made.

Aside from the Super Snake, factory records reveal that two other 1967 GT500s received 427 engines at the factory. One was special-ordered as a drag racer and an additional $1800 was added to the invoice.

The other was purchased by someone who just wanted more than a standard GT500 could provide and managed to attract

Winter 2012 42

67402F4A00544 someone’s attention at Shelby American.

He was invoiced an additional $2,000 for the engine. He flew to Los Angeles, picked the car up at the factory, and drove it back home to Niagara Falls, New York.

In the years since then, dozens of owners have claimed that their GT500s were original factory cars. Many made this statement because their car had a 427 engine in it when they bought it, and the previous owner said that this was the way the car was when he bought it. This was, of course, prior to SAAC uncovering factory production records on every car.

If a 427 powered 1967 GT500 was not installed by the factory, then there were two other possibilities. One was a dealer installation. Not many buyers of new GT500s asked the dealer to pull the 428 cubic-inch engine out of their brand new car and replace it with a 427. But when a new owner managed to destroy the engine in his car, it was a simple next step to replace it with the more powerful 427. The owner would pay the difference and it wasn’t that much. If the dealer didn’t replace engines, an owner certainly could have— at any point along the car’s history.

67410F4A01947

The SHELBY AMERICAN

1968 427 Factory GT500s By 1968, the 427 was still the most powerful magic in Shelby’s bag of tricks.

When the 1968 models were in the planning stages, it was suggested that the GT500 could have a special performance option—a 427 engine. When the dealer showroom brochures were printed (prior to the cars actually being built), the 427 engine was listed as an option for the GT500.

However, the 427 option was killed by the time production began. There were several reasons. First, Shelbys had gradually morphed away from pure performance towards luxury grand touring cars. There were other cars on the market with rear wheelchurning horsepower. The Shelby couldn’t be all things to all people, and the company was wise enough to know they shouldn’t try. Another factor was cost. The 427 engine cost $730 more than a 428 cubic-inch big block. The additional cost would likely turn buyers off. Third, there were warranty issues with a high performance 427 engine. Using it would just be asking for trouble. Anyone who really wanted a 1968 GT500 with a 427 engine could get one, but not from the factory. Individual buyers would have to have the dealer install it.

Most dealers were only too happy to comply.

To be clear, there never was a 427 GT500 built by the factory in 1968, despite what the showroom literature says.

Winter 2012 43

A

lmost as soon as the last issue of The Shelby American was posted, I immediately began receiving e-mails informing me that a Shelby Series 1 and a CSX4000 Cobra had been given to Playmates of the Year. This was, of course, not news to me. The simple truth was that after spending all the time it took to research the “Cobras and Shelbys in Playboy” article, which consumed incalculable hours reading back issues and, yes—even looking at some of the photos—I had to stop somewhere. After all, there was only so much energy I could expend on this subject. There were other irons in the fire.

But the e-mailers were right: the story was left unfinished. Realizing I had a responsibility, I made an appointment and, mustering all of the enthusiasm I could, I dragged myself back to the piles of Playboy magazines in the basement of the Pardee Compound’s main house. Picture the cell in the Maryland Psychiatric Hospital for the Criminally Insane where Dr. Hannibal Lecter was kept, only with worse lighting.

Research of this nature takes a lot more time than amateurs would guess.

Even though it was clear that a particular issue did not have any information or photos necessary for the article, I did not want to be accused of leaving one small stone unturned. After a while it was obvious that one issue was missing from Pardee’s collection. As fate would have it, it was the July 1998 issue which announced the 1997 Playmate of the Year. The one in which Karen McDougal, 1997’s Miss December, was awarded the Shelby Series 1 (serial # CSX5125, for those of you keeping score at home).

One of the e-mails I received following the on-line publication of the Playboy article was from SAAC member Tom Conley of Fallbrook, California. I got to know Tom when he was working as the sales director for Shelby American during the beginning of their component Cobra build. As an insider, Tom knew things that very few others knew. So when he talks, I listen. In his

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Part 2 e-mail, he reminded me that Shelby American had orchestrated the awarding of both a Series 1 and a CSX4000 to Playmates of the Year. He said that SAAC members would probably find some of what went on amusing, and he shared some tidbits.

Tom’s e-mail was the acorn from which this article grew. It caused me to go back to my notes to prod my memory.

Shelby began building Cobras again in 1992. These “completion” cars began with CSX3056, and the expectation was to finish production with CSX3100. At that time, the market value of a 427 S/C was in the $750,000 neighborhood. The thought of being the original owner of a zero-mileage S/C built by Shelby American and having the keys handed to you by Carroll Shelby, himself, made Shelby’s non-negotiable price of $500K not exactly a cheap date, but palatable to a certain niche of Cobra buyers. The car would be completed by Mike McCluskey, outfitted to the buyer’s specifications, and painted whatever color he or she wanted. These would become the “as delivered” specifications, which seemed to add a lot to the values of original cars.

The downside was that these cars were not thirty-something years old, they were not built by AC Cars in England and then delivered to the original Shelby American to be completed in Los Angeles, and had not been sold through a franchised Cobra dealer. But you can’t go back in time. Second chances are rare, and having everything square, exactly, with what happened thirty-plus years earlier was impossible.

So, you rationalize.

Things didn’t move along exactly the way Shelby had planned. First, somebody whispered into the California DMV’s ear about what he was doing. Not everyone, it seemed, was a fan of the father of the Cobra. Shelby’s game plan was to sell the cars using manufacturer’s statement of origin paperwork, under the belief that because he had “authorized” the serial numbers in 1965 but never used them, they were still available to him. He overlooked

– Rick Kopec the fact that the company Shelby American had been inactive for a number of years. A small point, perhaps. The DMV sent inspectors knocking on doors and asking questions and as word of this got out (AutoWeek being one of the prime news sources—recall there was no world wide web back then...) it became difficult to sell $500K cars which could not be registered and driven on the street.

While this Southern California soap opera with a Texas accent was playing out, the collector car market was beginning one of its periodic “corrections.” While prices were not dropping like a 427 block being pushed off a barge into the Pacific, a 427 S/C was no longer worth $750K. Standard street 427s had settled around $300K and S/Cs were closer to $400K. The whole market dip caused Shelby’s $500K price tag to be a little strong in comparison.

The DMV decided that Shelby could not register the cars in California because they did not meet current safety and emissions regulations. They were less than definitive on the MSO question. Shelby sidestepped everything by moving things to Nevada where motor vehicle requirements were less stringent. The cars could be sold but they had to be designated “offroad” vehicles. They could not be registered to be driven on the street. They would be like race cars. Still, Shelby’s price remained non-negotiable. Shelby said that he would build as many cars as he sold and if he only sold three, that would be how many would be built. This was, of course, a far cry from the original 49 serial numbers that were available.

By the time the story wound down and ardor had cooled, seven cars had been built. The first one was the raw aluminum #98 car that Shelby drove everywhere and used as a one-car tsunami to blanket the automotive press. One went to a buyer in Georgia, another to someone in Arizona and three were purchased by Japanese enthusiasts who had the exchange rate on their side. Shelby gave one to his son Pat.

Winter 2012 44

Shelby’s car had manufacturers’ plates so he had no problem driving it on the street.

Other buyers were left on their own to find a way through their state DMV’s maze to register their cars. There are ways. However the Arizona buyer couldn’t find one and brought suit against Shelby, using the “Shelby snookered me” charge. His suit was not successful.

By this time, the completion car project was gathering cobwebs. It was pushed to the back burner by the ramp-up of the component Cobra project. It was about this time that Shelby hired Don Rager to be the CEO of Shelby American. He was a kidney transplant recipient who had met Shelby through an organ transplant organization and claimed some kind of recipient brotherhood. Rager was a Las Vegas businessman with an accounting background. And he liked cars. The guy who had been running Shelby’s business was Don Landy. He had a legal background and saw the world through a lawyer’s eyes: everything was a worst-case scenario. The more time Shelby spent with Rager, who had an almost childlike belief that anything was possible, the more he found himself agreeing with Rager because all Landy saw were minefields, ladders and black cats. Eventually Shelby thought the time was right and let Landy go, replacing him with Rager. It was a less than amicable separation. Suddenly Rager began dressing in black and wearing a black cowboy hat.

Like a lot of the Shelby completion Cobra buyers, I was thinking that since I had missed any connection with the original Shelby American of the 1960s, this second coming would be the next best thing and the only chance I would ever have to experience being close to the center of the

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Cobra universe. I made it a point to get out to Las Vegas a few times a year. All things considered, it wasn’t a bad place to “have to” visit. I tried to come across as a nonthreatening “friend of the company”—a historian who was merely gathering details and photos for the long term future. I was mostly trying to think of what I would like to have found out about Shelby American back in 1963 or 1965 if I had been there.

I tried not to be judgemental, because I understood that running a business like this sometimes requires cutting corners and taking shortcuts. Shelby’s businesses are almost always under-capitalized and this one was no different. For example, when he started putting together the completion 427 S/C Cobras, he had Mike McCluskey round up 50 of every part or piece needed for a Cobra. When they began building component Cobras, Shelby instructed all of his employees that the completion parts (which were virtually the same) were off limits. When a component car was sitting on jack stands because it was lacking a few parts (which were not being shipped because of unpaid invoices), and the customer was calling on a daily basis demanding to know when his car would be completed, it was difficult for the production guys to stay out of the completion parts stash—which was in another room of the shop. Shelby would eventually find out that parts were being taken and he would raise hell.

When you get a peek behind the curtains, sometimes what you see makes you feel a little uneasy and you wish you had never seen it. I got the feeling that Don Rager never trusted me. But he never trusted anyone. The more dealings I had

with him, the more the feeling became mutual.

Don Rager seemed to be at the center of a perpetual maelstrom of his own creation. He leaped from crisis to crisis, rarely returning phone calls or responding to memos or faxes, and he seemed to constantly be running behind schedules that he, himself, had created. He needed to micro-manage everything and meetings with him were full of loud talk, big promises and lots of arm waving. When the smoke and haze cleared, little had been accomplished. Rager also set himself up as the only one who could talk with Shelby.

Anyone who wanted to communicate with Shelby had to go through Rager. Shelby was having problems with his kidneys and as the situation grew worse, he began to rely more and more on Rager. Before long, Rager had installed himself as the head of the Shelby Series 1 project and everything was routed through him.

One of Rager’s big marketing ideas was to give a Series 1 to Playboy, to be given to the 1998 Playmate of the Year. By his estimates, the company’s cost of the car (which he put at $75,000) was about equal to the cost of a full page color ad in their magazine. The car would be featured in one issue, the ad would run in the following issue, and editorial coverage would be given in a third issue. Rager’s deal-sweetener with Playboy was that they would also get a CSX4000 to give to the Playmate of the Year the following year. And best of all for Rager—who was as starstruck by the whole Playboy fantasy as a teenager in the throes of puberty—was that he would get an invitation to the party at the Playboy Mansion announcing the Playmate of the Year.

Winter 2012 45

Don Rager, of course, told no one else at the factory about any of this. The Playmate of the Year election was held in January, after the December issue was in readers’ hands (no pun intended). After the votes were counted, Playboy had their party. There was the obligatory photo shoot of the Playmate and the car (winnowed down to one photo with the car in it). When Rager sprung the news on his underlings, that a Series 1 would be given to Playboy and they needed one to be photographed immediately, the only Series 1 that was available was an engineless prototype they called “The Pushmobile.” It was hauled to a studio where the photographer captured

Karen McDougal in a bikini, because Rager had stipulated that she not be photographed in the nude with the car.

One Monday morning Rager surprised Tom Conley and Eric Davison, Cobra and Series 1 sales directors, respectively, with the news that the Playmate of the Year would be visiting the Las Vegas facility later in the day to determine the features she wanted in her car. She would be accompanied by her “manager” (actually her boyfriend and soon-to-be husband). Rager went to great lengths to warn Conley and Davison (and shortly thereafter, everyone else in the shop) to be on their best behavior when she arrived and toured the facil-

ity. There was to be no whistling, cat calls or hollering.

Karen McDougal arrived wearing a miniskirt and cotton tank top with no bra.

She looked like she just stepped out of the pages of the magazine. After introductions to everyone in the offices, Rager took her and her manager on a walk-through of the shop. His stern warnings were quickly forgotten as the mechanics, fabricators and technicians ogled her and slobbered over themselves. Rager’s face became increasingly redder with every minute. He ushered them out as quickly as he could and whisked them off to a restaurant for lunch.

When they returned, Rager led her into

It’s not likely that Karen McDougal saw the Series 1 she was given as an investment for the future, but it worked out that way. Since the car cost her nothing (other than the tax bite Uncle Sam took) she and her boyfriend/husband decided to load it up with as many factory-installed options as they could. The bill at Shelby American eventually topped $60K. When they were done they had a one-off model that was even more unique because of its history of having been given to a Playmate of the Year. To some buyers, things like that matter. Unfortunately, there was trouble in paradise and McDougal and her husband decided to terminate their marriage. As a result, their Series 1 was presented at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale in January of 2010. To juice the bids, McDougal went on the stage with the car. It went for $126,500. “Well sold” in auction parlance.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 46

Conley’s office so she could choose the details of her car.

Conley explains how he felt, alone with her in his office. “You have to understand that I was the product of Catholic grammar school, high school and college. I grew up in a small midwestern town, convinced that Playboy was a Communist enterprise whose goal was to totally destroy the morality of this country. Secretly, I was hoping she would say something dirty to me which would confirm my suspicions, but I was just fantasizing. Karen McDougal turned out to be bright, polite and she had a real interest in sports cars. Her father had been the general manager of an Oldsmobile dealership in Ohio, and she knew all about the car business.

“Her real desire, she said, was taking one of our Cobras over to Las Vegas Motor Speedway and turning some hot laps. I stared at her as she was saying this, trying to think about was what I could say to turn her down. My mind was racing as I envisioned the two of us, splattered along the track’s wall, with Rager trying to explain to Shelby how a Playboy bunny totaled one of his new Cobras. So I sadly said, ‘No’ —a decision I regret to this day.

“I explained the options and she made her choices, and before I knew it she was on her way. Later that year Venture Industries came on the scene and purchased a majority of the company. They brought their own people in and Rager was shown the door. This promotion was put on hold.

But they eventually made good on all the promises and delivered her car. I have to say, in retrospect, that I could have not been more wrong about my first impression of this girl. She accompanied us to a couple of shows later in the year, and I can still remember her sitting in 100° heat at Road America for four-hour stints on Saturday and Sunday, signing autographs and giving out posters. She was a real trooper.”

By 2003, the car only had about 4,000 miles on it. Jim Grdina, by then McDougal’s husband, had the car shipped to Shelby Automobiles in Las Vegas and purchased several upgrades: a polished supercharger, engine plate and tunnel brace; a custom leather interior; custom headers and a polished exhaust system. A year later the car was still at Shelby American undergoing modifications: the brakes were upgraded, specially made three-piece wheels were installed and custom carbon fiber interior pieces were added. The car also received silver “ghost stripes.” McDougal’s husband claimed that Shelby did $60K worth of work on the car.

In January of 2010, the car was sold at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scotts-

The SHELBY AMERICAN

dale, Arizona at no reserve. McDougal was there to promote it and the hammer price was $126,500. Included was a notebook containing Playboy promotional documents and photos. McDougal promised the new owner she would visit the car periodically. Like that will happen...

The 1997 Playmate of the Year was announced in the magazine’s July 1998 issue. A year later, the 1998 Playmate of the Year would be announced and Rager had promised to provide a CSX4000 Cobra roadster for her. The twelve month span between the two announcements meant that not much would be happening between Shelby American and Playboy. Don Rager was not about to let that happen.

Interest in motorcycles, and especially Harley Davidsons, had skyrocketed in the 1990s. There were several reasons for this.

First, the age of the average Harley buyer—male, in his 50s—put him in the demographic of someone with a large disposable income. Second, Harley Davidson had positioned itself in the marketplace to appeal to these buyers with motorcycles which were technologically advanced (and trouble free), yet which harkened back to the days when Harley riders were considered tough guys or bad boys. Their bikes were big and loud, with lots of chrome.

They could be infinitely customized so that no two were alike. Riders wore black leather. Large meets like the week-long “Daytona Bike Week” in Florida every March or the fabled Sturgis Rally in South Dakota in August drew hundreds of thousands of riders and became communal events which gave owners a purpose far beyond just going for a motorcycle ride.

All of this enthusiasm led to small companies offering their own lines of custom motorcycles. Previously, owners would either build their own custom bikes or bring their stock bike to a custom shop.

However, in the late 1980s a cottage industry grew up around custom choppers.

These companies specialized in individualized bikes based on Harley-style V-twin engines with custom components. One of the largest manufacturers was Titan, whose models sold for between $35,000 and $60,000. It was there that Rager smelled an opportunity. He pitched the idea that they create a special Shelby-Titan model motorcycle. Rager suggested that Titan make 500 of them (the same number of intended Series 1s) which would be numbered sequentially, the same as the Series 1. It was a natural: buyers of Series 1s could have a matching serial number on their Shelby-Titan motorcycle.

The thimble-full of common sense Rager possessed must have been clouded

by looking at too many biker babes decked out in leather halters, thongs and chaps.

He clearly wasn’t thinking straight. Nevertheless, a joint promotion between Shelby and Titan commenced. Shelby got a bike and a royalty on the sale of each $50,000 Shelby-Titans sold, and both companies would enjoy the publicity from the cross promotion. When the smoke cleared (and when Rager was involved, you can believe there was plenty of smoke) Titan sold only about six Series 1 motorcycles.

Rager proposed that Shelby and Titan become involved in a three-way promotion with Playboy. In the summer of 1999, Rager and some of Shelby American’s upper level staff were invited to a party at the fabled Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles’ posh Hombly Hills. It was part of the Shelby/Playboy promotion. Rager had a Series 1 and a Shelby-Titan motorcycle shipped there, and they were parked on the lawn out back. Hugh Hefner was strolling around at the party and, at one point, referred to the motorcycle as a Cobra and the Series 1 as a Titan. He can probably be forgiven for that error due to the feminine distractions.

The automotive hobby just about comes to a standstill every January when everyone looks toward Scottsdale, Arizona where several high visibility auctions take place on the same weekend. The largest one is Barrett-Jackson, which is televised live over four or five afternoons and evenings. A lot of the people who generally attend these auctions fit the profile of the potential Series 1 buyer. Don Rager saw Scottsdale as a huge marketing opportunity. Just dragging a car out and setting up a display with sales staff handing out business cards and brochures was too subtle.

Rager wanted something with more impact. At the Barrett-Jackson auction, that would probably take something with the word “nuclear” in its name. Rager convinced Titan to share a display with Shelby American. Playboy bunnies would serve as the eye candy. This would keep Shelby American and the Series 1 in the public eye, it would demonstrate to Titan that the partnership was a good fit and it would also serve to strengthen the Shelby/Playboy association. A win-winwin. It all sounded good when Rager described it. However, there is so much happening in Scottsdale during that week that a parade of nudists riding elephants and tossing cherry bombs would hardly cause a raised eyebrow.

