Classic & Sports Car, February 2001

Classic & Sports Car, February 2001

The Wild Bunch
Interview with Carroll Shelby

The Wild Bunch

Richard Heseltine tames a trio of Shelby-sanctioned tearaways: AC 289 Mk.III, Mustang GT350 and Sunbeam Tiger Mk.2

Even if you've never so much as sat in an AC Cobra, you already know what it's like. Life is packed full of people who'll trap you in corners and tell you stories bordering on the supernatural - of a car so wild, so untameable that only the foolhardy or suicidal would venture anywhere near it. If these tales are to be believed, piloting a Cobra is a bit like sticking your head in a lion's mouth while flicking its love spuds with a wet towel.
It's a case of character by proxy - like all of Carroll Shelby's automotive brood. The mystique clinging to the Cobra - and to a lesser degree its Mustang and Tiger siblings - invokes an irrational, hallucinatory overload in enthusiasts so intimidating that, on seeing his machines, all you can do is stand and gawp.
Their reputations precede them. More than any other car before or since, the Cobra has invaded popular culture and has to be one of the most easily identifiable (and copied) body styles ever. The name has become the generic term for all - whether real or replica.
The original of the species offers an accurate reflection of its creator: bold, brash and charismatic, with the untouchability of an icon. Not that it was genuinely original. Dropping a big engine into a small car was nothing new, but persuading its manufacturer and engine builder to realise the vision was. The Cobra married the AC Ace's true-blue, buttoned-up Britishness with Californian hot-rodding ingenuity - Phil Remington helped to install the 260cu.in Ford V8 engine in the prototype at Dean Moon's shop back in '62.
While the legend that has built up around all things Shelby American is often tinged with inverted criticism - 'crude but effective', that sort of thing - these comments soon sound more like a come-on than a put-down. Everyone who thinks they're a bit of a driver imagines that they could give these beasties a good pedalling: break 'em in and show 'em who's boss. What's more, they're probably right as, shock horror, these cars are feisty but friendly. No, really, they are.

Carol Conners sang Hey Little Cobra

Shelby with 289 ....

.... and in 260 at Dean Moon's Shop

Shelby's racers head-to-head in '65 ABCD Production event

The Tiger is easily the most approachable. Well, it looks like a Sunbeam Alpine - that is to say pretty in a slightly effete way - but the addition of chunky Minilite wheels and subtle stripes are obvious hints at performance. That, and the Ford 289cu.in V8 crammed under the bonnet. And it was Shelby's legendary racing engineer Ken Miles who did the cramming in '63, at the behest of Rootes' West Coast manager, Ian Gerrard, for $600 (Shelby had quoted $10,000). The moonlighting ex-pat hastily assembled the first candyapple red test hack but, for all his undoubted talents, the car needed lots of sorting. The first pukka prototype was subsequently built by Shelby's team, with an MGB steering rack and Studebaker Champion final drive, plus considerable input from 'rodding icon Doane Spencer.
Sunbeam Tiger accelerating (11 Kb)

Tiger set 12.95 sees standing quarter at Vaca Valley ....

Sunbeam Tiger at UK show debut (20 Kb)

.... and at its UK show debut

Sunbeam Tiger advertisement (11 Kb)

Compared to the oh-so-British-looking Tiger, the Mustang GT350 is a fiery amalgam of Detroit excess and European restraint. It was born of Ford's marketing executives' fear that their pony car didn't have enough of a performance image to maintain sales against Chevrolet's forthcoming Camaro and Plymouth's Barracuda that had been making inroads into Mustang sales. What was needed was a little Shelby magic. In went the Hi-Po version of the 289 V8, but with a four-barrel Holley carburettor and four-into-one side exit exhausts boosting power from the usual 271 to 306bhp. In order to make it eligible for SCCA events, out went the back seat, while the front top wishbones were relocated 1in lower. Koni shockers and thicker anti-roll bar were added, and the tough '9in' rear axle featured larger rear brakes from the Fairlane station wagon. Nothing too exotic but effective nonetheless.
GT350s in Venice Beach (7 Kb)

GT350s being prepared in Venice Beach

GT350 advertisements (15 Kb)

In the flesh, the car's form is beautifully balanced, but none-too-subtle scoops down the vast flanks, and that gaping chasm for a grille, make it more down and dirty. If the Tiger is the ingénue of the piece, the big Ford's poor white trash that's been round the block and back again. It's just plain horny, especially in black after owner Sam Smart eschewed the charismatic Peter Brock-penned Wimbledon-white-with-two-blue-le-Mans-stripes look.
Mustang GT350 (26 Kb)

Competition clutch makes for tricky starts but noise is awesome.

