- The Shelby Cobra
- The Mustang GT-350
- The Dodge Viper
How many muscle car dreams were started or fulfilled by Carroll Shelby?
Thanks for shoving huge engines into cool cars, Carroll.
Whew, that took a long time, since he was racing with a nitroglycerine tablet under his tongue in the '50s. And how many hearts and livers did he go through? The man was as fond of body part swaps as he was engine swaps.
Goodbye, Shel. If a chicken farmer from Texas could do it by setting his mind and working hard, the rest of us have a chance.
Don’t forget the Mustang GT-500 and his version of the GT40.
I have no doubt that my list is horribly incomplete.
Don’t forget the chili!
Long live the Cobra, and RIP Carroll.
I wouldn’t even know who he was if it weren’t for Bill Cosby’s “200 M.P.H” routine, which I link in his honor. Piiiipes!
First thing I thought of, and didn’t even click on your link. Whatchew doin’ drivin’ them furrin cars?
For those who aren’t “car guys” this story is basically Cosby’s telling of a true story. Carol Shelby built two AC427 Super Snakes… one he kept for himself, and one he gave to Cosby. Cosby eventually sold it because he couldn’t keep it under control. The second owner couldn’t either and crashed it.
I believe Carol recently sold his at auction, but I’m not positive about that. It was expected to go for multi-millions.
Found this if you want to see what Cosby was talking about.
Sorry to reply to my own post, but missed the edit window. Found it, it sold at auction in 2007 for 5.5 million. Cosby’s along with it’s new owner drove off a cliff and into the Pacific Ocean… neither survived.
That is NOT Carroll Shelby’s version of the GT40. The GT40 Mk. IV was produced by Ford’s engineers as an extension upon their J car design. Shelby certainly had considerable input, as he was running the company’s LeMans program, but it’s a Ford product constructed in Shelby’s shops.
Shelby was a liar, a cheat, and a scammer. He was also a winner of LeMans 1958 and an exceptional team manager for the 1966 and 1967 Ford LeMans teams. Beyond 1967 he was mostly just an asshole with an inflated ego. The Viper was an iconic muscle car, but a poor road car and fared even worse as a race car. Nevertheless, I salute him for bringing the USA it’s only LeMans victory with American drivers.
Nice thread shit… and in and obit thread even.
I never met the man, but he did some good things in my opinion.
And I believe he’d agree with it all.
Shelby[ul]
[li]put a big Ford engine in a roadster designed by AC and created the Cobra.[/li][li]gave that roaster a hardtop and created the Cobra Daytona.[/li][li]gave the Mustang a fastback roof and created the GT350.[/li][li]put a bigger engine in the fastback and created the GT500.[/li][li]modernized the old Cobra design and created the Viper.[/ul][/li]
Building someone else’s design was par for the course.
The first Shelby…
And the last.
Together. He didn’t make it to the unveiling. I’m wondering if there was a connection with this.
There’s little I can say. I didn’t know the man personally. My dad did.
Loved his cars. Shelby Mustangs in particular.
QFT. That’s some good chili.
So, you can only be successful if you re-invent the wheel each time?
Let’s not forget the Dodge Omni GLH; maybe not the greatest car ever, but one of the greatest names.
[quote=“Lute Skywatcher, post:14, topic:621643”]
Shelby[ul]
[li]put a big Ford engine in a roadster designed by AC and created the Cobra.[/li][/QUOTE]
At least a decade after everyone else had. See Allard and Kurtis 500S
[quote=“Lute Skywatcher, post:14, topic:621643”]
[li]gave that roadster a hardtop and created the Cobra Daytona.[/li][/QUOTE]
Pete Brock. Completely different car than the AC.
[quote=“Lute Skywatcher, post:14, topic:621643”]
[li]gave the Mustang a fastback roof and created the GT350.[/li][/QUOTE]
Semi-fastback Mustang was on the drawing boards long before Shelby convinced Ford to offer the GT-350. The GT-350 was an great race car and kicked butt on every circuit in the country. I have less respect for any Shelby Mustang created after 1966, as they were watered down for street use but Shelby did a good job putting together the initial batch. The GT-350 could not have been created without knowledge from Ford’s earlier efforts with the Falcon as a rallye and saloon car racer in Europe. The Mustang was built on a Falcon chassis.
[quote=“Lute Skywatcher, post:14, topic:621643”]
[li]put a bigger engine in the fastback and created the GT500.[/li][/QUOTE]
Yeah, that probably took months of thought. The GT500 was a pig that could only go in a straight line. Evidence of this is the fact that none were ever turned into race cars. Instead, credit goes to Jim Wangers and John DeLorean for creating the GTO and making it possible to put a big engine in a less than full-sized car.
[quote=“Lute Skywatcher, post:14, topic:621643”]
[li]modernized the old Cobra design and created the Viper.[/li][/QUOTE]
I think Corvette fans would have a fair argument that they carried the torch all those years. The Viper was created to challenge the Vette, not the Cobra.
[/ul]
Winning LeMans as both a driver and a team manager was a formidable accomplishment. He deserves respect for that. Convincing Ford to sell a street-legal GT350 was a difficult task, even though Henry Ford II was deep into racing at that time. And we’ve forgotten to mention the Dodge Omni GLH-S which was a remarkable hot rod for it’s time. Oh, I see that Robot Arm almost did. The GLH wasn’t his. The S was for Shelby.
But there was a reason why Ford didn’t want him to continue running their Trans-Am team. There was a reason why they booted him from the Shelby Mustang project in 1968. Nobody believes that he forgot he had few unassembled 427 Cobras sitting in a warehouse for thirty years. Ask someone how those Shelby Series 1s stacked up against their competition and how they they’ve recouped the investment cost several times over. Read any post-1970 magazine article on him in the enthusiast magazines and they’ll all at least hint that he was a shyster.