The 1998 Playmate of the Year votes were tallied in January and the winner was Heather Kozar, a knock-out blonde with more than a passing resemblance to

Winter 2012 47

Marilyn Monroe. In March, Shelby American provided a Guardsman Blue CSX4000 with white LeMans stripes for the photo shoot. Rager directed that the car have “SHELBY COBRA CSX4000” in white letters across the top of the windshield and “Team Shelby” lettering on the front fender. It was crass commercialism and showed a lack of class, but there was no one capable of telling Don Rager “No.”

Heather Kozar posed sitting on the driver’s door edge, and after the photography session the car went back to Shelby Automobiles in Las Vegas.

True to their word, but not exactly on time, a Guardsman Blue Cobra (serial number CSX4194) was delivered to Heather Kozar at her home in West Hollywood in November 2000. The aluminumbodied car was powered by a less

expensive 428 cubic-inch 1x4V engine with under-car exhausts and Halibrand wheels.

It turned up on eBay on January 2, 2002 and was described as having ten original miles. No word on whether it sold, or if it did, who bought it.

Note: Don Rager, who had moved to Southern California, after leaving Shelby American, passed away a couple of years ago due a recurrence of liver cancer.

Once a Playmate’s time in the klieg lights are over, they still have to put bread on the table, so to speak. Many go into modeling, acting or get jobs through Playboy Enterprises representing various products. Heather Kozar was contracted to represent Shelby’s Series 1 and Titan projects and is pictured, above, at an automobile show in Los Angeles in 2000.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 48

1969 Shelby #0001 was one sweet deal For Adrian and Janine Ashton â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Vernon Estes Adrian and Janine Ashton are Mustang enthusiasts to the core. They are the owners of Mustang Australia in Sydney, and they began importing Mustangs into Australia and certifying them under Australian Design Rules in 1993. In a country

notorious for loving everything muscle, the Ashtons tapped into a previously unexplored market. Mustang Australia is also an active Saleen dealer, currently offering Saleen 281SCs and S302 4Vs, along with 2012 Mustang GTs, Shelby GT500s and a

fully customized Shelby GT750M. It is safe to say that Adrian and Janine certainly know the new generation of Mustangs, but Adrian is also a vintage Mustang enthusiast. Mustang Australia has sold more than 300 early (1964 1/2 to

This article is the first in a series by Vern Estes which will relate the interesting stories of every serial #1 Shelby and Cobra and the current owners lucky enough to own such rare and historical automobiles.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter/2012 49

1970) Mustangs. Adrian occasionally takes a look at vintage cars for friends, to ensure their authenticity. And that’s where the story of finding #0001 begins.

In January 2005, Adrian was contacted by a close friend in California who asked that he look at a Shelby on behalf of his grandfather, who had a diverse collection of classic automobiles. All the friend mentioned was the car was a 1969 Shelby convertible that his grandfather was interested in it. The car was in North Queensland, Australia, and Adrian promised to inspect the car next time he made the trip to his vacation home in Sanctuary Cove, Queensland.

One month later, in February of 2005, Adrian made contact with the current owner of the convertible in Dalby, Queensland and quickly arranged to inspect the car in person. Adrian recalls the day he drove the 300kms to Dalby, “I said to Janine, ‘Why on earth is my friend Bert interested in this old Shelby all the way out here?’ ” Upon arriving in Dalby, Adrian and Janine were met by Neil Morris, the owner of the Shelby, who proceeded to lead them through an airplane-sized hanger filled with Shelbys, a Boss 302, and an assortment of other vintage Mustangs and hot rods. There, in the center of this large collection of gems, sat a pristine 1969 Shelby GT350 convertible. Armed with a note pad, Adrian went to work writing down date

The SHELBY AMERICAN

codes and taking detailed pictures of the Calypso Coral beauty. However, only when he leaned over the fender to check the VIN did Adrian realize what he was looking at.

He muttered under his breath to Janine, “No wonder Bert is chasing this Shelby. It’s VIN No 0001.”

Excited with the significance of the car but still there to do a job, Adrian poured over the Shelby for a few hours. He

left Neil’s property confident that he could provide his friend Bert with a comprehensive report.

Fast-forward to February 2009, a full five years after inspecting the car. Adrian received a call from Neil Morris, the owner of the 0001 Shelby convertible. Neil was wondering if Mustang Australia had any new Saleen S281 SC convertibles in the showroom. As a matter of fact, Adrian had just received a gleaming Candy Apple Red S281 SC convertible and promptly sent pictures and information of the car to Neil.

The next day, Adrian received a call from Neil, who said he would like to get the car for his wife. He asked if Adrian might be interested in doing a trade for the 1969 Shelby convertible he had inspected five years earlier. Adrian was a bit surprised by Neil’s suggestion, and asked what had happened to Bert. It turned out that Bert considered it too difficult to import the car to the U.S. and thought it would be too complicated to make the trip out to Australia to organize the car’s transport. Adrian asked how many miles had been put on the car since his inspection.

Neil told him that he had only driven the car 10 miles. Sure that he wanted the car, Neil first wanted to check with Bert, because he had originally put Adrian in contact with Burt.

After clearing the field with Bert, Adrian quickly agreed to trade the new Saleen for the Shelby convertible. He immediately made the trip out to Sanctuary Cove, this time to hand over Neil’s new Saleen convertible and arrange for the transport of Adrian’s “new” 1969 Shelby.

Winter/2012 50

Without a doubt, Adrian’s Shelby is one unique and historical vehicle.

9F03M480001 was originally shipped to Shelby Automotive on 1/10/69 and invoiced to Shelby Marketing on 2/14/69 with an MSRP of $5077.51. The dealer cost was $4261.90, and the amount FoMoCo invoiced to Shelby Automotive was $3721.99.

The car was assigned to the company’s marketing department for use by Ray Geddes as a west coast show car, and for marketing and public relations services in Zone #1. From there, 0001 underwent some routine maintenance before being sold to the original owner, who is unknown to SAAC. At some point, the car was shipped to Australia and was converted to right hand drive around 1972-1973, as required by Australia motor vehicle regulations. In 1980, the car was purchased by Neil Morris and was featured in the November 1991 issue of Fabulous Mustangs & Exotic Fords.

Number 0001 now sits safely in Adrian and Janine’s stable of ponies, keeping company with a 1966 GT350H which the Ashton’s have owned for fifteen years.

It was originally a Royal Maroon car, but the car now shows well in a coat of Calypso

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Coral. There are currently 53,000 miles on ally driven on hot days with the top down the odometer. It draws a massive crowd at and the factory A/C blasting. If you have it, any Mustang shows it is brought to in Aus- use it! tralia. Adrian says that the car is occasion-

Winter/2012 51

–Martyn Schorr Marty Schorr has been involved with cars since the 1950s. He was in the thick of the musclecar wars in the 1960s.

As an automotive writer on Long Island, he helped provide a counter-balance to everything coming out of Southern California during that time. As the president of Performance Media, he edited magazines like Hi-Performance CARS, Speed and Supercar, Chevy Action, Vette and Custom Rodder. In the early 1980s he published the Quicksilver Supercar Series and authored a book on Buick GNX cars.

Schorr was involved with Joel Rosen of Motion Performance in Baldwin, Long Island. The company was well-known for creating niche-market big block Chevy performance cars like 427 and 454 Camaros, Novas, Chevelles and Vegas. He wrote the award-winning book, “Motion Performance – Tales of a Muscle Car Builder.” In the 1980s he ran a public relations agency which represented Buick on the East Coast for almost 20 years.

I

n April 1967, Bill Kolb and I tested America’s first real Supercar for HiPerformance CARS magazine. We dodged New York City taxis, delivery trucks and the occasional cop car, and frightened woman, children and puppies!

It was a glorious day.

Decades before there was a Z06 Corvette or a Viper, America’s first and only real Supercar was Ford’s GT40 Mark III. The year after Henry Ford II and a trio of GT40s pulled the hat trick at Le Mans, finishing 1-2-3 and kicking Enzo Ferrari’s ass back to Maranello, Ford looked for a repeat performance on the street. Enter the GT40 Mark III, a more streetable version of the GT40 than the streetified GT40s built to satisfy FIA 50-car homologation rules.

Back in the day, you had to have impressive media cred to get seat time in a GT40 Mark III. While as a magazine editor

The SHELBY AMERICAN

More recently, Schorr moved to Sarasota, Florida and presently works as a consultant in public relations, marketing and advertising. He is active with an automotive blog and website called carguyschronicles.com A couple of years ago Schorr contacted us when he was researching his book on Motion Performance. He was looking for details on the two Cobras that Joel Rosen drag raced in the 1960s. Believe it or not, we have never been able to determine the serial number of the small block [pictured above]. We exchanged emails with Rosen and he recalled buying the car from a disc I enjoyed a great relationship with Ford and a few years earlier had flown to Nice, France and on to Monaco to drive (a 1963 1/2 427/425 horsepower Galaxie, and a 289/271 horsepower Fairlane and Falcon) a section of the legendary Monte Carlo Rallye route through the Alps. CARS wasn’t a Car and Driver or Road & Track.

Even though we dined with Henry Ford II and were received by Princess Grace and Prince Rainier at their Palace, our circulation didn’t warrant the keys to a GT40!

Fortunately my friend Bill Kolb, then high-performance sales manager at Ford’s factory store in Manhattan, Gotham Ford, had a beautiful, blue GT40 Mark III prototype on the showroom floor. It was a Fordowned prototype. Bill, a successful drag racer and one of the top Shelby Mustang and Cobra sales guys in the country, didn’t have any problems sharing its keys with me!

jockey who tired of the hassle of driving it on the streets of Manhattan. Rosen was not able to locate any paperwork with the car’s serial number on it.

Schorr’s close involvement with GM cars always caused us to view him out of the corner of our eye, with one eyebrow raised. It seemed to us that, early on, he had been seized by the Dark Side. However, a recent email from him advised us, with no small amount of pride, that he had just purchased a 2006 Tungsten Ford GT to neutralize the C6 Corvette sitting in his garage. Our guess is that the C6 just became a low-mileage show car.

The Ford GT prompted Schorr to go back into his archives and reprise a story that was originally printed in the July 1967 issue of Hi-Performance CARS magazine for his blog. We asked him if we could use it for an article in The Shelby American. Now a SAAC member, he was only too happy to share it with is. – Ed.

July 1967

Winter 2012 52

The 1967 Mark III, unlike the version Ford tried and failed to sell the year before [the Mk I road car], passed Federal regulations (headlamp placement and ground clearance). Kolb was ready to take orders at around $18,500 to $20,000. Since you could buy a current model Ferrari, Maserati or Lamborghini for less, finding buyers for a Mark III proved to be an exercise in futility. Who could have ever anticipated that one day a Mark III would be valued at a million dollars? NOTE: The Ford Division executive I spoke with after driving the Mark III prototype valued it at $70,000. Chump change by today’s standards!

Bill and I spent the morning driving the Mark III around Manhattan, and then headed to Randall’s Island for a photo shoot. The Mark III had a 306-horsepower Shelby 289 and ZF 5DS-25 five-speed transaxle with 2.50-to-1 final gearing. It was obviously best suited for the Autobahn and not driving in traffic on Manhattan’s First Avenue!

He drove while I photographed gawking pedestrians and drivers and an irate toll taker on the Triborough Bridge who was not happy waiting while Bill tried to slip his hand through the tilt-out side window, then finally opened the door to pay the toll. I drove back after the photo shoot.

Here are some of my notes from that day: “It was a beautiful spring day and I was cruising along the sun-drenched FDR Drive, playing hero driver in a 175-mph GT40 in midday traffic. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

“Incredible throttle response as long as I keep the Rs up. Braking and handling, superb, like driving a fully sorted-out race

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 53

car on the street. A little scary.”

“That red warning light on the dash means I have to turn on the electric cooling fans, lots to think about when driving a GT40 in traffic. Small outside mirrors do very little.”

“I think I’m in love. No, lust!”

Driving back to Manhattan, I took the FDR Drive and got off in the 60s to play in traffic before returning to Gotham Ford.

“Hey, don’t you think it’s time to slow down?” barked my co-pilot. “I think you’re getting carried away.”

Kolb, who normally treated every red traffic light like a drag strip Christmas Tree, was not happy. His knuckles were turning a lovely shade of white! “Why? ” “Mainly because you’ve been darting in and out of traffic at just under 105 mph for the last three or four minutes and we’re going to get nailed. Or worse!”

There’s nothing like a dose of reality to screw up your whole day. I knew I was speeding, maybe 25 or 30 mph over the 40mph limit, but it didn’t feel like 100-plus mph. The GT40 Mark III proved that it’s a race car in street duds and race cars like to run.

“At 100 mph, the 306-horsepower Shelby 289 just loafs along in Third gear.

You tend to forget just how fast you are going, as the low semi-reclining driving position minimizes the feeling of speed,” CARS, July 1967, “The Only Way to Fly.” With its wide carpeted sills and doors that contain sections of the roof, getting in and out of the Mark III is not a pretty sight! It’s eight-inch (rear) body extension, needed to make room for a stowage box (trunk) south of the engine, unfortunately takes away from the lines of the stunning GT40 race car. Extremely limited visibility, approximately five inches of ground clearance, and windows that tilt open rather than roll down did little for the Mark III’s marketing appeal.

By comparison, the GTs from Italy— Ferraris and Lamborghinis—were less race car and more GT, cheaper and considerably easier to live with. Unlike the competition, the Mark III was a 2,500-pound race car with 45/55% F/R weight distribution and basic street amenities. However, there were few Ford dealers in the country that could service a Mark III. Ford’s Don Frey, a key engineer in the development of the Mustang and later, as head of Ford Division, was a big supporter of the GT40 and all motorsports activities.

He campaigned for a roadworthy GT40 to support the racing program and to serve as a halo car for the Ford brand. The FirstGen street GT40 was a thinly disguised

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Gotham’s performance sales manager Bill Kolb shows the MK III’s luggage compartment, an aluminum box mounted aft of the rear suspension. This is why a unique, lengthened rear tail section was required. There wasn’t a lot of room and because it sat near the mufflers whatever you put in there was guaranteed to get warm. Forget about packing a box of chocolates.

Winter 2012 54

race car with up-level interior and detuned GT40 289 fitted with Webers, mild cam and mufflered exhausts. Air conditioning was an option. Only seven were built and sold at a tick over $15,000.

In 1967, Ford Advanced Vehicles contracted with John Wyer and his partner, John Willment (JW Automotive Engineering) to create a street version of the GT40, a real road-going GT. Wyer, a Brit who had headed up Ford Advanced Vehicles along with Roy Lunn, were the Godfathers of the GT40 race car. Lola’s Eric Broadly was responsible for the Ford GT, the GT40’s predecessor. The GT40’s platform traces its roots to Lola.

By then, JW Automotive Engineering had taken control of the Ford Advanced Vehicle Operation in Slough, UK. Dubbed the GT40 Mark III, it was to be powered by a 306-horsepower 289 small-block with a single four-barrel carburetor; very similar to the engine used in the 1965-1966 Shelby GT-350 Mustangs.

It should be noted that Wyer Ltd., in the UK, also continued to construct roadgoing Mark I GT40s, built off real GT40 race cars. Those cars showcased the stunning lines of the original GT40. They did not have the Mark III styling updates and extended rear body. The Mark I had a 335horsepower detuned GT40 race engine and appealed primarily to enthusiasts who wanted a real GT40 they could drive on the street.

The Mark III marketed in the U.S. was fitted with a more comfortable interior, with the shifter mounted on a center console, a rear-mounted stowage box for small items, and was engineered to meet all 1967 Federal regulations. Priced at $18,500, or close to $2,000 more than Ford priced a GT40 race car to teams, production was to be limited to just 20 units. As best as we can determine, only seven were actually built (4 LHD cars and 3 RHD cars). Shelby American was named the U.S. GT40 street car distributor and Carroll Shelby personally delivered an air-conditioned RHD GT40 Mark I street car built off the race car platform, at approximately $20,000, to David Heerensperger of Spokane, Washington [pictured below].

This car is currently owned by Colin Comer of Colin’s Classic Auto in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Unlike the streetified GT40 race cars, the Mark III had somewhat quieter exhausts, legal road lighting, more ground clearance, and an eight-inch rear extension to make room for the “luggage” box. Windows did not roll down and interior ventilation was less than desirable.

Unfortunately, the Mark III inherited the GT40 race car’s wide sills which held the fuel cells. They made the interior cramped as well as entry and exit difficult. It was a street-legal race car and creature comforts were sacrificed.

There were a lot of people at Ford who

were not happy with the fit and finish quality of the JWA cars and did not commit to ongoing Mark III development and marketing programs. Ford kept a number of “prototype” Mark IIIs for press drives, auto shows, executive loans and dealer promotions. Those cars, including the one we drove, had vins and were legal for road use and sale. Ford engineers saw the writing on the wall and knew that the Mark IIIs would not meet 1968 emission and safety standards. By the end of 1967, those Mark IIIs were disposed of. It is not clear exactly how many Mark IIIs were owned

by Ford. I remember in the late-1960s, seeing a Mark III that Edsel Ford, son of Henry Ford II and currently a Board member of the Ford Motor Company, was driving when he spent time in the Hamptons.

It had been parked under a cover in Ford’s New York executive garage (58th Street and 11th Avenue) where they also kept media test cars.

It’s interesting to note that when Ford brought back the GT40 Mark III concept as the Ford GT in 2005-2006, they got rid of the wide sills, engineered—at great expense—power roll down windows and kept much of the original GT40’s beautifullyproportioned styling. It has more horsepower and is actually faster than a Mark III and just about as fast as a GT40 race car. And, air conditioning is standard!

Today “real” GT40 Mark IIIs are million-dollar-cars and rarely come up for sale. There are continuation, replica, turnkey and GT40 kit cars from ERA, Safir, Superformance and others. Lee Holman, son This is one of the few GT40 road cars sold by Shelby American. As unique as the cars of John Holman, legendary Ford race car were, not many buyers were willing to pay the price of two Cobras. PR photos were builder and racing team owner (Holmantaken of Carroll Shelby presenting the keys to the buyer, Dr. David Heerensperger. The Moody) whose GT40s raced at Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring, is building arguably car’s 40-inch height is evident. The car was serial # P/1043.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 55

the most authentic GT40s (the Holman GT MK II).

Shortly after we tested the Mark III in 1967, Bill Kolb called and asked if I wanted to buy one. Ford wanted little to do with the Mark III. They had three cars in a warehouse in Secaucus, NJ and offered Kolb a three-car package deal. The cars were not perfect. There were some scratches, bruises, flat tires and bent Borrani wire wheels, etc. But they all ran and were complete.