Mustang GT350 engine bay (11 Kb)

Export brace and Monte Carlo bar feature on all real GT350s.

Mustang GT350 interior (9 Kb)

Road-going Mustang sports essential racing goodies, with intriguing array of toggle switches, fire extinguisher and substantial roll cage.

Mustang GT350 (27 Kb)

Then there's the AC 289 MkIII. While its narrow-bodied forerunners fuse delicacy with lean, muscular tension, there's a singlemindedness to this car's uncompromising appearance, heightened by those glorious Halibrands filling out the arches. It positively glowers with defiance. Forget pert and pretty, this is about lantern-jawed butchness and aggression. To some, it's the last great variation on the theme - combining the light-ish Ford small-block and new coil spring suspension set-up with the (lightly reworked) body style of the 427, the apparent purpose of the 7-litre monster being to steal the 'my engine's bigger than yours' crown from Enzo.
This seriously modded '66 MkIII is easily as fast as a big-block. It's searingly quick: stomach-churning yet never life-threatening - packing a 4l0bhp quad Weber 48 downdraughts-equipped 289 Hi-Po V8, which, combined with cold tyres and a sodden track, ought to make for an interesting insurance claim. Having squeezed yourself into the cosy, hip-hugging race bucket and grappled the harnesses into submission, you're faced with a bewildering array of knobs, gauges and buttons to play with. The wheel is tiny and the pedals are closely coupled, yet you can still wear Doc Martens without catching all three at once.
Then you turn the key. There's noise and there's the sort of thunderous, bellowing, oh-my-God roar of this race-prepped V8. Flex the throttle pedal and there's no shaking or vibration, just devilish intent. Let loose the competition clutch - the biting point is near the top - and the massive rear boots eat into the asphalt: acceleration is otherworldly.

Trackstar 289 features tight-fitting bucket seat for driver and rollover hoop. Battery lives in passenger footwell.

Race-spec 289's quad Weber 48IDA carbs help to boost output to 410bhp: 271 was Hi-Po standard.