“Marty, Ford offered me the Mark IIIs that had been used for auto shows, dealer promotions and advertising for $3,500 each. Are you in?”

I was almost finished building a Shelby-powered street roadster that a few months later would debut at the New York City Rod & Custom Show at the Coliseum in Manhattan (and would take First in class). While I had fallen in lust with the GT40 Mark III, I figured down the road they would be just used cars and affordable. I passed. Bill passed as well. We were unquestionably dumb and dumber!

Bill Kolb and I are still friends and whenever we get together we joke about the Mark IIIs that got away. Today Bill and his wife Maryann own Bill Kolb Jr. Subaru in Orangeburg, New York, one of the most successful Subaru dealerships on the East Coast. They also own a 2006 Tungsten

Ralph Brass of Fairfield, New Jersey and repainted yellow. In 2004 it was purchased by exotic car dealer Nick Soprano of White Plains, New York. In 2005 it was sold and shipped to England where it was restored to MK I FIA race specifications and converted to right-hand drive. It was comEpilogue.

The car tested for the Hi-Performance pleted in January of 2006 and received FIA CARS magazine was chassis # M/3 1101 certification making it eligible to vintage and was actually was the prototype for the race in Europe. series. Ownership was transferred to Ford Motor Co. on 4/1/1967. Records actually show that this car was the 1967 New York Auto Show car and was, according to Ford records, “placed in the hands of Bill Kolb Jr., whose Gotham Ford in NYC was one of the dealerships appointed for distribution of the vehicle.”

After we had it, it was used for promotional work by Ford and then in 1968 it was shipped back to John Wyer in the UK to be brought up to Mark III production specs. After being shipped back to Ford, it was involved in a bizarre accident where another GT40 MK III (#1106) was dropped on top of it and its roof was flattened. Because damage was so serious it was shipped to Kar Kraft and stored until they were given the ok to rebuild it. Upon completion it was sold to Prosser Mellon of the Gulf Oil family, who rarely drove it. It was later sold to Vintage Car Store in Nyack, New York. In 1978 it was purchased by Ford GT. In 2006 Ford introduced a new GT color, Tungsten with silver stripes, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the GT40 1-2-3 win at Le Mans. As far as Kolb is concerned, he has a very streetable GT40!

I went to Gotham Ford to meet Bill and drive the Mark III. There was a leftover white ‘66 Shelby GT350 Mustang in the showroom.

Photos by Martyn Schorr.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 56

How else would you describe SAAC member Paul House’s consuming passion to build a model of every car that Ken Miles ever raced?

— Details and Photos by Paul House

We’ve all seen model collections built around a theme: maybe the four cars that were in the Cobra Caravan, or the starting grid of GT40s at LeMans in 1966. But you’ve never seen anything like this!

When I was a teenager, about thirty years ago, my parents and I would visit my grandparents every week.

My uncle Richard was living with them at that time, and he was a car guy.

He had built a hot rod of his own, and a custom car he built had been featured in a British magazine called Custom Car. On one of their visits, my uncle told me about a sports car called an AC Cobra. This car, he said, held the record for fastest acceleration and stopping, and was featured in the ‘Guinness Book of Records.’ On that same visit my uncle gave me an unmade model of a Cobra produced by a company called Frog. I was hooked.

Later that year I was walking down a main road near where I live and heard the distinct sound of a V8. I turned around and it was a 289 Cobra. It was dirty and the flimsy top was up because it was raining.

This was about 1980, and from that moment on I decided to collect Cobra models.

I began collecting books on Cobras and frequently attended classic car shows and the AC Owners Club event days. I discovered that Brighton held a speed trial event once a year, so I became a frequent spectator at these events, too. The books and magazines I was collecting had pictures and articles not only of the cars but also of the drivers and I became interested in them: Phil Hill, Dave MacDonald, Bob Bondurant, Dan Gurney and, in particular.

Ken Miles. Maybe it was because of the many Cobra victories he had. And maybe it was because I loved the specials he had built before his Cobra days. He seemed to be a very interesting—and cool—guy. Most SAAC members know about the massive input he had at Shelby American. There were others, of course, like Peter Brock and Phil Remington, but Miles could do it all.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

1

4 Troutman & Barnes Special. Raced in 1954.

Placed 1st in Torrey Pines main event, 7/3/54.

1/32 scale; scratch-built using a Revell slot car chassis. Approx. 35 hours.

Elektron Nash. Raced 1949-1950. 1st in over 3000 class, Prescott, U.K. 5/22/49. 1/32 scale; slot car scratch-built utilizing a Penelope Pit Lane chassis and wheels. Approx. 60 hours.

5

2

Triangle Special. Raced in 1950. 1/32 scale; scratch-built using Penelope Pit Lane wheels.

Approx. 60 hours.

MG R2. Raced in 1955. multiple under 1500cc winner. 1/24 scale; scratch-built using parts from the spares box. Approx. 60 hours.

6

3 MG R1. Raced in 1953-54. Multiple winner in the 1500cc class. 1/32 scale; scratch-built using parts from the spares box. Approx. 50 hours.

MG EX182. Raced in 1955. Finished 12th at LeMans; co-driven by J. Lockett.1/43 scale diecast

by Bizarre Models.

Winter 2012 57

My friend in the States, Jim Sitz, knew Ken Miles in the 1950s and shared with me his memories of Ken’s racing exploits. He told me about the MG specials which Miles built and raced with much success. My model collection, today, has expanded somewhat from AC/Shelby/Cobras to models of the early cars Ken Miles built and/or raced. In researching his racing career, I found that he raced a wide variety of cars, some of which were not available as scale models. This resulted in a small portion of my models being scratch-built or created from modifying available kits.

There are four models in my collection that had to be scratch-built: the Elektron Nash, Dolphin International, Triangle Special and the Troutman and Barnes Special. To build these cars involved many hours of research and even contacting owners to get correct measurements in order to scale them down to make the carved shapes out of a special wood (called Jelutong). I wasn’t skilled at this but I just “went for it.” A model-making friend casts my wooden bucks into resin and then the fun begins.

Once the bucks are returned, I cut, file and sand them for many hours to get the correct shape. It is a long process but one I find very satisfying. Other models in my collection have simply been assembled or modified but the scratch-building is a lot different. I have been building models, on and off, for 31 years now. I’m not prolific, and I’m only going to add models that appeal to me. Next on my list will be the Cobra Daytona Coupe prototype that Miles tested at Riverside in 1964.

8

Maserati 150s. Raced in 1955. 1st class at Palm Springs 12/3/55. 1/43 scale; Grani & Partners diecast; repainted and modified. Approx. 15 hours.

12

Porsche RS550. Raced in 1959-60. Multiple winner. 1/43 scale; Precision Miniatures white metal kit. Approx. 10 hours.

13

9 Porsche-Cooper R3. Raced in 1956-57. Multiple class winner. This car was affectionally called the “Pooper.” 1/32 scale; modified resin A.A. slot body with Monogram wheels. Approx. 40 hours.

Dolphin International. Raced in 1961. 1/32 scale; scratch-built with Penelope Pit Lane wheels. Approx. 50 hours.

14

10

7 Ferrari 250 SWB. Raced in 1962. 1st at Riverside and Pomona. 1/43 scale; Italeri model, repainted and decaled. Approx. 5 hours.

Talbot Lago G.P. Raced in 1958. 1/32 scale; scratch-built body built by a friend, then built up and detailed. Approx. 20 hours.

15

11 MGA. Raced in 1955. Placed 4th in class at Torrey Pines 6-Hour race, 10/22/55; co-driven with Cy Yedor. 1/32 scale plastic kit by Lindberg.

Slightly modified and decaled. Scratch-built using parts from the spares box. Approx. 6 hours.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Jaguar D Type. Raced in 1958. 1st overall at Pomona 11/22/58; co-driven with C. Blackwell.

1/24 scale; modified Resilient Resins body. Approx. 20 hours.

Maserati Tipo 61. Raced in 1962. 1/32 scale; A.A. bodies with Pendle slot chassis. Approx. 25 hours.

Winter 2012 58

16

260 Cobra. Raced in 1963; Miles’ first Shelby American drive. 1/24 scale; kit by Frog with Fred Cady decals. Approx. 15 hours.

17

Dolphin America. Raced in 1963. 1/32 scale; scratch-built using a Strombecker Lotus 19 body and Monogram Cooper-Ford front body section, and Penelope Pit Lane wheels. Approx. 40 hours.

18 King Cobra. Raced in 1964. 1/32 scale; slightly modified Monogram slot car. Approx. 15 hours.

Paul is English. He is a 45 year-old family man and says that his hobby takes up a lot 19 of his time, when he’s not driving a truck for Royal Mail. He also enjoys listening to music, so he is not one-dimensional. He also enjoys reading 1950s and 1960s racing history related books. His son also shares his passion for motor racing and has become an excellent photographer at race events. The Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Goodwood Revival meets have provided him with a terrific opportunity to meet some of his racing heroes, such as Carroll Shelby and John Morton.

His wife encourages his hobby but she sometimes gets a little miffed by the paint and glue fumes emanating from the kitchen table. Word has it that she is pressuring Paul to build a small workshop at the edge of the garden in the rear of the 427 Cobra lightweight “Flip Top.” Raced 1964 at Nassau Speed Week 12/64. 1/43 scale; Marsh house. But then she might never see him! Models resin kit. Approx. 20 hours.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 59

20

21

Porsche 906 Carrera. Raced in 1966. 1/24 scale; plastic kit by ARII. Approx. 7 hours.

22

427 Cobras. “The Turd” 427 prototype (#1) raced in 1964 at Sebring, co-driven by John Morton.

1/24 scale Monogram kit with slightly modified nose and bonnet. Approx. 12 hours. 427 Coil Spring prototype CSX3002 (#98) raced in 1965 in Australia, Riverside and Candlestick Park (driven by Phil Hill). built with 289 nose and forward-braced roll bar. 1/24 scale; plastic kit by Monogram with modified oil cooler intake. Approx. 15 hours.

Ford GT40 MK II. Raced in 1966 at LeMans in the April test session. 1/43 scale; diecast model

by Delprado, repainted with correct graphics Approx. 4 hours.

The To-Do List. Paul started his Miles Collection chronologically (which is the way the models are numbered). He’s not finished, by a long shot.

These cars are all on the to-do list. He promises to keep us posted. You can contact Paul at pdhse@aol.com

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 60

Notes from the

– Cana Comer

Continuing with our Cobra theme for this issue, we asked Cana Comer to provide some do’s and don’ts for riding in a Cobra. She has participated with husband Colin in a bunch of 1,000-mile Cobra rallys, as both passenger and driver. She continues to accompany him, so she must have learned enough, over the years, to keep from becoming a stay-at-home “Cobra widow.”

Before being initiated into the Cobra passenger club, there are a couple things to consider. First, your hair will be destroyed. So, if the thought of a snarl-ridden, Don King hairstyle has you running to the phone to schedule a post-Cobra ride appointment with your stylist, don’t ride in a Cobra. Second, if your idea of climate control doesn’t include sweltering hot conditions due to the sun beating on you along with the 10,000 degrees radiating from the headers through the foot boxes, or watching your breath freeze and seeing your fingers turn purple because the temperature has dropped and there’s no top, then don’t ride in a Cobra.

If these words haven’t painted an unpleasant enough picture to cause you to change your mind, then proceed with caution, and keep in mind the following when riding in a Cobra.

• Just because there is no exterior door handle, it does not mean you can go all Dukes of Hazard-style, throw a leg over the door and jump in. The door latch is located on the inside of the door and easily accessed by reaching your hand into the car. The latch has a little chrome lever on it. Use it. Note: I did not say pull on the leather strap that may be attached to the chrome lever. They break. Think of that leather strap as decorative bath soap.

Want a right seat in the fastest thing on four wheels? Pay attention.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Pretty too look at, but not intended for actual use.

• It has already been established that your hair is not going to survive unscathed, but it is in your best interest to try and protect you locks, nevertheless. You have a few options. A floppy bucket-hat with an under-the-chin drawstring, a hoodie, or a scarf over a baseball cap are all good choices. You’re taking chances with any hat with a stiff brim. One wind gust and it will be gone. Side note: if you’ve been wanting to get rid of a certain smelly, sweat stained, aesthetically unpleasing baseball cap, this is the perfect opportunity to borrow said hat.

Attire: acceptable. Leaning on the car is not.

Winter 2012 61

Dress for the occasion. This factory photo was used for the 427 Cobra post card that was given away by dealers in 1966. The model was, obviously, not going anywhere. She probably arrived in a Lincoln, had someone do her make-up and hair, and sat still for the shoot.

A thousand-mile rally around Montana is no photo shoot. But judging by the mile-wide smile on this co-driver, it is fun. Part of the fun comes from the appreciation of being in a Cobra—something that very few people get to experience. Photo by Will Brewster.

• The same goes for a map. Hold on • It’s hot. It’s cold. Wear layers and scarves—not sweaters, jackets or duffel tight because one gust of wind and it’s add or remove as needed. bag sized purses. Any available space will gone. And we all know there’s no stopping • There is very limited storage space be full of spare parts, carburetor jet assortfor directions. in a Cobra. Door pockets are for gloves and ments, bottles of octane booster and tools.

A thousand-mile drive through twisty mountain roads does not allow for many glamour shot opportunities. So it’s best to capitalize when you can, like the last thousand feet before the flag drops. CSX2230.

Tom and Sharon Malloy in CSX2512. Photo by Will Brewster.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

A few lunch-time parade laps at a race track provides a good opportunity to acclimate yourself. You’re not committed to six or eight hours in the car, but you can still get a taste of what the cockpit turbulence feels like and diminished communication.CSX2230.

CSX3134. Photo by Will Brewster.

Winter 2012 62

• Some Cobras have side pipes. Side pipes get hot. You will burn your leg. You’ve been warned, but it will still happen. They have “Push Presents” these days, so why not a “Burn Bonus” to ease the pain? Just a thought, guys. The burns are temporary; the scars are forever.

• Wearing sun block to combat sunburn will result in a film of road grime and bugs. Choose your battles.

• Let’s talk about aluminum and what that means to you. Do not lean, sit, rest, or push against a Cobra anywhere that is body color; it will dent. When getting in, do not hit the rocker panel with your shoes; it will dent. Don’t use anything shiny to support your weight; it will dent. It’s aluminum. It will dent. Think about stepping on an empty soda can. You can do that to your Cobra if you aren’t careful.

• The word windshield is deceiving.

Wind is accurate; shield is not. It will behoove you to bring eye protection.

• You will not have any heartfelt conversations in a Cobra. In fact, don’t plan to talk at all. It’s loud and you’ll be heard even less than under normal conditions.

Don’t let that contemplative expression of his fool you; he’s just hoping the water

temperature gauge is broken.

• If you ever want to be allowed back in the passenger seat, don’t complain about the noise, heat, cold, and general absence of creature comforts. Instead, come prepared and encourage the use of the throttle. It won’t take long to figure out why people love Cobras.

inanimate object more than you. Sorry, it’s true. But better a car than another woman.

• Do not let him watch any You Tube videos involving women and Cobras. He just doesn’t need to see his worst nightmare playing out in front of him on a television or computer screen when the car is driven into a tree, sign or rock wall. Even if it is someone else’s car.

• If your relationship is new, capitalize on the fact that he’s still trying to, ahem, “impress” you and his judgment is clouded When he is behind the wheel it is clear by lust. Therefore, he’s more willing to do that he is thoroughly enjoying himself. At anything you ask. some point you will find yourself wonder• If you’ve been together for a while, ing what that’s all about. You know the the best advice is, good luck. You probably saying about Hell and freezing, right? know better how to get what you want Well, if you’re determined, and by keeping than I do. the following in mind, your chances of • Promise to leave him if anything being offered the wheel might increase happens. If nothing else, it will be for your from zero to 10 or 12 percent—if you play own good. your cards right.

• If all this works and you get behind • You haven’t been grumbling or the steering wheel, send me an email. I’ll whining, have you? If you haven’t been probably have to start a new article for complaining about riding, he can’t use that men needing advice on how to get their against you as a reason not to let you ladies out of the driver’s seat. cana.comer@gmail.com drive.

• Accept the fact that he loves an

Getting Behind the Wheel

The minute you get behind the wheel you forget you even have hair. And you don’t feel any of those bugs committing suicide against your face. Your feet are dancing on those pedals. Suddenly you have an epiphany. You get it! After a few tentative miles you loosen up and feel like you’ve been driving this car all your life. The glass is half-full side of your emotions makes you smile wider with every mile that rolls over on the odometer. But the half-empty side has you thinking that each mile that ticks off means you’re one mile closer to having to give up the wheel. Hopefully, not for long! CSX3134 top; CSX2230 below.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 63

A

Why haven’t they made a movie about Zach yet?

Hollywood screenwriter would have to work hard to embellish this story.

It starts with Richard Joshua Reynolds, a tobacco farmer living in the hills of Southern Virginia after the Civil War (otherwise known as The War of Northern Aggression). He moved to Winston, North Carolina and had the idea to market chewing tobacco in a small metal tin. He put a picture of Prince Albert on the can and the product took off. Two things resulted: one was the classic prank phone call made by adolescents to stores selling tobacco. “Do you have Prince Albert in a can? Well, let him out!” The second was that R.J. Reynolds became very, very wealthy. A few years later he invested in the first cigarette rolling machine. When Ringling Brothers’ circus came to town, he took a picture of “Old Joe,” their famous camel.

He used the picture on a new brand of Turkish blend cigarettes and “Camel” became an overnight icon. A hundred years later it is still an instantly recognizable brand.

R.J. Reynolds became one of the wealthiest men in the world. He got married when he was 50, to a cousin half his age. They had four children.

He built a 60-room mansion outside of Winston-Salem, North Carolina that was completed in 1918. He died a few months after it was finished. His wife remarried and subsequently died during childbirth, leaving the four children orphans. Very rich orphans, with million dollar trust funds and little adult supervision. With no limits on their behavior but virtually unlimited bank accounts, they quickly became the hellions of the roaring twenties.

The oldest son, R. J. “Dick” Reynolds, Jr. moved to New York City where he proceeded to spend most of his time in nightclubs, driving swanky cars and running a flying business that catered mostly to Mafia bootleggers. He traveled around Europe accompanied by actresses and

The SHELBY AMERICAN

– Rick Kopec playgirls and, at one point, made national headlines by staging his own disappearance because he was bored.

After getting all this out of his system Dick returned to Winston-Salem expecting to step into the family business. Although he was the largest shareholder, he was shut out of the R.J. Reynolds boardroom.

He married a local society girl and settled down to a quiet family life. They had four sons. The third was named Zachary, after Dick’s brother Z. Smith Reynolds, who died under mysterious circumstances in 1932.

Smith had also demonstrated a wild streak, and fancied himself as an aviator.

His pilot’s license was signed by Orville Wright, himself, and the Winston-Salem airport was later named after him. After Smith’s marriage failed he took up with a Broadway star and sex kitten, and married

her. To prove his love, he went on an around-the-world solo flight in his amphibious plane. It turned out to be something of a traumatic adventure which included several emergency landings in

underdeveloped countries. After returning home he was found dead a year later with a gunshot wound in the head. The coroner declared it a suicide but evidence pointed to his wife as the shooter. The story was in all of the newspapers and became the inspiration for the 1935 William Powell-Jean Harlowe movie, “Reckless.”

Dick Reynolds began taking his role of husband and father seriously. He soon became one of the pillars of the community and was elected mayor of Winston-Salem when Zach was 3 years old. He was a big supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and became the treasurer of the Democratic National Party. When WWII broke out he joined the U.S. Navy and served on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific as a navigator. When he got back to the U.S. he stopped off in California and had an affair with a Hollywood starlet and pinup model. After returning home to Winston-Salem, he informed his wife that their marriage was over and she would have to raise their four sons on her own.

The two oldest boys had gone away to exclusive private schools but Zach’s mother insisted that he and his younger brother attend local schools with the mountain kids. The expansive grounds of their 12,000 acre family estate provided the perfect setting for unsupervised Zach. By the time he was 9 he was criss-crossing the property on motorcycles. He rode Harleys and Triumphs to school and formed a motorcycle gang. He also raced motorcycles, winning the 1955 and 1956 state scrambles. He rarely missed the opportunity to race at the local drag strip and was well known around a local burger joint for street racing.

One high school friend recalled, “I remember Zach fondly. He had some things the rest of us didn’t have, but then most of us had some things he

Winter 2012 64

didn’t have, such as two parents at home.” came obsessed with it. He had a 300-foot the cars that made him a local legend: a Both of Zach’s parents disapproved of tower built on his property and filled two black 1964 Ford Galaxie. his high speed exploits, but there wasn’t rooms with the latest equipment. Not Zach Reynolds became a pied piper for much they could do to deter him. He rarely happy with standard hardware, he juiced the local kids. They were always visiting saw his father, who had remarried and was things up and was soon broadcasting at and it seemed like he was always showing living on a private island. His mother in- such high power that his radio signals in- them his newest motorcycle or car. He was structed the local police to keep him in jail terfered with commercial radio stations in good-hearted and often paid them to wash overnight when they apprehended him for the area. It wasn’t long before he got the his cars; something which they would have speeding. When he had his driver’s license first of what would become many visits certainly done for free. His money was not revoked, he discovered that North Car- from Federal Communications Commis- something he flaunted. It was just there, olina law allowed the operation of farm sion investigators. Soon they were on a to be used whenever he needed it. When tractors without a license. So he simply first-name basis. one of his friends’ cars would be sidelined modified one he had so it would do 60 mph.

When his injuries had healed he with a blown tire, he would buy a new one Zach loved mechanical things and was began seriously racing motorcycles once without any fanfare. It was hard for those intent on studying engineering followwho knew him not to like him. ing high school. However, his mother His search for thrills and excite“ When I was barely old enough to insisted on his attending Wake Forest ment led him to street racing. Anyone drive he let me take his 421 University, which did not offer an engiimmersed in the car culture knows neering program. In frustration, he Catalina out. I guess the best way where the hot cars in their town hang dropped out of college in 1958 and en- to explain it is that when we were out and where the nearest strait listed in the U.S. Navy. It would be the stretch of asphalt is to race on. An orfirst and only job for which he received 10, Zach was 14; when we were 19, ganized drag strip doesn’t appeal to a paycheck in his entire life. He was everyone because of its regimentation, Zach was still 14.” stationed at the Virginia naval yard rules and safety requirements. Street —Will Spencer, and, for the first time, had a taste of racers think this takes a lot of the a friend who lived near Zach. discipline. His mechanical ability enspontaneity and fun out of racing. On abled him to hide his monied promithe street, you show up where the cars nency. He told shipmates he was a hillbilly again, buying the best equipment and are—usually a burger joint or a parking moonshiner and he was convincing, until going to Europe. In 1964 Zach raced at the lot. You look the cars over and size up the one day his father showed up on base for a famous Isle of Mann TT and at LeMans. competition. You pick a competitor, show visit in a Rolls Royce.

He came very close to winning his class in an attitude and issue a challenge. In the While he was in the Navy, Zach mar- the TT but took a wrong turn at one of the animal world, when two males assert their ried his fiancee. He was 21. His father used traffic circles. He then spent some time dominance over the same territory, if they the occasion to disown him and his broth- partying with British rock stars like the could drive they would drag race. ers. This had little financial impact be- Beatles and the Who. When he returned It doesn’t take long for the two cars to cause he was still the recipient of a from Europe, his wife was able to convince be started, their engines revved like two number of family trusts. He began collect- him to give up his thrill-seeking behavior. snorting rams ready to face off and butt ing high performance sports cars, prefer- He agreed to stop buying motorcycles and horns. In a matter of seconds, the place ring Jaguars, and resumed competing in sports cars and bought a four-door family clears out: spectators know where the motorcycle racing. In 1961 a road racing sedan. But he found a loophole. He loaded makeshift drag strip is. They line the sides accident put him in the hospital and while the Pontiac Catalina with a 421 Super of the road or park on a bridge over the he was recuperating he ordered a ham Duty engine and a four-speed transmis- highway. The two cars rumble up to an inradio to combat boredom. He quickly be- sion. This car would be followed by one of visible line, someone performs the “starting” sequence (usually a local tradition: a flashlight being snapped on, a rag dropped or waved as a flag).

There is an immediate climbing roar of exhausts, accompanied by spinning rear wheels, screeching tires and if there’s enough horsepower, smoke boiling out of the rear wheel wells. The cars launch and after being suspended in time for a half a heartbeat, they fly down the road, accumulating speed as they race side by side to a “finish line” which is more or less a quarter of a mile away. After the race, everyone drives back to the parking lot or burger place and they relive the spectacle as the winner and loser size each other up. Often the loser will spend the next few days or weeks trying to make his car faster so he can come back and get a return match.

When you have pretty much unlimited funds, you are only limited by your imagi-

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 65

The “Tobacco King” created a stunning visual statement. The body was stock but the car was raised on its suspension so the rear end, brackets and other reinforcements would not create clearance problems. Rear leaf spring connectors and hefty ladder-bars held the rear end’s rocket engine in place. Reynolds, being something of a showman, added a drag chute to the rear bumper after he discovered the brakes were inadequate. Black American five-spoke Torque Thrust wheels were installed up front; in the rear huge slicks were mounted on eight-lug magnesium sprint car wheels. The otherwise stock interior had a full compliment of gauges to keep an eye on the Turbonique, a large Sun tachometer was mounted near the center of the dash and, of course, Zach’s ham radio was mounted under the dash. In 1966, after about 3,500 street miles, the car was driven into Reynolds’ cavernous garage and put into storage. In May 2008 it was run through the Mecom spring auction in Indianapolis and was sold for $375,000. It would be an understatement to say that this car was, probably, the ultimate street racer.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 66

nation. After the Pontiac Catalina, Zach wanted something faster, but also felt the need to make a much more outrageous statement. He bought a Raven Black 1964 Galaxie and immediately yanked the 390 engine, replacing it with a 425-horsepower 427. He installed a Latham axial flow supercharger, fed by a pair Stromberg sidedraft carburetors on each side. When he opened the hood people’s jaws would drop.

It was a rare piece in hot rod circles.

More was always better for Zach. He saw an ad in a hot rod magazine for something called a “Rocket Drag Axle” made by Turbonique, a company in Orlando, Florida. It was, essentially, a rocket engine attached to the center section of the rear end. The unit weighed only 130 pounds and generated 1,000 horsepower at the touch of a button. The turbine turned at 60,000 rpm. It burned a pressurized mixture of Thermolene, nitrogen and oxygen, held in three separate tanks in the trunk.

The insane speed of the turbine’s output shaft was moderated by an 8.3:1 reduction gearbox that fed to a quick-change rear end. Only a handful of exhibition cars—the drag racing equivalent of daredevils— drove cars equipped with Turboniques in the mid-1960s and they were capable of quarter mile speeds in excess of 160 mph.

The company’s ads featured the “Black Widow,” a VW beetle outfitted with a Turbonique that was timed at 183 mph.

As soon as Reynolds saw the ad, he probably envisioned his Galaxie, outfitted with a Turbonique, belching a trail of flames and white smoke as it thundered down the drag strip at some ungodly

speed. What he was thinking about was creating the ultimate bad-ass street racer.

However, this wasn’t some Saturday afternoon bolt-on exercise. The car’s chassis had to be reinforced to be able to handle the enormous torque that would be created by the rear axles. Zach sent the Galaxie to Turbonique in Orlando sometime in early 1966. The project was undertaken by Hugh Whited, a Turbonique engineer. He recalled that, “the amount of detail and engineering that went into the project was incredible. It was the only street-driven Drag Axle that I know of, and Zach might be the only person with the money to make it happen.”

The first time Zach took the car, now christened the “Tobacco King,” out for a test run was at Farmington Dragway, an 1/8-mile drag strip. He ran out of brakes at the end of the strip and plowed off the track. The car required front suspension repairs and Zach installed a drag race parachute on the rear bumper. The next run was on a section of newly completed Interstate 40 outside of Winston-Salem.

Friendly police shut the highway down temporarily and Zach made a full banzai run with every kid in town on one of the overpasses, witnessing the monster car. It was estimated that the car reached over 180 mph when Reynolds shut it down. He coasted to a stop a full mile away. The “Tobacco King” was street raced for a brief period of time around Winston-Salem. Not many competitors thought they stood a chance of beating it but just seeing it run provided a memorable spectacle. He finally parked it in the huge garage on his prop-

erty with only 3,611 miles showing on the odometer. It could have been a case of overwhelming the competition so much that there was no longer any challenge. Or it could have been that he simply scared himself.

“I don’t know if anything on wheels ever truly scared Zach Reynolds,” said his childhood friend, Will Spencer. “But I saw the Galaxie in his garage when I was a kid and asked him why he didn’t drive it. He always claimed it was broke.”

After the Galaxie was parked, Zach went back on his earlier agreement with his wife and began buying high performance cars and bikes again. By the late 1960s his garage was packed with all types of sports cars, muscle cars and what some said was the largest personal collection of motorcycles in the world. Most were purchased on impulse. Except one.

In the Wild West, there was always a fastest gun. And when a new gunslinger came to town and faced off with the top man, if he was successful he was the new top man. And there was always another new gunslinger coming into town looking for him. This is the way it was with street racing. One of the top guns was the “Bounty Hunter,” Ronnie Joyner. He was from nearby Winston and over the years had established quite a reputation.

Throughout the 1960s he owned and raced a series of cars, the list of which is like something you would put together in your head to fight boredom on a long trip: a ‘58 Impala with triple carbs and three on the tree; a ‘61 Impala with a 348, three-twos and a four-speed; a ‘62 Impala SS 409

CSX3038

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 67

2x4V; a ‘63 Ford 427 Galaxie with 2x4V (purchased when he got mad at GM); ‘63, ‘64, ‘65 and ‘66 Corvettes; a ‘67 Corvette 427/435; a ‘68 427 L-88. He kept each car until he was beaten and then traded it in on the next one. The L-88 was the fastest, and it was the car Joyner kept the longest because he was never beaten. It had a 550horsepower engine and American TorqThrust mags, flared rear fenders and an in-your-face stars and stripes, red-whiteblue paint job.

Zach was intent on buying the fastest car Ford had. After a trip to Charlotte, to the Young Motor Car Company, he had it: a bright red 427 Cobra S/C had been sitting on the showroom floor. Zack would go out at night trolling, looking for cars to race. There were a number of XKEs and Ferraris around that he made short work of, as well as the usual gaggle of muscle cars. The 427 Cobra was simply unbeatable. It was only a matter of time before the two alpha male rams would butt heads.

Reynolds and Joyner were friends, and one day they decided to pair-off to see who really was faster. The Cobra was fresh from a visit to a local NASCAR shop and the “Bounty Hunter’s” engine had been rebuilt, balanced and blueprinted by Junior Johnson. The showdown was staged at the Z. Smith Reynolds Airport, which was owned by the Reynolds family. Zach had some influence there and he requested that outgoing flights be held and incoming flights be temporarily diverted. It was a classic Cobra vs. Corvette showdown. Each side brought a crowd of witnesses. In what seemed like a clap of thunder, both cars exploded off the line. Joyner recalls that the Cobra seemed like it was tied to a tree and he won the race, maintaining his “never been beaten” record. Zach’s friends remember it differently, recalling that in third gear the Cobra walked away from the Corvette. It hardly matters now.

As a postscript, Joyner blew the clutch and pressure plate in the 1980s and parked the car. It was “discovered” recently

and described (incorrectly) as a barn-find.

Joyner still owned it and knew exactly where it was. He had the top Corvette experts in the country look it over. They all agreed it was an original L-88, the Holy Grail of Corvettes. Even better, it was one of only two red-on-red L-88s built. It has been restored and in 2009 won top honors with the National Corvette Restorers Society. The following year it won the Bloomington Gold Triple Diamond Award.

Zach Reynolds’ CSX3038 was parked in his garage in the late 1960s, in the middle of the rest of his collection. When he sold it in 1976 it wasn’t because he needed the money. He had just lost interest in it.

The car was subsequently restored, painted blue with white stripes, and exhibited in the Ford Motorsports traveling display in the 1980s. Things changed. Zach let his hair grow and started wearing red jumpsuits, a black cape and carrying a skull-topped swagger stick. He had “Dr. Zach” lettered on his cars and motorcycles along with dark images of black cats, demons, skulls and the ace of spades.

It was about this time that he became interested in flying and decided to becoming a stunt pilot. He owned five planes— all painted red. His favorite was a Pitts Special bi-plane and he became a good aerobatics pilot. By 1969 he was the National Aerobatics champion. He wore red flying suits and billed himself as “The Red Baron” and “The Cigarette City Flash.” He was happy with the attention.

One of his signature stunts was flying upside-down and snagging a bandana strung between two ten-foot high poles with the tail of his plane. Almost as fast as he got into stunt flying, Zach got out. Some people who knew him said he had taken up something dangerous just to tweak his wife. As their marriage deteriorated he became more antagonistic. His free spiritedness returned and with it, a hefty dose of womanizing. He reportedly had a brief fling with Jayne Mansfield. He finally divorced his wife and shortly thereafter got married again. He remained close to his

daughter from his first marriage, the daughter of his second wife, and in 1977 he had a daughter with his current wife. He seemed to be settling down, but he his huge shop was still packed with motorcycles and muscle cars.

His wife maintains that he stopped flying because he had a premonition about dying in a plane crash. Despite celebrity pals like Keith Moon, Steve McQueen and Bob Dylan, and his flamboyant lifestyle, Zach never thought about leaving Winston-Salem. He loved that area and was once described as a “backwoods Great Gatsby.” He had a large collection of firearms and living on such an expansive piece of land, he could step outside whenever he wanted to practice his marksmanship. He was good and regularly competed in pistol competitions.

He also became a Peter Pan for many of the local kids, who were mesmerized by his legendary exploits as a daredevil and risk-taker. He enjoyed playing the role of mentor, showing them how to shoot or tearing through the back roads giving thrill rides in his Porsche or Hemi Cuda.

The combination of Zach’s local celebrity and being viewed as a hero and his dark foreboding about his early demise in an airplane intersected in September 1979.

One of his young friends had just gotten his private pilot’s license and wanted to demonstrate his flying skill to Zach.

Zach really didn’t want to go up in the plane, but he did not want to hurt the young man’s feelings. So he climbed into the plane along with two younger friends.

They never came back. About twenty minutes later the plane went down into the woods. On impact it was enveloped in a huge fireball, obliterating whatever evidence might have existed to explain the cause of the crash.

And just like that, the movie of Zach Reynolds’ life was over. He was 41, going on 20. All that was left were two wives, three daughters, a large garage packed full of cars and motorcycles, and the indellible memories of untold people who lived in the Winston-Salem area during the days of the Cigarette City Flash.

Credits: The idea for this article came from Robert Brown, who grew up in the WinstonSalem area. He suggested that Zach Reynolds and his 427 S/C might make an interesting story and started sending us emails and links to articles and pictures.

We were intrigued. Thanks also go to David Burge. His article, “The Cigarette City Flash,” in issue #18 of Garage Magazine provided most of the details we incorporated into this article. The photos are also from Burge’s Garage Magazine article.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 68

When it comes to Cobras, Lynn Park has been there and done that.

S

eldom does one person find a hobby that fits so completely into their life that the two become almost seamless.

Lynn Park certainly fits that description.

Living in Southern California in the early 1960s, he was at the very epicenter of the hot rod culture at a time when it was in the center of the automotive spotlight.

When he was in high school in 1960, his sister’s boyfriend was a “sports car guy” (as opposed to being a drag racer or a hot rodder) and he had a Lotus Elite. Like all of his friends, Lynn was drawn to drag racing. But there was something about smaller, nimble cars that could go around corners quickly that intrigued him. When he saw the first Cobra on the cover of Road & Track magazine in 1961 he could not get that car out of his mind. Something in his subconscious told him this sports car was actually a hot rod at heart. There was the link. By the time he got to college—UCLA in Los Angeles—he realized he couldn’t afford a Cobra so he bought an AC Aceca coupe and installed a small block Ford engine in, making a Cobra of his own.

“I read that magazine article a couple of times and got excited.” recalls Lynn. “I was at UCLA at the time, and I realized, ‘Hey–Venice is only about ten minutes away.’ I took a ride over there and was amazed at what I saw.”

Lynn had a part time job in sales at that time, so he was wearing a jacket and a tie when he stopped by Shelby American.

He walked into the shop and was just looking around. “At first,” he said, “the guys in the shop thought he worked in the front office.” One of the first guys he met was Jim Findlay, who was happy to show him around and answer his questions. Findlay did a little of everything in the production department, including helping to install engines and transmissions as well as some assembly work. But his primary job was to repair and paint Cobras that had been damaged during shipment from England to the U.S. They were loaded in the holds of transport ships, packed in tightly and lashed down to the deck. Crew members often walked over them to get from one

The SHELBY AMERICAN

side of the hold to the other. When the cars arrived at Shelby American in Venice, they often had body and paint damage which had to be corrected before they could be sold. Findlay also painted some of the Cobra race cars when they came back from races with the usual race damage like scuffs, dings and dents. Each time the race cars left the factory they looked brand new.

Lynn found himself going back to Shelby American again and again. It was close, it was exciting, there always seemed to be something new, and he could never get enough. He and Jim Findlay hit it off right away and they soon became good friends. Findlay worked odd hours and was there a lot of nights, and that’s mostly when Lynn made it a point to visit.