This is performance at its most raw, almost visceral. But it's also instantly accessible. This is obviously a well-developed machine, honed over two decades of racing, but it hasn't been modified out of all recognition. Its steering couldn't be more communicative - it seems to be wired into your cerebral cortex, flattering your efforts. Turn-in is immaculate; a little too much throttle will kick out the tail in a heartbeat, yet this is such a benign old thing that you get the impression it'll help you out should you overdo it. So you try that little bit harder, which is where you begin to appreciate that Bob Bondurant and Alan Grant were pretty handy after all. Become overconfident on a wet track in a car with this much power and you swiftly discover that there's a fine line between grip and slip. To get the most out of this machine you ideally need balls the size of a small continent, but, at six-tenths, mere mortals feel like budding blacktop warriors.
The AC is patently more at home in the twisty confines of the Curborough sprint course than the Mustang. Having negotiated this car's rollcage assault course, you're confronted with the typical '60s Stateside glitzy dash - sports car this isn't. But fire it up and you sense that, instead of an ignition key, there should be a large red button - the sort of thing that a president would press just before the world ends. This GT350 sounds like Armageddon, only more strident. Mindful of the competition clutch, warnings from the owner that the gearbox might take a little getting used to and that the steering's on the heavy side, anticipation is tainted with trepidation before you've even moved off the line. Which takes some effort because of the fierce clutch. The GT350 isn't as quick as the MkIII owing to its vast tonnage, but it's still blindingly rapid and the change of the factory four-speed 'box is a delight, in spite of Smart's concerns, with long, crisp movements. Blipping on the downchange isn't really necessary, but is amusing nonetheless.
Try to carry too much speed into corners and the front end invariably ploughs on. It's a vast improvement over the under-damped underwhelming factory fastbacks, but not in the same league as its roadster sister. Ease off a little, reapply the gas and the tail twitches like a budgie with a facial tic. With plenty of caster and high-geared steering, tugging the small wheel from one turn to the next is marginally less strenuous than giving Bernard Manning a fireman's lift - but you still cannot stop smiling. There's a sense of occasion, an impression that the car just wants to go plain fast - in a straight line. The brakes are stiff and you need to give them a rigorous pumping before they wake from their slumber and even then there isn't that much feel. This isn't a bad handling car, far from it, but the suspicion lingers that the Mustang would be better suited to blasting through the mid-west than spiralling round the Staffordshire badlands. You certainly gain a new appreciation of Peter Schetty for campaigning one in the '66 European Hillclimb championship. He must have had forearms like Popeye's.
But the Tiger has to be the pick of the bunch: it's a honey. Named in honour of the great pre-WW2 recordbreaker, this glorious machine could be the ultimate Q-car. This example boasts a few "subtle mods" - mainly a 300bhp version of the 289, which, bearing in mind that the Alpine which begat the Tiger was itself a Hillman Husky in drag, should prompt a night in casualty. From the driver's narrow and surprisingly flat throne, the elevated driving position is hampered by the large wheel that virtually rests on your knees.
All the expected visual symbols of the British sports car ideal are here - varnished plank liberally sprinkled with instruments, switches et al.
Sunbeam Tiger (27 Kb)

Understated Tiger Mk2 looks discreet in this company, ....

Sunbeam Tiger engine bay (11 Kb)

.... but this one packs near 300bhp from its 4.7 litre unit. Just 571 Mk2s made.

Sunbeam Tiger interior (9 Kb)

Trad British approach in Tiger's cabin, with pot-pourri of wood, switches and leather.

Sunbeam Tiger (27 Kb)

Anti-tramps bars help to moderate its behaviour.

Despite sharing the basic 289cu.in motor with the others, the Tiger sounds more subdued, almost refined. Arrive at the first corner, change down into second and the tail swings out as the tyres scrabble for grip. Apply some corrective lock and the car's immediately pointing the right way again. No bravado on the driver's part - anyone even remotely handy and, with that all-important self-preservation instinct, could pilot one of these quickly. At least that's the first impression but there remains the inkling that, should you get too carried away, the car could bite back, especially when you consider the car's short wheelbase. The steering has an unexpected immediacy, which, allied to the four-speed 'box's glorious click-click change, makes this a remarkably enjoyable car to drive. And that gnarly engine note just gets better the more you press on. It's just such a crying shame that the car's life was so brief, from 1964-'68: Chrysler's takeover of Rootes put paid to anything with a Ford engine.
Of the three, the big-hearted, utterly endearing Mustang is the least involving. It's a wonderful, boisterous old thing that's eager to please, but, in this company, it's on to a loser. Even the omnipresent Ken Miles, who spent months punting the prototype around the tortuous Willow Springs during the development phase, would have had trouble hustling it around Curborough. The Cobra is life-affirming - like driving an oversized Caterham with huge gobs of power: absolutely glorious. But they're never going to be within reach of the great unwashed. Replicas - even very good ones - can never come close to offering the charms of the real thing. So why have sloppy seconds when you can get the AC's performance, with much of the charisma, by buying a Tiger? It might lack iconic status, but it's a fraction of the price and a fabulous car in its own right. What's more, you'll never have to endure being asked: "Is it a real one?"