The red Aceca’s 289 engine quickly grew a set of Weber carburetors. Then Lynn met Shelby American’s parts department manager, Chuck Green. Chuck and his wife Helen (who worked at Shelby American in the accounting department) had a 289 Cobra (CSX2526) that they auto-crossed in the Southern California area. Chuck was able to install many race pieces, such as a roll bar and American five-spoke wheels (which required the fenders to be flared). This car would provide the idea for the “Slalom Snake” option. Chuck told Lynn that they had developed a new dual-quad intake for small block Cobras that worked really well. Before too long, the Aceca coupe had

dual quads. The car eventually received a Cobra suspension and brakes, Cobra wire wheels and even ran the same Goodyear Bluestreak tires that Cobras did. By the time Lynn finished with the car it was a Cobra wrapped in an Aceca Coupe’s body.

Findlay helped paint the coupe and when it was done, suggested they put a pair of fender stripes on it, just like the team cars.

It wasn’t long before Lynn combined the Aceca with his passion for drag racing, and the red coupe became a common sight at some Southern California strips. It was placed in the same class as Cobras, and Lynn won his share of races with the car.

In 1967 Uncle Sam stepped into the picture. Lynn had graduated from college, so his Uncle had a spot for him in Germany. He was able to get away on weekends to watch almost every major race, including LeMans, the Nurburgring and Hockenheim. He saw Cobras and GT40s race and that kept the fire burning until he got back home two years later. He hung up his military greens and enrolled at UCLA. He was still driving the Aceca coupe and one day, in late 1969, he was looking for some parts for a second AC he was planning to convert to 289 power.

He stopped at a shop in Burbank and when he told the owner he was planning to make an AC into a Cobra, the owner said that he had a real Cobra out in back. It had

Winter 2012 69

and although membership was open to any Cobra owner, the club attracted mostly owners from the Southern California area.

They had monthly meetings at Hi-Performance Motors and the then-young television actor Paul Petersen (“The Donna Reed Show”) was the first president. Lynn joined COCOA in late 1969 or early 1970, after he had gotten out of the service and bought what would become his first Cobra.

When the Cobra Club was formed by a couple of guys, led by Bruce Jodar in Michigan, Lynn was one of the first members from the West Coast. By that time his knowledge of Cobras, parts and where to CSX2330 go to get work done had expanded to the some damage but it was, indeed, a Cobra. scribe as restoring a car was still a few point to where he became one of the “go-to” guys when someone needed help. When a It turned out to be CSX2046. years away.

The owner said that he had been ofShelby American sponsored the Cobra Southern California get-together was fered $2,000 for the car and had turned Owners Club of America (COCOA) in 1964 being planned, Jodar would send Lynn a that down. “Would you take $2,100?” asked Lynn. The guy said that he would, so Lynn sold his Aceca coupe for $500 and borrowed $1,600 for the Cobra. It was the beginning of a lifelong relationship.

Back then, people who specialized in repairing Cobras weren’t exactly on every corner. But there were a few around. “Dave Dralle was in business back in 1967,” Lynn recalls. “That was the first time I went to him. I think I was looking for some wheels or other pieces. If Dave didn’t have something he could tell you where to get it.”

Dave Dralle is still around and is one of the best known and most experienced guys doing Cobra work on the West Coast.

Lynn was good at turning wrenches and did most of the mechanical work on his Aceca. If he had questions, he could go to Jim Findlay or Chuck Green and they were always happy to help. There’s nothing like going right to the source. By the time he began digging into his new Cobra, the actual mechanical work wasn’t that difficult. But by that time Shelby American had closed up. Their parts inventory had been purchased by Don Spillaine who opened a business called Cobra Performance in Pacheco, California. Word spread among Cobra owners, and Spillaine was often the first stop when someone was looking for parts.

In 1972 he met Mike McCluskey, who was, at that time, just beginning his business of repairing and painting Cobras.

Note that the word “restoring” was not used because it would be a few more years before Cobras were actually being re- If you showed a picture of this car, CSX2010, to most long-time SAAC members as a Rorschach stored. Prior to that time they were re- test, they would answer “Lynn Park.” As work on this car was being completed in 1981, and it was paired when things went wrong, broke or still in Mike McCluskey’s shop, Lynn decided he didn’t want another restored-to-original-specs something just wore out. Or when cars Cobra. And he wanted it to be just a little different from most other period race cars. So it got a set needed to be repainted after body damage of Daytona Coupe side pipes tucked inside the bodywork under the doors. It also received FIA cutback doors, a 427 Cobra oil cooler scoop and Daytona Coupe cooling scoops on top of the fenders. was repaired, or because the owner wanted It is powered by a healthy 289 with Gurney-Weslake heads and Weber carburetors. CSX2010 has to change the color. But what we now de- been vintage raced for over thirty years.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 70

box of Cobra Club brochures and newsletters to hand out. The Cobra Club remained active until 1975, when Jodar announced in the newsletter that he no longer had the time to run the club and put together the newsletter. He asked any member who would like to take over to step forward. No one did. However, this happened to be the exact time that SAAC was getting started and a deal was struck. Cobra Club members (about 400 at the time) would be taken into SAAC until their Cobra Club memberships expired, at which time they would be invited to renew with SAAC. In return, the Cobra Club gave SAAC the balance of its treasury (about $800) as well as the back issues if had of its “Snake Bits” newsletters and a few grille badges and dash plaques.

As a SAAC member, Lynn became one of the Reps in Southern California. His knowledge of Cobras and the people who owned them or who worked on them continued to expand. He attended SAAC’s first convention at Oakland in 1976 and attended almost every convention after that. He volunteered to organize and put on SAAC-3 in Pasadena, and was even able to get Ontario Motor Speedway for a oneday open track event.

For SAAC members from California, having the opportunity to drive on a major league track like “the Big O” was nothing special. They had been doing that for years. But for those members from the Northeast, Midwest and Southeast who attended, it was like an epiphany. Suddenly they saw the cars being driven on a track

If you have a drag racing gene in your DNA you’ve got to have at least one drag car. The Cobra, “El Cid,” is CSX2248. The car is an original Dragonsnake. After being raced in the 1960s, including winning an NHRA championship, it was stored in a warehouse in New York state that caught fire in 1969. Although the Cobra was pulled out of the structure before it was destroyed in the inferno, the car suffered substantial damage and was left outside as a burned wreck until it was found and purchased by Calvin Sanders (Suffolk, VA) in 1982. Although various new parts were acquired in anticipation of a leisurely restoration, a change of plans led to the sale of 2248 to Carroll Shelby early in 2001. Shelby was looking for Cobra chassis to be reconstructed to Daytona Coupe specifications by Mike McCluskey. Before this could occur, Lynn talked Shelby out of the car, convincing him that it really should be restored to its original Dragonsnake configuration. He brought the car to Mike McCluskey where it was restored to its original configuration. “El Cid” was at SAAC35 at Infineon Raceway and it paired off against one of the original factory Dragonsnakes [see the cover of The Shelby American Summer 2010 issue.] The slingshot dragster in the background is used for exhibition runs in West Coast vintage drag racing “Cacklefest” events.

instead of sitting in a static car show on a lawn or parking lot. They quickly realized that there was a facet of enjoyment of these cars that was missing from events help in other parts of the country. This was not lost on SAAC’s leadership. Before long, Lynn was on the board of directors and he

was instrumental in making high speed events a part of every convention.

Lynn Park had become one of the leaders of COCOA and in 1971 the club started putting on open track events at Willow Springs. Having an outlet to drive their cars was something that separated Cali-

If you’re going to accumulate a large number of cars, you better give some thought as to where you are going to keep them. Lynn Park’s garage is hard to describe. The stuff hanging on the walls is also hard to describe. He has been picking up Cobra memorabilia for 50 years, and it shows!

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 71

fornian enthusiasts from everyone else.

This was, of course, years before organized vintage racing began. The SAAC convention at Ontario demonstrated what open track events were like. When SAAC members returned home after that event, many brought with them images of an open track at one of their local events. Not everyone, of course, was able to take the idea to the next level immediately, but the seed had been planted.

Lynn began to move through a procession of Cobras, usually gravitating to project cars because they represented a challenge, and also because they were able to be purchased for a much more “reasonable” price. He says he really had no desire to buy a completed car that didn’t need anything. With his experience and knowledge—not to mention his connections— cars which would repel other potential buyers attracted Lynn. When one car was finished he was ready to sell it and find another project to replace it, although some favorites remained in his collection. [Note: the 2008 Cobra Registry’s owner index shows that Lynn has owned 20 small block

The Park Team [from the left] Lynn, Steve and Tim savor the post-race moment with Carroll Shelby, Ford exec and racer Jim Farley, his boss Edsel Ford and Edsel’s son Henry Ford III.

gious vintage event in the country, it was inevitable that Lynn would enter one of his Cobras. He became something of a fixture

One of Lynn’s favorite Cobras is CSX2307, known affectionately as “Dirtbag.” Originally purchased

by Fred Offenhauser, who parked the car behind his house in 1975 and it sat under a tarp for almost 20 years. When Lynn got it he decided to freshen it up mechanically but to leave it as is cosmetically. He drives it a lot (pictured here on the way to the Pebble Beach Concours in 2011).

Cobras and 6 big blocks over the years.] at the event, racing there almost every By 1981 he had acquired a couple of year after that.

Cobra race cars and with the Monterey Now, another corner has been turned.

Historics fast becoming the most presti- Lynn and his wife Susie have two sons who

also grew up around Cobras. They are in their late thirties now, and after racing gocarts and watching their father race his Cobras, it was only natural that they both developed a taste for vintage racing. And with a garage full of Cobras, what they would drive was never in question.

Steve has become a good mechanic and is at home pulling engines and transmissions. Tim gravitates more to detail work. They make a good team and weekends before vintage races are busy places around the Park garage. Lynn says he is happy that his boys share his enthusiasm for Cobras. Too often sons lack the interest in their father’s passion, preferring sports, computers or some other outlet. Lynn’s sons have begun to hone their driving skills. They adhere to Lynn’s primary directive: don’t hurt the car. As he says, “Their future as drivers depends on how well they treat the cars. Broken cars can’t race.”

The Flying Park Boys: [left to right] Tim (CSX2291), Lynn (CSX2259) and Steve (CSX2010) at the 2011 Monterey Motorsports Reunion.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 72

Peter Brock finally perfects the Daytona Coupe R

oof extractors are something designer Pete Brock had planned to incorporate into his Daytona Coupe after it ran its second race at Sebring in March 1964. The car’s first outing at Daytona had been fairly cool, so there was little indication that cockpit heat would be a problem. In the hot Florida sun at Sebring, however, all that changed. The absorbed heat from the engine and exhaust headers added to the high ambient temperature and cooked the drivers. It became so intolerable that crew chief Phil Remington punched a semi-cir-

– Peter Brock & Rick Kopec cular hole in the roof over driver Dave McDonald’s head and bent it up to form a crude scoop in an effort to get cool air into the interior.

What Remington didn’t understand at that moment was that the location of his attempted scoop was in the car’s lowest pressure area. Air rushing over the body reaches its highest speed just above the windscreen, so the pressure is lowest there. Had Remington reversed the direction of the flap it would have worked far more effectively by sucking the hot cockpit

air out instead of trying to force higher ambient temp air into an already pressurized zone. Since the flap barely stuck up above the attached air flowing over the roof it only created more drag, possibly even slowing the car’s top speed without really cooling the driver as intended. It was a valuable lesson that only Brock understood at the moment.

After Sebring, Brock tried to get roof extractors fabricated and added to the car, explaining that they would make the drivers more comfortable when the cars went

Dave MacDonald, behind the wheel of CSX2287 at Sebring in March 1964. Note Phil Remington’s down-and-dirty roof scoop, done during a pit stop with a sharp screwdriver and a pair of tin snips. It was not what Peter Brock had in mind for cockpit ventilation. It would take him 48 years to demonstrate what the car needed to make it comfortable to drive.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 73

overseas to compete in longer races. But as excited as everyone at Shelby American was about the car’s slippery shape—especially after it lead at Daytona and then won at Sebring—the consensus in the race shop was that the car was done. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Preparing it for the upcoming Le Mans Test Day simply left no time for tweaking the design in areas like this. Since hardly anyone in the Shelby crew understood the then-black art of aero improvement, complex technical decisions like these were mistakenly handed off to Ford’s Aeroneutronics people, who were assumed to know more than Brock.

Brock had originally designed the Coupe with a “ring airfoil” (a movable airfoil shaped wing on the rear deck) but he encountered strong resistance to the idea, mainly because it represented a concept outside of anyone else’s experience.“Phil was against the idea,” says Brock, “simply because it would take about three days to build the whole complex system. With no proof that it would work, he knew we simply didn’t have time. So it was the right decision for the time.” Remember, the crew was working against an immovable deadline—the Daytona race. As it turned out the high-speed banking at Daytona offset the need for the wing and the car easily led until it was sidelined by a pit fire. The Daytona’s excellent performance there was unfortunate as it “proved” that Brock’s ring airfoil wasn’t really needed.

So the Coupe went to LeMans without the ring airfoil. jury-rigged A-pillar “fences,” to direct air to the quarter-window scoops, were added in an attempt to direct outside air into the cockpit and hopefully extract heated interior air. Most experts of the day thought that Brock’s idea for roof air extractors was an un-

workeable solution because his simple slots, obviously facing into the oncoming airflow, would force air in without really improving the condition. Had there been time to make an airflow distribution study that would have easily been disproved.

Brock had seen such a pressure diagram, in the GM library, in late ’57, done by the Germans in the late ‘30s, and surmised the airflow would be similar on his coupe. But without “proof” in the form of the actual document, the concept was discounted.

We all know the history after that. In 1964, the first Coupe, CSX 2287 went to Spa, and a second Italian bodied version, CSX 2299, joined it for LeMans, Reims and Goodwood, and a third car was completed in time for the Tour de France.

Combined with the roadsters, the Daytonas almost beat Ferrari in ‘64 for the World’s Championship for GTs and would have easily had not Enzo Ferrari pressured the Auto Club de Italia in Monza into canceling the penultimate round at Monza. Enzo Ferrari astutely calculated that without the points available from that race, the Cobras could not win, and thus Ferrari took the ’64 Championship. But Shelby’s raiders came within a couple of points and—more importantly—had done it against the full Ferrari works team! For the following year the same Cobras, now in the hands of the UK’s Alan Mann Racing, would race the same Ferraris, but this time the Italian cars were run by “privateer” teams, because Ferrari knew his works team couldn’t win against the Cobras and he didn’t want to lose face with the Italian public. Instead, Ferrari decided to put his complete works’ effort against Ford Motor Company’s GT40s in the Prototype class (because neither manufacturer had built the requisite 100 new cars

Brock’s original “cocktail napkin sketch,” made in 1963, shows the “ring airfoil” he thought would be necessary on the faster European tracks. No one else in the shop thought it was worth the effort, so in the rush to finish the car for Daytona, no effort was made to incorporate it. The car had tested well at Riverside, and ran fine at Daytona and Sebring. But LeMans, Spa and Monza were longer— and faster— tracks. A simple spoiler had to be fabricated to keep the cars stable at speed.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

needed for homologation in the ‘65 GT class).

The Alan Mann Cobra Team slightly refined the Cobra roadsters that had been given to them by Ford for the ’65 season (and added three more Coupes to their team from Shelby), to race against the Ferrari GT independents. This left Ford and Shelby to put their full emphasis on the prototype class against Ferrari’s P4s. Not to take anything away from Mann winning the World Manufacturers GT Championship in 1965; but we have to remember the Cobras were not competing against the Ferrari Works team. They easily won the Championship.

With most race car designers, as soon as the current project is finished and begins competing, they move on to the next project, usually an evolution of the last car or something completely new. They seldom get to go back and make any corrections or tweak the design, because last year’s race car is ancient history.

Not so with Peter Brock. One of his favorite projects is the ongoing evolution of his South African, Hi-Tech built (Superformance) Brock Coupes, of which some 150 have been built. He continues to tinker with his personal Coupe, not to make it a better race car but to evolve it into a better high performance touring car for the road.

Development and testing means trying new ideas and then proving them on the street. “You don’t have to complicate things by loading up a race car with a full crew and taking it to the track,” says Brock. “It’s easier to test details like this every day on the street. The real problem is finding a suitable guinea pig. Obviously none of the owners of the original six “real” Daytonas was going to let me cut holes in their roofs and I wasn’t too successful in trying to convince Hi-Tech to make any further changes to their MKIIs, so that left me with the decision of whether to cut holes in the roof of my own car.”

Cooling the interior of the coupes was a problem in 1964 and because the basic configuration of the car has not changed, neither has the problem. Air conditioning was a major improvement in the Hi-TechSuperformance car, as were power windows, but these improvements only partially solved the problem and not the cause. A real venting system was still needed.

As Brock explains, the maximum speed of airflow over the body of the car occurs at the point where the roof meets the top of windshield. This is the point of lowest pressure on the car, according to Bernoulli’s Principle, so this location is perfect for sucking hot air from the cockpit

Winter 2012 74

with no increase in drag. Coupled with Brock’s improved quarter window intake scoops, (a design now incorporated in the MKII versions of the coupes) which provide cool, high-pressure air to the cockpit, it creates a constant, recirculating fresh air system to use in place of air conditioning. “Not that you’d want to completely discard the AC in a real street going GT, but

you can opt not to use it, as it steals power and efficiency from the engine.”

Brock and friend-fabricator Dale Knudson installed a pair of extractor vents in the roof of SPC 073 smoothly molding them into the roofline. “Actually,” says Brock, “You could just cut two slots in the roof, as I intended for the racers, and they’d work just as effectively, but they wouldn’t keep the rain out if the car was parked.” Today’s “production version” had to take this into account. Brock was able to test his refined version on a long drive from Washington State to his new home near Las Vegas. The extractors worked perfectly. He had been worried that cutting into the roof for the vents would create extra noise in the cockpit, but they were silent. And they even worked at speeds as low as 30 mph. In some seat-of-the-pants testing, Brock held a scrap of paper near the small slot he had cut into the interior of the cockpit (in the structural hat section, under the roof panel). It was sucked solidly into the slot. At increased speeds it became even more efficient, trying to suck the

paper into the slot and out the extractor vent. Good thing he didn’t try the test with a twenty dollar bill!

When other Superformance Coupe owners spot the vents their first question is, “What happens when it rains?” The answer is, “Nothing.” Any water that finds its way into the vent area simply falls into the interior’s structural “hat section” that drains laterally to the sides of the inner roof panel. It then runs down the inside of the “A” pillars and out holes drilled into the bottom of the pillars and into the water channels inside the doors. From there gravity pulls it out and it falls under the car.

If these vents had been cut into the roof of the original Cobra Daytona Coupes, as he had requested after the 1964 Sebring race, Brock says the team drivers would have found the cars much more comfortable to drive. It has taken him 48 years to finally get around to proving the idea. And he is happy to report that it works. Perfectly.

Brock’s Superformance Coupe, SPC0073. Think of it as a rolling test bed.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 75

icles n o r h C d r a e b The Gray

WE MAKE IT THROUGH TEN YEARS! WHO WOULD OF THOUGHT?

W

– Rick Kopec

e had never given any thought to anniversaries of the club. Truth be known, we were always too busy planning the next whatever-it-was: the next magazine, the next convention, the next special project. There was just no time for us to stop and reflect on what the club had become or where it was going. The future? For us, the future was tomorrow. We didn’t have time to think too much beyond that. It didn’t hit us until we were sketching out the SAAC-10 convention logo. Ten years! Where did the time go?

Having been to California the previous year, it was time to rotate back to the East Coast. We did a quick of check of membership demographics and—no big surprise—found that a majority of SAAC members were still in a triangle, roughly from Boston to Detroit to Washington D.C. Anywhere inside that area would be a good place for the next convention, and the closer to the center, the better as far as participation would be concerned.

Three years earlier we had used the Americana Resort in Great Gorge as the convention headquarters and there

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 76

weren’t many complaints. We would need a track this time, because it was obvious that a high speed event had become a very important part of our national conventions. The Northeast still wasn’t like California, where club members had special “track cars” that they only used for ontrack events. Back east, owners usually had to make due with the car they owned: they drove it to the convention; pumped up the tires, topped off the oil and checked the brake fluid before heading out onto the track. Then they drove it back to the hotel, found a hose and gave it a wash job, and it was ready for the car show the next day.

Going back to a hotel we had already used at a previous convention was a double-edged sword. On one hand, we had already been there and we knew the pros and cons. The second time around really is easier. We know what they can do and what they can’t do, so we don’t have to waste any time going down dead ends. And if something didn’t work out the way we had hoped the last time, we can make some changes in advance. So on the whole, we like to go back to a place where we’ve already been.

The downside is that if the facility was lacking in some aspects, chances are it will still be lacking the second time around. Location, for example. If the hotel was difficult to get to in 1980, that wasn’t likely to change in 1984. If there weren’t as many rooms as we needed and we had to have secondary hotels, we still needed to arrange rooms as secondary hotels when we went back.

However, all in all, we do like going back to a place a second time. The thing we were beginning to learn was that going back more than two or three times gave

Turn 1: 675´ radius, 16° banking Turn 2: 750´ radius, 8° banking Turn 3: 800´ radius, 6° banking Main Straight: 1340´ long

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Pocono’s 2 1/2-mile tri-oval put together three different radiused turns, each with a different degree of banking, and each separated by a different length straight. We made use of two chicanes, one after Turn 1 and the other following Turn 2. This required the cars to brake to a lower speed and change gears, which kept them from constant high-rpm running and thereby risking catastrophic engine failures.

Turn 3 was the largest radius, which allowed cars to exit with more speed and go faster on the front straight.

Winter 2012 77

the event the feel of a “been there, done that” convention. First-timers come to a convention with an expectation of excitement and wonder, and they are rarely disappointed. Those who come back to a second convention at a place they’ve already been are comfortable. But after that it’s a toss-up whether they will come back a third time.

There is no question that Great Gorge was a terrific place. It had everything we could want in a hotel: plenty of rooms, a large parking area we could commandeer, and a ballroom large enough for a sit-down dinner for 1,000. Everything except one: there was no major league racing facility close by.

We started looking at tracks within an hour of Great Gorge. That didn’t take very long, because there weren’t that many. In fact, there was really only one major facility: Pocono International Raceway. Before we got too wrapped up in the specific details of the convention, we needed to make sure the track was available, and available at the same time the hotel was available.

We didn’t even want to think about having one without the other. And, of course, this is where the rub came in. Hotels always want you to commit as early as possible.

Two years out, if they can get you to.

Tracks, on the other hand, like to wait as long as possible before signing a contract.

They don’t want to sign a legal agreement with a small organization like SAAC for a specific weekend, only to have a larger organization approach them wanting that same weekend.

Getting commitments from the hotel and the track (before signing a legally binding contract with each of them) is something of a balancing act. And while we are deep into this negotiating, we are being bombarded by members who want to know where the next convention will be and when. This was before the forum was invented. But somehow we were able to accomplish everything.

The first day was primarily an arrival day. To keep everyone from getting restless there was the swap meet outside in the parking lot. As each new arrival pulled into the hotel, they checked into their room and then made a beeline to the parts swap.

Everyone was on their own for dinner and then at 6 p.m. we started the seminars.

One for Shelbys (6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.), one for Cobras (7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.) and three different ones for Tigers, Panteras and Bosses (9 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Friday was track day at Pocono. It was a two-hour drive so, we only planned one day at the track. After a short drivers school/safety briefing, we ran until 5 p.m.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

If you were wondering why we didn’t incorporate The Americana Resort’s logo into our convention t-shirt. it was one of the worst looking logos we’d ever seen. It looked like a turtle standing on its tail.

Instead of trying to pick one car to represent our 10th anniversary we chose to put Carroll Shelby in the convention logo. Part of it was that we wanted to recognize him for the part he played in creating the cars. The other part was we had hoped he would be able to attend. We had invited him but it turned out that he had other plans.

Winter 2012 78

At that time two things happened simultaneously. We threw the black flag, ending the last session and David Felstein, in CSX2229, ran out of gas. Felstein was a genuine open track lunatic. He was the first car out in the morning and would give a ride to anyone who asked. There was always a line at his spot near the pit wall.

The day had gone well: no runs, no hits, no errors as we liked to say.

Everyone was on their own for dinner and there were Cobras and Shelbys in the lot of every restaurant between Pocono and Great Gorge. It was a very pleasant sight to see and harkened back to the days when the cars were brand new and used every day. Back at the hotel, every bar was filled to overflowing with convention participants socializing. Many said this was one of the best parts of any convention. At each successive one you recognized an increasing number of people that you only saw at conventions.

On Saturday the concours entrants found their way to the parking lot, moving like disembodied zombies. Most looked like they were on auto-pilot: removing car covers, toweling off their jewels and sizing up the competition out of the corner of their eye. The judging lasted until about 3 p.m.

Balloting for the popular vote car show was from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Winners were tallied up for the 33 classes. Trophies for boths shows would be handed out during the evening program.

At the evening program we made a big deal out of the fact that only two SAAC members had attended all 10 SAAC conventions and prior to that, all three SOA

The SHELBY AMERICAN

conventions (Reading, Pennsylvania in 1973 and 1974, and Wichita, Kansas in 1975). We had an 18˝ hand-carved wooden Cobra made that we had sliced in half. We gave half to Ken Young and the other half to Jeff Burgy with the stipulation that as soon as one of them missed a convention, he would have to give his half to the other one. It has turned out to be a strong inducement because neither has missed a convention since then!

SAAC-10’s guest speakers proved to be both entertaining and informative. ExCobra team driver Bob Johnson was always a favorite at conventions. He reminded everyone that in 1966, Carroll Shelby offered him a Cobra Daytona Coupe and a truckload of parts for $4,500 and he turned him down.

Oscar Koveleski also spoke. He started Auto World in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the largest mail order company specializing in model cars, airplanes and slot cars in the company. He was also one of the founders of the Polish Racing Drivers Association (PRDA). He recalled not being as stupid as Johnson. Shelby offered him a Coupe and he bought it. Two weeks later he sold it. He said it was the easiest $500 he ever made.

Representing Ford were John Clinard, SVO’s marketing manager and the head of Ford’s public affairs department, Paul Preuss. They both spoke about their areas of influence within the company and, without giving away any company secrets, they convinced everyone that better things, performance-wise, were coming down the road. And they were right!

We wanted to have some kind of a commemoration acknowledging the club’s tenth anniversary, but we didn’t want to engage in the usual “Hooray For Us!” type of strained hoopla, presenting plaques to each other and, in short, grabbing the spotlight. We thought the spotlight should be on the club. Besides, there were too many people who helped during those first ten years. We didn’t want to turn the program into a mutual admiration society meeting.

The simple solution would have been a powerpoint presentation. Except for one small factor: the powerpoint had not yet been invented. So we combined three medias we could use: word, music and pictures. We started out with a script that touched on the beginning of the club and moved through the past nine conventions.

We asked Alan Bolte to read it because he was fast becoming a professional announcer and had an excellent stage voice.

We next asked Howard Pardee, who was, at that time, still a musician in the Coast Guard band, to come up with a recognizable Top 40 song for each year of the first nine conventions. Pardee, of course, knew nothing about Top 40 music, rock and roll or anything in that universe. But he served with 40 other musicians and some of them were, as he said, “Really hip, cool cats.” You can see what we had to work with. The band also had the recording equipment to make a cassette tape and they could source the songs they needed.

Again, this was well before iTunes existed.

Finally, we needed a couple of dozen slides from each convention that would be shown at the appropriate time during the presentation. All three things had to be rehearsed and coordinated so it didn’t come off looking like a fourth grade talent show entry. It all worked.

We happened to find the script, so we’re including it here. You’ll have to imagine the music and pictures.

Let’s talk about legends. Because, after all, we are in the midst of them. They fill the parking lot outside just as surely as they fill a place in all of our hearts. If they didn’t, why else would we be here? No one starts out to create a legend. Each of us may produce something that may go on to become a legend, but creating the legend part is far beyond any of our individual abilities. Something is on the threshold of becoming a legend when it begins to acquire a life of its own; when the creator begins to lose control of his creation. He becomes swept up in its wake, like everyone else. Such was the case with Carroll Shelby and his legend—the Cobra.

It’s hard to pinpoint just when the Cobra slipped from Shelby’s grasp. It was

Winter 2012 79

certainly a slow, almost imperceptible process that probably began with that first car, which was painted a different color for each magazine road test. Once the Cobra found victory circle, it wasn’t long before it took up residence there. It moved in, bag and baggage, moving other marks out as it did. Shelby barely noticed that he had lost control of his car, that the Cobra had, in fact, become legend. His days had become filled with other cars which, themselves, would go on to become legends: GT40s, GT350s and GT500s. Once created, legends don’t die. They can slip into periods of dormancy. This happened to the Cobra during the early 1970s. It was, for the most part, forgotten—except by a few of us.

The 1970s saw the strangulation and death of the American muscle car. Performance, that unquestioned virtue of the electrifying 1960s, was suddenly a dirty word.

The fat-tired, lumpy-idling, high output, super-duty, solid-lifter, dual-Quad 400+ cubic inch V-8 rubber-burning, axle-twisting belch-fire Rocketmobile had, in a matter of a couple years, been emasculated by the federal government, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Highway Transportation Safety Agency and your friendly neighborhood insurance company. Automobile manufacturers would sooner distribute child pornography backup correction with sooner distribute child pornography than try to market performance. Their idea of 1970-style performance, was tape-striped, fake scooped parody of what real performance had once been. It became clear to enthusiasts that if they wanted real performance, they would have to look to the past. There would be little to look forward to in the immediate future.

But there were some who had never let go of their piece of the past. The roaring fires of what had been Shelby’s Cobras, GT350s and GT 500s were now smoldering embers, kept alive by the fanning of these enthusiasts. Their numbers began to swell and their fanning increased, suddenly igniting flames again. Out of the ashes of falling used-car prices, out of stock and no longer available parts. and public amnesia grew the Shelby American Automobile Club. If you were driving to the 1st annual SAAC convention in Oakland, California on the weekend of August 18 through the 21, 1976 you would’ve heard this top 40 song on your car’s radio [at this point, a rock song was played— forgive us if we can’t recall what it was—and on the screen a couple of dozen slides of that first convention were flashed]. You would have joined 800 others SAAC-1 participants who ventured forth to play an active role in the continuing story that is Carroll Shelby’s legend.

SAAC-1 was an unqualified success. So there never was a question as to whether or not there would be a SAAC-2. The only question was where it would be. By its sophomore year the Shelby American Automobile Club was approaching 2,500 members and nearly half could be found inside a triangle that stretched between Boston, Detroit and Washington DC. So, the location for SAAC’s second get-together wasn’t that difficult to pinpoint. It would be somewhere near the center of it of that triangle: Hershey Pennsylvania to be exact. The dates were July 7 through 10, 1977 and on the way to this storybook town in central Pennsylvania you would have heard this song [another Top 40 song from 1977 played in the background while slides of the Hershey convention were shown].

Hershey was the first convention for a majority of club members. Almost 1,500 people showed up. Back in those early days there was no open track event, no concourse, and the parts swap was held indoors in the main ballroom and was limited to only 3 hours.

It was more like supermarket sweepstakes as convention attendees literally ran up and down the isles looking for things but afraid to stop and spend too long in one spot, lest they miss something in the next aisle. Almost 50 Cobras were there, making it the largest gathering of snakes in one place

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 80

since the factory. It was also here that the Boss Mustangs and Panteras began to assume a more visible presence in the club.

At the annual board of directors meeting it was decided that SAAC-3 would be held in Southern California. Everybody has heard of Pasadena, but on the weekend of August 17 through 19, 1978 the streets of that city were filled with Ford powered cars. That certain little old lady in her brand-new, shiny red super stock Dodge was nowhere to be seen. Almost 3,000 people attended SAAC’s third annual national convention, making it the largest one yet.

As much as Carroll Shelby wanted to be there, his schedule worked against it.

He was in Africa at his safari company, and everyone was advised that, regretfully, he wouldn’t be able to attend. Then there was a commotion in the hotel lobby at about 5 p.m. on Friday afternoon. He showed up, having just gotten off an airplane. He been traveling for the past 50 hours just to be there. He joined many of his former drivers, team members and factory employees.

SAAC conventions were fast turning into Shelby American reunions.

On Saturday morning the freeways to Ontario were filled with Shelbys and Cobras as everyone headed out to the “Big O” for some high-speed running. Seeing the cards at speed, and hearing them, added a new dimension to conventions. To cap off the day, everyone took to the track for a giant parade lap an endless line of cars of all kinds filled Ontario’s asphalt. It was incredible.

For SAAC-4 the action moved back east, to Downingtown, Pennsylvania. The previous convention’s high-speed event had proven so popular that the decision was made to make some type of high-speed event part of every future convention. To that end, SAAC rented a dragstrip that was about an hour away from the hotel.

Then, a little something called the Arab oil embargo happened. You might remember that: $5 limits, reduced allocations, long lines, shortened hours, odd and even license plates. With no one being assured of having enough gas to get them to the track, run all day on the drag strip, and then drive back to the hotel, the track was canceled. Making it to SAAC-4 in the midst of this madness was no small feat. More than a few members decided to stay home, but the ones who toughed it out were rewarded by the sea of Ford-powered cars they found filling a large grassy area at the hotel. The cars were, clearly, getting nicer and nicer every year.

SAAC-4 is remembered most by those who attended it as a kind of family reunion, where everyone who attends is forced to overcome some kind of obstacle or adversity in order to be there. That shared experience brought everyone closer together, and went a long way towards establishing SAAC conventions as more than just car meets. They are family reunions. Think of us as all being in the Shelby family.

By SAAC’s fifth anniversary, the club had grown enough to be able to support a national convention in a part of the country other than the Northeast or California. It wasn’t hard selecting the next site: we homed in on the big blue Ford oval in Dearborn.

The Hyatt Regency, normally a ghost town on the Fourth of July weekend, cut their rates in half and SAAC filled the place in 1980, taking over 700 rooms. Many first-time visitors to Dearborn saw the Hyatt Regency, rising up out of nowhere, and wondered what that building was. Their eyes almost fell out of their sockets when the signs they’d been following directed them right up to its base.

The parking lot was full by the first day and there was not one, but two, high-speed events and two car shows.

SAAC-5’s schedule was tightly packed and seemed ready to burst. If you were good at identifying the faces of most of the Ford higher-ups, chances are you saw them strolling around the Hyatt’s lot during their lunch hour. We spotted Chairman Philip Caldwell and there were plenty of others judging by the number of suits. SAAC-5 gave everyone plenty of opportunities to straight leg it, ei-

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 81

ther down the quarter-mile at Milan Dragway or on Ford’s 2 1/2 mile banked oval at Utica. It was here that Dick Smith demonstrated what it takes to reach legend status: he coaxed a 427 S/C Cobra around the track at 180 mph.

Back at the hotel, the club now had Concours guidelines, and you could enter your car in the judged concourse or the popular vote car show. The parts swap ran every day out in the parking lot and the list of guest speakers read like a who’s who at Ford. The keynote speaker, Ford Vice President Walter Hayes, spoke eloquently about where Ford had been and where the company was going. Although he was not able to provide details, he promised that none of us—the faithful—would be disappointed. We know, now, that he was talking about the SVO and 5-Liter Mustang GT cars the Mustang GTP, Probe racers and the Aero-birds. SAAC-5 set the tone and establish the baseline for future SAAC conventions.

It probably came as no surprise that the location of SAAC-6 was Monterey, California. It was a Tuesday-WednesdayThursday affair followed on Friday and Saturday by the Monterey Historic automobile races at Laguna Seca and on Sunday by the Pebble Beach Concours. Getting four large Monterey hotels to set aside blocks of 100 rooms each for SAAC members during their busiest week of the year was one rabbit SAAC pulled out of its convention hat. Getting the Laguna Seca race track the day before the vintage races was another. As SAAC-6 participants began arriving at the convention headquarters hotel, the Doubletree Inn in downtown Monterey, they found parts vendors already selling their wares in front of the hotel. That was the day before the convention officially began. Tuesday’s parts swap action was fast and furious at the Monterey convention center and Wednesday, it was out to the track. Dick Smith presided over a driving school that was attended by everyone before they were unleashed onto the track. Then it was mile after mile of high-speed running. A number of vintage race competitors used the convention track time to fine-tune the cars they would be running on Saturday. Like the 427 Daytona Super Coupe. It mesmerized everyone. It was back to the track on Thursday for the car shows and then on Thursday evening 2,000 people packed the main ballroom at the Monterey convention center to hear a dozen former Shelby American drivers, team members and designers including Peter Brock, Tom Payne, Al Dowd and, of course, Carroll Shelby himself. Monterey is one of the most picturesque places in the world. Add to that almost 1,000 Cobras and Shelbys running around for the week and you have some idea of what you can look forward to in heaven.

For SAAC’s 7th annual national convention, it was time to rotate back east. Pocono International Raceway was to be the site of the convention’s open track event: 2 1/2 miles of high bank, red line running. The nearest hotel facility that could accommodate SAAC’s requirements was the Playboy Hotel and Resort at Great Gorge, New Jersey. When SAAC-7 was being planned the winter before the event, bunnies were definitely in the picture. In fact, it was likely they would be in everyone’s convention pictures. But by the time August 12 of 1982 rolled around, Playboy had sold the hotel and the only bunnies anyone saw were hopping across the roads in rural upstate New Jersey.