Tiger's flame burns bright
Robin Sherwood (6 Kb)

Robin Sherwood is, by his own admission, a bit of a fast-car junkie. His Tiger shares garage space with a Maserati Bora (C&SC, April 2000) while his everyday transport is a 1400cc full-race Mini with a five-speed Jack Knight 'box using straight-cut gears. But the Tiger still has the biggest draw. He's had it for more than 10 years and the car has recently benefited from a superbly executed restoration. So what's its appeal? "I love the Tiger's looks but obviously the noise it makes is just fantastic - it isn't obnoxiously loud but people know when it's coming." The Sunbeam's pushing out around 300bhp, thanks to a few choice mods, and the suspension sports a few tweaks, not least of which are rear anti-tramp bars. "I like it as it is now," says Sherwood, "but some owners are converting their car to five-speeds with Borg-Warner 'boxes from BMWs, but I won't go down that route. I like having more power but don't want to modify it too much."

Engine front-mounted all-iron pushrod ohv 4727cc Ford V8, bore and stroke 101.6 x 72.9mm, compression ratio 8.8:1, two-barrel Autolite carburettor
Construction steel monocoque
Gearbox four-speed manual
Suspension front: independent, by wishbones, coil springs and anti-roll bar; rear: live axle and semi-elliptic leaf springs
Brakes discs front, drums rear
Steering rack and pinion
Length 13ft
Width 5ft 0.5in
Height 4ft 3.5in
Weight 2525lb
0-60mph 7.5 secs
Top speed 124mph
Fuel consumption 19mpg
Price new £1470 11s 6d
Price now £12,000+

Smart money's on the GT350
Sam Smart (6 Kb)

Sam Smart is primarily an AC man. A leading light in the Owners' Club, his other car is a Cobra Mk.IV, and his wife Linzi is the club's photographer. So why did he buy the Mustang? "I like the '60s era of racing and wanted a V8. I considered a Falcon like [C&SC contributor] Julian Balme's. The Mustang won in the end, I suppose, because of its looks." And the black paint finish? "Well, of course, Hertz had a thousand Shelbys during the '60s in black and gold, but I wasn't too keen on the graphics and all the ones you see at meetings are white with blue stripes. I just wanted to be different. The same goes for the Minilites." A successful driver in FIA GT events, Smart ensures his Mustang gets considerable street action: "It's a great road car but it can be hard work on the track - the steering being especially heavy thanks to all the caster adjustment - and you need to constantly pump the brakes. It's a lot of fun though."

Engine front-mounted all-iron pushrod ohv 4727cc Ford V8, bore and stroke 101.6 x 72.9mm, compression ratio 10.1:1, four-barrel Holley carburettor
Construction steel monocoque
Gearbox four-speed manual
Suspension front: independent, by wishbones, coil springs and anti-roll bar; rear: live axle, semi-elliptic leaf springs and radius arms
Brakes discs front, drums rear
Steering recirculating ball
Length 15ft 1.8in
Width 5ft 8.2in
Height 4ft 3.5in
Weight 2800lb
Max power 306bhp @ 6000rpm
Max torque 329lbft @ 4200rpm
0-60mph 6.5 secs
Top speed 119mph
Fuel consumption 16mpg
Price new (1965) $4500
Price now £18,000+

Bridges builds on 289 power

Watching Bill Bridges powersliding his '66 289 around Curborough is a lesson in car control. The car was originally owned by Lord Liverpool before going to boxer Billy 'The Blond Bomber' Walker. During the '80s, it was campaigned by Aiden Mills-Thomas before passing to Bridges. It has competed in more than 300 races and won around 80, but it's still very much a street car. "It's great fun on the road," says Bridges, "very different to the Porsche 911s I used to drive. I toyed with getting a Carrera RS but I'm glad I went for the AC. It's enormous fun and sounds phenomenal."

Engine front-mounted all-iron pushrod ohv 4727cc Ford V8, bore and stroke 101.6 x 72.9mm, compression ratio 10.1:1, four-barrel Holley carburettor
Construction aluminium body over twin main tube chassis with hoops and cross bracing
Gearbox four-speed manual
Suspension independent all round, by unequal length wishbones, coil springs and Armstrong telescopic dampers
Brakes Girling discs all round
Steering rack and pinion
Length 13ft
Width 5ft 8in
Height 4ft 1in
Weight 2282lb
Max power 271bhp @ 6000rpm
Max torque 312lbft @ 3400rpm
0-60mph 5.6 secs
Top speed 135.3mph
Fuel consumption 15.2mpg
Price new (1965) £2454 9s 7d
Price now £75,000+