SAAC-7 was a four-day event. Wednesday was the typical arrival day, with parts buzzards circling slowly over the swap meet area. The two-hour drive to Pocono on Thursday meant that everyone was going to have to roll out at the crack of dawn. They were met by a light rain that dampen no one’s spirits. The track was bone dry by 9 a.m. We had to turn the track over to CART at 3 p.m. because they had a big IndyCar race schedule that weekend—the Pocono 500. By afternoon the pit wall was lined with IndyCar drivers and mechanics who were clearly having trouble believing that the cars flying down the front straight at between 140 and

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 82

175 mph were 17-year-old street cars. They learned a little bit about the Shelby legend that day.

If Pocono’s tri-oval didn’t make your juices flow there was always the drag strip on Friday. Car after car paired up and shot down the Atco’s quarter-mile, side-by-side, for some old-fashioned grudge racing. No classes, no trophies—only good times and bragging rights. By Saturday, any energy that anyone had left was used up getting the cars ready for the Concours judging and popular vote car shows. The lot was packed beyond capacity. It was some show, and it was followed by a full evening program: guest speakers, vintage films and those sought-after trophies. It was another terrific national convention.

No one had anything bad to say about SAAC-5 in Dearborn, and if that’s not a sparkling recommendation then what is?

SAAC-8 was back at the Hyatt Regency and it turned out to be the biggest national convention yet. Over 5,000 people attended for some part of the four days. The schedule of events was almost the same as SAAC-5: drag racing at Milan and open track running at Utica. On Thursday, a sudden rainstorm caught everyone by surprise, but within an hour the sun was out and it was like nothing had happened. Friday was drag race day and once again, Milan’s quarter-mile saw plenty of use.

The weather reports for Friday afternoon were giving Cobra owners coronaries: heavy rain, 70-mph winds and hailstones the size of golf balls were being predicted.

As if on cue, the sky grew dark in the afternoon and unleashed a downpour but the hail never materialized. Like the day before, within an hour the sun was out again.

Saturday was car show day and Carroll Shelby was there signing autographs and posing with people for pictures.

That evening he was joined by Bob Bondurant. Bondo showed up on Sunday at the Utica test track to give all the participants at the high-speed event a few pointers. He also took people around in their own cars for some personalized instruction.

Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of that? As the track cleared out, another great convention was history. And the legend continued.

The ninth SAAC convention was a real Mickey Mouse event, no question about that. The headquarters hotel was within walking distance of Disneyland. The Marriott’s parking lot was a combination of Fantasyland and Adventureland. Those California cars were something else! On Thursday evening Carroll Shelby introduced about twenty of his former team drivers, team members and employees and then spent most almost an hour and a half describing some of the things he remembered them doing during those magical 1960s. Then each of them had the opportunity to tell their side of the story. It was a most memorable evening. The action quickly moved out to Willow Springs Raceway on Friday. This was the scene of a lot of testing by Shelby American back in the day..

This time it was just for fun. The high temperatures at the track didn’t stop anyone from enjoying themselves and after the last car shut down, everyone was treated to cold sodas, hot chili and hot dogs—compliments of the Ford Motor Company. On Saturday the Marriott’s lot filled quickly as the concours and popular vote shows brought out cars that left spectators mumbling to themselves.

Saturday evening’s program included Peter Brock, SVO’s Michael Kranefuss and Carroll Shelby—who is, once again, building cars.

More legends? Only time will tell, because legends are not made overnight. Time is one of the principal ingredients: the element that separates the real legend from the flash in the pan. But a lot was packed into the brief span of the Shelby American years, from 1962 through 1970. Cobras, GT350s and GT500s accelerated into legend status as fast as they ever accelerated down any highway or race track. Probably no one was more surprised by all of this than Carroll Shelby, himself.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 83

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 84

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Winter 2012 85

❆

❄

❆

❄

❄ ❆ ❄

❆ ❄ ❄

With the 2011 holiday season behind us, it’s time to share the neat car-ds we’ve received at SAAC HQ (get it: CAR-ds?). Normally we don’t put these cards in the article in any special order, but this year, there is one that represents something so unique that it deserves the pole position. Dan Gurney and All American Racers will be competing at LeMans this year with a new car called the “DeltaWing.” It looks like a cross between a stealth bomber and a top fuel dragster. It is so outside of the envelope that we’re betting it will usher in a major change in contemporary racing car design. The narrow front track is only the most visible cue. The car is half the weight of a similar car, has half of the aerodynamic drag and only needs half the horsepower (300, coming from a 1.6 liter turbocharged engine). It will also only require half the fuel and due to all of the simplification, the car can be built for half the cost.

It will still go as fast as the current cars on the track. The LeMans 24-Hours has a limit of 55 entries, but they make one additional spot available each year to a car that is so technologically advanced that it does not fit within their rules. It is from this experimental spot that the AAR car gets it’s name “Project 56.” This is going to bring more excitement to LeMans than it has seen in a long time.

For more information on the car and a neat video, go to ALL American Racers’ website www.allamericanracers.com

NJ Rep and one of the major protagonists of the 1967 Shelby’s 45th Anniversary at this year’s convention is Bob Barranger from Toms River. We would have been shocked if his card didn’t have a ‘67 Shelby on it.

Mike Teske was the spark plug responsible for the MK IV project, so putting his copper J-car on his card was a no-brainer.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Howard Pardee never misses an opportunity to highlight the fact that his R-Model raced at the Nassau Speed Week in 1965. There was no comment on his card that it showed original owner Ben Warren about to be lapped by the entire field on the second lap.

Winter 2012 86

Tom Honneger of Lima, Ohio has owned #0073 since 1972.

Doesn’t seem like 40 years, does it, Tom? You have seen Tom’s artwork on a lot of stuff over the years and now that he is retired, we expect to see a lot more of it. Beginning with a ‘67 Shelby 45th Anniversary t-shirt.

We recognize where this picture of Phil Murphy’s and Deb Sanders’ card was taken. They probably want you to think it’s a gigantic barn/warehouse on their property that is filled with their stable consisting of all kinds of Shelbys and Mustangs. But isn’t that the Gallery at VIR? Shame on you guys.

Cobra Automotive’s card shows Curt Vogt’s #530 race car—one of the fastest Shelbys on the vintage circuit. A nice touch is the stars in the background which show the outline of Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Road America and we can’t make out the rest but one looks like the go-kart track in Wallingford, Connecticut.

The inside of Don and Tot Buck’s card shows an unwrapped gift (the front shops the whole tree before the gifts were attacked).

VIR is a popular place to take Christmas card photos. This one is from Jan and Jowina Sochurek in Ellicott City, Maryland

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Shelby American Licensing could not have chosen a better picture for their card. Carroll Shelby is sitting behind the wheel of CSX2000, just about 50 years ago. While the smile on his face is a mixture of joy and pride, he had no way of knowing where that car would take him over the next five decades.

Winter 2012 87

Lou Santaniello of Springfield, Massachusetts has a handful of cars to choose for a Christmas card but we’re guessing this was the only one that would run.

We cant think of a happier Ford GT owner than Marty Schorr.

And living in Sarasota, Florida means 365 days of driving.

The tag on 6S221 says “Do not open until Christmas” but we think Jackie and Rich Keller of Vernon, New Jersey really meant to say “Do not open up until Christmas.’ That’s probably what the neighbors heard when they took the car out on Christmas!

The note on Billy and Christine Kinchelow’s card said, “Romping in the snow with CSX2446.” In that they are from Sherman Oaks, California we will take that in the spirit it was sent, as a state of mind rather than an accurate caption.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

Most people pick one photo for their card, but what do you do when you just can’t make up your mind? This is the conundrum faced by Colin and Cana Comer. Can you imagine the negotiating session? “The new book is a success. We have to have that on the card.” “Yeah, well what about my Sprite?” “C’mon, most of these cards will be going out to macho guys. A Sprite?” “Don’t forget that guy who gave you the second place award at Road America.

What was his name, Ryan Bedman or something.” “And what about Dempsey and Duke?” “Sorry–no room for them this year.”

Winter 2012 88

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been restoring Cobras since the 1970s. I do it the old fashioned way â&#x20AC;&#x201D; one car at a time. If you want experience, historical accuracy without excuses or compromises, and perfection of workmanship, this is the place.

Geoff Howard

Danbury, Connecticut cobradoctor@mac.com

203-744-3061

2011

BOSS 302

y r t s i g Re

By Randy Ream & Todd Eby.

$

50

302 pages, spiral-bound.

Over 600 color photographs.

Every Boss 302 serial number and production details for every car. Also includes Boss 429s and Boss Cougar serial numbers, owners and factory production data. Racing history, parts identification guide, engine specifications and components, toys and collectibles. Owner information on 42% of all Boss 302s.

Price is $50 plus $13 USPS with delivery confirmation for all U.S. addresses. Cash or check only (no credit cards or PayPal).

BOSS 302 REGISTRY, 1817 JANET AVE, LEBANON PA 17046-1845 For Canadian and overseas orders: contact Vintage Auto Literature vintageautoliter@aol.com or 609-448-1684. Credit cards or PayPal accepted. You can also fax credit card information and shipping address to 609-448-5671.

Randy Ream: boss302reg@aol.com

Paxton Superchargers • New Original-Type Kits • Rebuilding • Special Projects • All Parts WHEELS WHEELS WHEELS New Reproductions or Re-rimming your Originals • Shelby/Cragars • ‘67 Mag-Stars • ‘69 5-Spoke

EARLY SHELBY FIBERGLASS R-MODEL PARTS Reproduced to Exact Specs CONSULTING SERVICES Expert in All Shelby American Products...

Pre-Production Inspection • Pre-Sale Evaluation All Aspects of Appraisal and Expert Analysis HAVE MA GNIFYING GL A SS – WILL TRAVEL

’S

G CRAI

LEY CON

Paradise Wheels, Inc.

PARADISE WHEELS, INC. 1413 Linda Vista Dr. Suite D San Marcos CA 92078 760-744-2400 fax: 760-744-2444 email: conleyr107@sbcglobal.net www.paradisewheels.com

www.jiminglese.com weber carburetion for ford V8’s

complete systems • parts • rebuilding and restoration 289-302 / 351W / 351C / 427-428 /429-460

The most complete source on planet earth...and beyond.

203-623-0659

visit the Be sure to40 page on T Cobra & G website our www.jiminglese.com

DALLAS MUSTANG.COM MUSTANG PARTS AND ACCESSORIES

1964-2012 CELEBRATING CLASSIC PARTS PERFORMANCE PARTS FULLY STOCKED WAREHOUSE KNOWLEDGEABLE SALES STAFF EASY TO USE WEBSITE TOLL-FREE ORDERING SHOP SERVICES

HAVE A QUESTION?

BUSINESS HOURS) WE(DURING CAN HELP NOW!

CALL TOLL-FREE

ORDER ONLINE 24/7

Your #1 Source for Quality Parts & Service for your Mustang

WWW.MUSTANGBARN.COM

FREE GIANT PARTS CATALOG! CALL, CLICK OR OR COME IN FOR YOUR FREE CATALOG OF 64½-73 MUSTANG PARTS.

We are currently expanding to include

800-523-6708

ALL YEAR MUSTANGS,

DAN@MUSTANGBARN.COM 531 WAMBOLD RD SOUDERTON, PA 18964

your input is appreciated!

OIL CHANGE SPECIAL!

FOR YOUR MUSTANG OR CLASSIC FORD 5 QTS 10W 30 OIL NEW OIL FILTER INSPECT & LUBE FRONT END TOP OFF ALL FLUID LEVELS SET TIRE PRESSURE CHECK BELTS & HOSES

ZDDPZDDP ! FOR JUST $9.95 is an engine additive for engines with flat tappet camshafts, used in most classic Mustangs built before 1985. Ask us for details & a free brochure!

To make an appointment, please call:

215-723-3722

Livin’ IIn Livin’ nT The he F Fast ast Lane? ane?

We’ve W e’ve Got ot Y You ou Cover Covered. overred. ed. d At Heacock Classic, we’re in the business of providing Customized Coverage at Affordable Rates, for your collector car.

B E T T E R C O V E R A G E — L O W E R R AT E S UÊÊ }Àii`Ê6> ÕiÊ ÛiÀ>}i Ê UÊÊ1ÃiÊ9 ÕÀÊ,i«> ÀÊ- « Ê UÊÊ ÃÕÀ> ViÊ ÕÀ }Ê,iÃÌ À>Ì Ê

Great Insurance

STARTS

Here!

UÊÊ<iÀ Ê i`ÕVÌ L i Ê UÊÊ, >`Ã `iÊ ÃÃ ÃÌ> Vi Ê UÊÊ" iÊ >L ÌÞÊ >À}i Ê

800-678-5173

HeacockClassic.com

Complete the Dream

Kelsey Tire, Inc. Box 564 Camdenton, MO 65020

Tel: 1-800-325-0091 Toll Free Fax: 1-800-845-7581 Web: www.kelseytire.com E-mail: kelsey@kelseytire.com

by COLIN COMER Just released! This is Comer’s third book and it was worth the wait! They keep getting better. Shelby Cobra Fifty Years is not only a complete history and celebration of Shelby’s Cobra, but it is also about the people that made it great and those who have kept the legend alive. From Carroll Shelby’s start in sports car racing, to his dream of building a world-class sports car, to the impact the Cobra had on the motoring world that is stronger than ever today, this book has it all. It is a Cobra book like no other, a fresh approach from a writer who knows the cars like no other. As always, Comer delivers unbelievable and formerly unseen archival photos, combined with stunning contemporary shots that are worth the price of admission alone. As Carroll Shelby says in his foreword, “They got the right guy to write this book when they picked Colin.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!

“Just when you thought you had read every book you needed to read about Cobras, along comes a must-have tome. While this won’t be the last book written on these cars, it is probably the last one that needs to be written. It is that good. Shelby Cobra Fifty Years is well researched, well written and it contains an excellent variety of photos—both historical as well as current—that provide an insightful look at the Cobra mystique. Every picture is intelligently captioned and almost all of them contain the cars’ serial number. We especially like that. This is the last Cobra book you will need...until Comer writes the next one.”

–The Shelby American

Specifications: 256 pages. 10˝ x 12 1/4˝ hardcover 117 black-and-white photos 308 color photos price $40 US

www.colincomerbooks.com

Dealing in Shelby and High Performance Mustangs Other classics on occassion

www.performancemotorsofhanover.com (717)632-0009 â&#x20AC;˘ Hanover, pa

50th Anniversary TOUR SCHEDULE Detroit Auto Show Barrett-Jackson-Scottsdale Boca Raton Concours D’Elegance Shelby American 50th Celebration New York International Auto Show Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach Team Shelby Northeast Region 50th Celebration Carlisle Ford Nationals Shelby American Automobile Club 37th Convention Ford/Shelby Mid-America Barrett-Jackson Orange County Shelby Cobra Association-Texas (SCAT) Northern California SAAC Mini-Nationals Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas

Jan 9-22 Jan 16-22 Feb 24-26 Mar 14-17 Apr 4-15 Apr 5-7 May 30-31 Jun 1-2 Jun 7-10 Jun 13-17 Jun 20-24 TBD Aug 1-5 Aug 15-19 Sep 19-22

Detroit, MI Scottsdale, AZ Boca Raton, FL Las Vegas, NV New York, NY Palm Beach, FL TBD Carlisle, PA Watkins Glen, NY Tulsa, OK Costa Mesa, CA Dallas, TX Sonoma, CA Pebble Beach, CA Las Vegas, NV

Shelby American 50th Anniversary Tour

In 2012, Shelby American will celebrate its golden anniversary. To honor this important milestone, Shelby American will launch a national tour that reaches millions of Shelby enthusiasts from coast to coast. The tour kicks off at the Detroit Auto Show, with stops at key automotive shows, track days and Concours events.

www.shelby50th.com

1965-66 HiPo Fan Spacer

Call or See our Web Site to get your copy!

M

Super nice reproduction. Correct for all 65-66 HiPo Mustangs and GT350’s. Cast Aluminum with original FoMoCo logo along with other markings just like the original.

New Print Catalog Now Available!

A C

EG-6445 ............ $49.95 PE-9811 Bolt set only for above .......$8.00

Roller Bushing Front Spring Perches

Improve your overall driveability with Front Coil Spring Perches with Roller Bearings! Fits 65-73 models.

SU-1291.... $199.00 pair

Shelby American Step Plate Labels 1966 GT-350 Shelby American Step Plate Labels. Feature raised script and border like original, adhesive back and protective coating. Please do not confuse these with the cheaper reproductions that are not embossed.

IN-6721..........$16.95 pair

www.VAMustang.com

Call: 540-896-2695 65 FoMoCo Fuel Pump Canister

Correct ribbing with proper silkscreened info. and logo.

ER-334................ $18.95

Autolite Battery

Very nice maintenance free AGM batteries.

EG-781 Group 24 .. $235.00 EG-782 Group 27 .. $255.00

289 HiPo Clutch Equalizer Bar

These Clutch “Z” Bars often need replacement, and this one is the real deal.

It’s just a super nice reproduction. We would not hesitate to use this on a high level Concours restoration. Fits 65-66 (remove top block for 66.)

BK-191............... $119.95

65 GT350 Battery Ground Cable

Correct Cable for rear trunk mounted battery. Proper lettering and terminals

WG-1381 .............................$24.95

Lots of other correct wiring and wiring harnesses are available.

65-66 GT350 Chrome Oil Cap Correct FoMoCo Stamping.

EG-3951 ......... $32.95

un•im•peach•a•ble adjective not able to be doubted, questioned, or criticized; entirely trustworthy

Protect yourself against counterfeits.

We authenticate Shelby cars and guarantee the authentication.

For information: RICHARD KOTTLE

RAI CORPORATION 9207 ARBOR BRANCH DRIVE #111 DALLAS TEXAS 75243 800-378-6364 rai@att.net www.raicorp.biz

MAECO Motorsport

Open Track and Vintage Race Preparation Full Mechanical and Body/Paint Services Engine Building and Trackside Support

MAECO Motorsport Northridge, CA 818-701-1923 maeco@maecomotorsport.com

LARGEST T INV NVENTORY N VENTORY

NO DR ROP SH HIPPING IPPING G

No other restoration s supplier has the inventory inventorry y we w do!

Over 98% instant fill-rate, we ship directly to you!

FA AST DE ELIVERY LIIVERY

REPUT EPUTATION E TATION 3DUWV DFFHVVRULHV DYDLODEOH IRU

1-3 day delive delivery erry y to most of the US! U

35 years of exceeding customer expectations!

665-73 5-73 M MUSTANG U S TA N G

Concours Correct SHELBY Parts!

O ffered ed Offered iin nT hree Three Colors!

Colors!

Starting at CUSTOM C U S T O M IN INSTRUMENT NSTRUMENT G AUGE A S S E M B LY 11965-66 965-66 GAUGE ASSEMBLY

$

21.50

TTAIL A ILL P PIPE I PEE EXTENSION EXTENSION

CONCOURS WIPER HOSE KITS C

TIE ROD, 1965-66 260, 289 89

&RQFRXUV FRUUHFW UHSUR LV H[DFW LQ H &RQFRXUV FRUUHFW UHSUR LV H[DFW LQ HYHU\

HYHU\ ZD\ \ (DFK FRQWRXU

U GLPHQVLRQ DQG

VORW KDV

ZD\ (DFK FRQWRXU GLPHQVLRQ DQG VORW KDV EHHQ SUHFLVHO\ UHFUHDWHG (YHQ WKH

H VWDPSHG EHHQ SUHFLVHO\ UHFUHDWHG (YHQ WKH VWDPSHG SDUW QXPEHU LV FRUUHFW ZKHUH UHTXLU

UHG SDUW QXPEHU LV FRUUHFW ZKHUH UHTXLUHG )LQLVKHG RI II I ZLWK EHDXWLIXO FKURPH S

SODWLQJ )LQLVKHG RII ZLWK EHDXWLIXO FKURPH SODWLQJ

6KHOE\ HDUO\ WZR SLHFH ZHOGHG 6KHOE\\ HDUO\ WZR SLHFH Z

ZHOGHG

VW\OH SDLU $ VW\OH SDLU $

6KHOE\ ODWH RQH SLHFH VWDPSHG

6KHOE\\ ODWH RQH SLHFH VWD

DPSHG

VW\OH SDLU VW\OH SDLU % %

6KHOE\ SLSH LQ SLSH VW\OH SDLU

6KHOE\\ SLSH LQ SLSH VW\OH

H SDLU

$ $

) )RU WKRVH ZKR ZLVK WR DFKLHYH D KLJKHU

OHYHO RI GHWDLO ZLWK \RXU FRQFRXUV FDU WKHVH OH

\

ZLSHU KRVHV DUH D PXVW KDYH 7KHVH H KRVHV ZLSHU KRVHV DUH D PXVW KDYH 7KHVH KRVHV RULJLQDOO\ KDG ULEELQJ RQ WKH VLGH WKDW LV RULJLQDOO\ KDG ULEELQJ RQ WKH VLGH WKD

W LV

GLVWLQFW ZKHQ FRPSDUHG WR WKH UHSODF

FHPHQW GLVWLQFW ZKHQ FRPSDUHG WR WKH UHSODFHPHQW VPRRWK KRVH 7KHVH NLWV KDYH EHHQ VPRRWK KRVH 7KHVH NLWV KDYH EHHQ UHSURGXFHG ZLWK WKH FRUUHFW ULEELQJ

% %

%

%

%

%

%

%

1HZ UHSURGXFWLRQV IHDWXUH FRUUHFW

W IRUJLQJV WKDW XWLOL]H D FRUUHFW VW\OH ERRW J J

\ ER RRW ZLWK PHWDO ULQJ DQG D VPRRWK ORZHU F

FRYHU ZLWK PHWDO ULQJ DQG D VPRRWK ORZHU FRYHU ZLWKRXW D ]HUN Ã&#x20AC;WWLQJ DV UHTXLUHG IRU FRQFRXUV MXGJLQJ 2XWHU 0 6 UHTG $ & 2XWHU U 0 6 UHTG

$ &

,QQHU U 0 6 UHTG

$ &

,QQHU 0 6 UHTG $ & 2XWHU /+ 3 6 $ &

2XWHU /+ 3 6 $ & 2XWHU 5+ 3 6 $ & $ &

,QQHU U /+ 3 6

$ &

,QQHU /+ 3 6 $ & $ & ,QQHU 5+ 3 6 $ &

,QQHU 5+ 3 6

0RGHUQ JDXJHV PRXQWHG WR D FXVWRP EDFNLQJ SODWH ´8QLWV DUH VROG ZLWKRXW WKH GDVK EH]HO DOORZLQJ WKH FXVWRPHU WR DGG WK

KH GDVK EH]HO DOORZLQJ WKH FXVWRPHU WR DGG WKH EH]HO WKDW PDWFKHV WKH UHVW RI WKHLU LQWHULRU µ EH]HO WKDW PDWFKHV WKH UHVW RI WKHLU LQWHULRU

U U µ %ODFN IDFH ZKLWH QXPHUDOV VSHHGR : R WDFK : R WDFK %$ %$

Z USP WDFK %%

Z USP WDFK %% :KLWH IDFH EODFN QXPHUDOV VSHHGR : R WDFK &$

: R WDFK &$ : USP WDFK &%

: USP WDFK &% %ODFN IDFH JUHHQ QXPHUDOV VSHHGR : R WDFK '$

: R WDFK '$ : USP WDFK '%

: USP WDFK '%

Laser L a Cut!

Perfec ect Perfect Woodgrain Woodgrain Det etail!

Detail!

6699 Deluxe D e l u x e Woodgrain Wo o d g r a i n Wh W Wheel heel $ EHDXWLIXO UHSURGXFWLRQ RI WKH GHOX[H $ EHDXWLIXO UHSURGXFWLRQ RI WKH GH

HOX[H VSRNH ZKHHO 7KLV ZKHHO IHDWXUHV VSRNH ZKHHO 7KLV ZKHHO IHDWX

XUHV H[FHOOHQW ZRRGJUDLQ GHWDLO DQG E

EULJKW H[FHOOHQW ZRRGJUDLQ GHWDLO DQG EULJKW WULP ULQJ ,W LV UHDG\ WR DFFHSW D QHZ ULP WULP ULQJ ,W LV UHDG\ WR DFFHSW D Q

QHZ ULP

EORZ VZLWFK DQG FHQWHU SDG DVVHPEO\ EORZ VZLWFK DQG FHQWHU SDG DVVH

HPEO\ DYDLODEOH VHSDUDWHO\

$

$

$

.95 95 34 E nough ffor o orr ttwo wo c ars s!!

Enough cars!

VALVE V A LV E ASSY, A S S Y, DISTRIBUTOR DIISS T R I B U T O R V ACCUM C ONTROL VACCUM CONTROL 1HDUO\ FRQFRXUV FRUUHFW 7KLV XQLW L 1HDUO\ FRQFRXUV FRUUHFW 7KLV XQLW LV

LV H[DFW LQ HYHU\ ZD\ WR WKH RULJLQDO H

H[FHSW H[DFW LQ HYHU\ ZD\ WR WKH RULJLQDO H[FHSW WKDW LW LV PLVVLQJ WKH FRUUHFW )RUG OR

RJR WKDW LW LV PLVVLQJ WKH FRUUHFW )RUG ORJR

$ $

$ $ $

ve! usiiv cllu NPD Ex

SSHAKER H A K ER E R CUT CUT O OUT UT H HOODS OODS

RUST R U S T PR PREVENTION REVENTION M MAGIC AGIC

([SDQGLQJ RQ RXU OLQH RI KRRGV ZLWK SUHFLVHO\ ORFDWHG ODVHU FXW VKDNHU KROHV SUHFLVHO\ ORFDWHG ODVHU FXW VKDNHU KR

ROHV 7KHVH KRRGV DUH QRZ DYDLODEOH ZLWK WKH 7KHVH KRRGV DUH QRZ DYDLODEOH ZLWK

WKH KRRG SLQ KROHV IRXQG RQ 0DFK Ò&#x2039;V

V

0DFK

0DFK 2( WRRO (

2( WRRO (

UHSUR UHSUR )

)

$ EUXVK RQ PHWDO SUHVHUYDWLYH WKDW JRHV $ EUXVK RQ PHWDO SUHVHUYDWLYH WKDW JRHV RQ VPRRWKO\ DQG GULHV WR D QHDUO\ LQYLVLEOH VKHHQ QR RLO\ ORRN RU IHHO EXW LW SURWHFWV PHWDO IURP UXVWLQJ OLNH QRWKLQJ ZH KDYH VHHQ MDU FRQWDLQV HQRXJK PDWHULDO IRU FDUV VHHQ MDU FRQWDLQV HQRXJK PDWHULDO IRU FD

DUV R] MDU $ R] MDU $

Complete Co omplete kit kit $

95 58.95

N CAROLINA - Charlotte, Charlotte, Local 7 04-331-0900 Local 704-331-0900

800-368-6451 1 MICHIGAN - Canton, Canton, LLocal ocal - 7 34-397-4569 734-397-4569

800-521-6104 4 FLORIDA - O Ocala, cala, L o c a l - 352-861-8700 3 52 2-861-8700 EEXTENSION XTE SSILICONE ILL I C O N E R RADIATOR A D I AT O R HO HOSE O S E SSET E T Local

K REE R EE COLOR COLOR CATALOG CATALOG HHARNESS, A RN N E S S , T-5 T- 5 BACK B A C K UP U P LIGHT L I G H T &XVWRP PDGH EODFN VLOLFRQH KRVHV ZLWK

UVW Q\ORQ UHLQIRUFHPHQWV KDYH D KLJKHU EXUVW :H KDG WKHVH KDUQHVVHV FXVWRP PDGH IRU : H H KDG WKHVH KDUQHVVHV FXVWRP PD

DGH IRU Q\ORQ UHLQIRUFHPHQWV KDYH D KLJKHU EX 665-73 5 - 7 3 Mustang Mustang UHVLVWDQFH DQG DUH ORQJHU ODVWLQJ WKDQ V

VWDQ CALIFORNIA - Ventura, UHVLVWDQFH DQG DUH ORQJHU ODVWLQJ WKDQ VWDQ Ve n t u r a , WKRVH ZLWK 7 FRQYHUVLRQV 7KHVH EULGJH WKRVH ZLWK 7 FRQYHUVLRQV

7KHVH EU ULGJH 779-93 9 - 9 3 Mustang Mustang GDUG UXEEHU KRVHV 3OXV WKH\ DGG D FOH

HDQ Local GDUG UXEEHU KRVHV 3OXV WKH\ DGG D FOHDQ WKH JDS IURP WKH EDFN XS OLJKW OHDG ZLUH WKH JDS IURP WKH EDFN XS OLJKW OHDG Z

ZLUH L o c a l - 805-654-0468 8 0 5 - 6 54 4-0468 SROLVKHG ORRN WR \RXU HQJLQH FRPSDUWP

PHQW SROLVKHG ORRN WR \RXU HQJLQH FRPSDUWPHQW RQ WKH VKLIW WXQQHO WR WKH WHUPLQDOV RQ WKH RQ WKH VKLIW WXQQHO WR WKH WHUPLQDOV RQ

Q WKH 48-79 4 8 - 7 9 F-Series F - S e r i e s Truck Tr u c k WUDQVPLVVLRQ FDVH (DFK KDUQHVV LV PDGH WUDQVPLVVLRQ FDVH (DFK KDUQHVV LV P

PDGH 6HW LQFOXGHV XSSHU DQG ORZHU UDGLDWRU 80-96 8 0 - 9 6 F-Series F - S e r i e s Truck Tr u c k KRVHV SOXV D ZDWHU SXPS E\SDVV KRVH

KRVHV SOXV D ZDWHU SXPS E\SDVV KRVH ZLWK WKH FRUUHFW FRQQHFWRUV RQ ERWK HQGV ZLWK WKH FRUUHFW FRQQHFWRUV RQ ERWK H

HQGV ZLWK D 3DVVHQJ

ZLWK D 3DVVHQJHU

JHU

$ $

$

66-96 6 6 - 9 6 Bronco Bronco

VLGH ZDWHU SXPS LQOHW VLGH ZDWHU SXPS LQOHW

%

%

Scan S can H Here ere 555-57 5 - 5 7 TThunderbird hunderbird

6$ 6$

to Visit Visit to Visit Vi V isit Us Online and d See Our NEW W Improvements s CALL C ALL 24 24 HOURS HOURS

F

800-874-7595 5 800-235-3445 5

352-387-0021 3 52-387-0021

WWW. WWW W.

NATIONALPARTSDEPOT NA TIONA ALP PARTSDEPOT T.CO ..COM OM

us online online us

LOW SH HIPPING NG RATES A

COUR OURTEOUS O TEOUS SE ERVICE RVIC CE

Free ground shipp shipping pping on orders over $300! $3 300!

Sales Sa ales staff available 24/7, or walk-in n Mo on.-Fri. 8am-9pm, Sat.-Sun. 8am-5pm pm Mon.-Fri.

&RS\ULJKW Â&#x2039; $OO ULJKWV UHVHUYHG &RS\ULJKW Â&#x2039; $OO ULJKWV

V UHVHUYHG

3ULFHV DQG VSHFLÃ&#x20AC;FDWLRQV DUH VXEMHFW WR FKDQJH

CAUTION: trying to read both books at once will cause your head to explode.

WORLD REGISTRY of COBRAS & GT40s

SAAC SHELBY REGISTRY 1965-1966-1967 4th Edition 2011

4t h Edi t i on

Cobras &GT40s. 1,618 pages; 2,848 photos. Hardcover; printed 8/2008. Includes CSX2000, CSX3000, COX & COB Cobras, Competition Cobras, Daytona Coupes, Dragonsnakes, CSX4000-7000-8000 Cobras, AC MK IVs, Kirkham Cobras, Superformance Daytona Coupes, GT40 MK I, MK II, MK III, MK IV, MK V. Superformance GT40s, ‘05-’06 Ford GTs. Specifications, Race History, Parts Lists, Part Numbers, Serial Number Locations, Mechanical Components List, Glossary of Terms, and lots more. Also includes the individual history of every car.

1965-1966-1967 Shelby. 1,351 pages, 1,315 photos. Hardcover; printed 1/2011. Includes Street cars, Prototypes, R-Models, Independent Racers, Vintage Racers, Drag cars, Paxton cars, Hertz cars, Convertibles, Continuation Convertibles, ‘66 Group I Rallye cars, ‘66 Group II Trans-Am cars, ‘67 Group II Trans-Am cars. Specifications, Race History, Parts Lists, Part Numbers, Serial Number Locations, Stripe Dimensions, Mechanical Components list, Homologation parts, DSOs explained, Glossary of Terms and lots more. Individual history of every car.

$225 + $20 for Priority Mail shipping in the U.S. Postage for Canada: $33. Europe: $51.50, Japan, Australia, New Zealand: $67.

$200 + $20 for Priority Mail shipping in the U.S. Postage for Canada: $26.95. Everywhere else: $43.45

SHIPPINGADDRESS

PAYMENT

Name _________________________________________

Check (U.S. funds only; payable to “SAAC”)

Address _______________________________________

Visa

_______________________________________

Mastercard

AmEx

Discover

Number _______________________________________

City/State/Zip ___________________________________

Card Expires ______________

Country _______________________________________

Name on Card __________________________________

SAAC POBOX13271 LEXINGTON KY 40583-3271 email:membership@saac.com fax: 859-368-0222

ped ks ship all boo diately imme

POSTERS POSTERS POSTERS POSTERS CREATED BY SAAC

POSTERS POSTERS

Tired of looking at an empty wall? We can fix that.

“Shelby Decade” 24”x36” $20. Hollywood Movie posters, 16”x20”: $15 each/4 for $50/8 for $75/12 for $100. World Champion, 16”x20”: $15. Buccaneer posters 24” x 18”: 2 for $20. We pay postage on all US orders. All credit cards, PayPal, check or money order.

SAAC, PO Box 910193, Lexington, KY 40591-0193 membership@saac.com

BACK ISSUES OF THE SHELBY AMERICAN Are we missing something? Occasionally SAAC members ask us about a particular subject or car. When we tell them that it was covered a few years ago in an past issue of The Shelby American, we often get a dull, limp-lidded, open-mouth stare. As if there is some kind of taboo against a new member purchasing an issue that was printed before they joined the club. We have been publishing club magazines since January, 1976.

There have been 30 issues of the original, small Marque magazines, 44 issues of the larger Shelby American issues, and 12 editions of the on-line Shelby American, bound into three separate annuals. That’s a lot of magazines, covering a lot of subjects and close to 10,000 photos. If you’ve read them all, you’re up to speed. And if you haven’t, back issues are available on various auction websites, occasionally through the SAAC forum, and about a dozen are still available from SAAC’s membership headquarters. For $10 each you’ll get a virgin, never-before-opened copy full of new (to you) articles and pictures. The annuals are $25 and each one is about 300 pages. Our supplies will not last forever.

#55

#56

#57

#65

#66

#67

#68

#70

#72

#73

#74

#75

2009 ANNUAL

2010 ANNUAL

2011 ANNUAL

Available through the SAAC Website: www.saac.com > go to “SAAC STORE”

Ok, admit it. You like this club, but... a year passes so quickly that it seems like you’re being hounded to renew your membership every time you turn around. If that describes you, then we have a solution. Over the years, we’ve received suggestions that we offer multi-year memberships. We never really warmed to that idea, mostly because at the time, our database wasn’t set up to handle it, And also because we didn’t like the idea of keeping credit card information on file. It wasn’t like we were afraid of a bunch of black-suited ninjas sneaking into the place and grabbing a copy of the database and then selling the credit card information (as well as all of the embarrassing photos of Pardee that we have accumulated). It was just that we didn’t want the responsibility. But we’d like to give the multiple year membership idea a try, realizing that it’s not for everyone. So here’s the deal: renew your SAAC membership for two years ($100), three years ($150) or four years ($200) and we will send you 4, 8 or 12 SAAC Hollywood Movie posters. We did these posters in groups of four, starting back in 1995.

We thought they were the best we had seen at the time; nothing short of magnificent. Larry Gardinier is a genius with an airbrush. Since then we haven’t seen any Shelby or Cobra posters to change that opinion. So, here’s how to make the multi-year magic happen (and keep those pesky renewal reminders out of your in-box). EXTRA BONUS ! Once you renew at the $50 annual rate you are inoculated against any membership dues increases in the future.

CHECK OR MONEY ORDER.

CREDIT CARD BY FAX

Please make the check payable to “SAAC.” Indicate your poster preferences (they’re all stunning, so it will be a difficult choice).

Mail to: SAAC Membership Office PO Box 910193 Lexington KY 40591-0193

We need the following: •Cardholder’s Name •Expiration Date •CCV (3 or 4 digit number) •Cardholder Billing Address •Amount to be charged •Member’s Name (if different from cardholder) • Poster Choices.

859-256-0140

E-MAIL YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION

PAY VIA PAYPAL Please note which posters you would like.

We need the following: •Cardholder’s Name •Expiration Date •CCV (3 or 4 digit number) •Cardholder Billing Address •Amount to be charged •Member’s Name (if different from cardholder) • Poster Choices. membership@saac.com

membership@saac.com

Note: If you don’t tell us which posters you would like we’ll send you our favorites, one of which will be the R-Model poster.