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Carroll Sings

Carroll Shelby (16 Kb)
Mick Walsh gets the inside line from racing's red hot chilli prepper Shelby

One of the highlights of American sports car racing in the mid-'50s was Carroll Shelby's association with the 'Kingfish Engineer' John Edgar. The fabulously wealthy sportsman supplied several big-banger sports cars, including an ex-Fangio Ferrari 410 and a Maserati 450S, for the tall Texan to pedal to an impressive run of results through 1956 and '57. The no-expense-spared equipe included a 100mph transporter and an unlimited party budget. Shelby's wide, winning smile fitted well with Edgar's dazzling, boozy lifestyle and the two became firm friends.
"John was heir to the Hobart fortune and raced hydroplanes before the war," recalls Shelby. "He was quick but had a few big accidents." Shelby never forgot his old team boss and continued to visit Edgar, then teetotal, in his Beverly Hills retreat until cancer took him in 1972. The two had some fantastic memories to chew over. When Shelby and the lovely Jan Harrison decided to get married, Edgar drove them to Tijuana in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, serving Champagne and caviar en route.
Shelby and Jan Harrison (15 Kb)

Shelby with second wife Jan Harrison and Edgar's Maser 450s

Some, such as Phil Hill, distrusted Edgar for his drinking habit, but Shelby loved every minute of those wild years. 'In New York they took suites at The Plaza, sped cars off to Hawaii, Nassau and Cuba, cooked chilli together in Hollywood and laughed everywhere,' recalled John Edgar's son William in American Sports Car Racing in the 1950s. Despite the extensive partying, Shelby chalked up some impressive victories in "those big hawgs." The sight of the talented Texan wrestling with these monster Italian exotics around sun-baked tracks at Riverside and Palm Springs was legendary.
Racing was in Shelby's blood from an early age. Born in east Texas in 1923, and raised in Dallas, his love for fast cars came from his father, Warren Hall Shelby, a mail carrier who regularly took his son, and best buddy Ed Wilkins, to local tracks. "The sight of a bunch of backyard bombs skidding on loose dirt," remembers Shelby, "all trying to claw their way round turns under full throttle, really fired me up and made me want to become a race driver."
Shelby dealership (13 Kb)

Shelby dealership was sold to Jim Hall

Through jobs as diverse as chicken farming, a trucking business and being a partner in a hamburger stand, he remained determined to race. It was his school buddy Ed Wilkins who finally made it happen for the then 29-year old. From drag racing a Wilkins home-built special and winning an Oklahoma road race in a borrowed MG TC, Shelby was on his way. Later came impressive guest drives in Allards, including one at Fort Worth when he first wore the trademark bib and braces - after rushing there from the chicken farm. They were cool and comfortable, and the resulting press coverage encouraged Shelby to adopt them as race gear.
Shelby in '54 Carrera Race (6 Kb)

Shelby's '54 Carrera ended in huge accident

A major turning point came with an invite to compete in the '54 Argentine 1000km: "Dale Duncan and I finished 10^th in a Cadillac-powered J2X, and Peter Collins introduced me to John Wyer, who seemed quite impressed with the way I'd driven." After a works DB3S outing at Sebring, Shelby, with no promises from Wyer, ventured to Europe. The high jinks started when the duo drove a DB3S from England to the Mille Miglia start: "We got stopped by gendarmes for speeding. Just as they let us off Pete shouted: 'Tous les flics mangent la merde.' They were ready for us in the next village and we were lucky not to be thrown in jail." A strong second at a wet Aintree further impressed Wyer, but, after a frustrating debut at Le Mans, Shelby's best result was fifth at Monza.

Centro Sud's 250F at '58 British GP (10 Kb)

Centro Sud's 250F at '58 British GP

In 1958, Shelby gave Europe a second chance. Although the results in second-string cars such as Centro Sud's outdated 250F were frustrating, Wyer remained convinced about the American's skill as a sports car driver. The payback was impressive wins in 1959 at Le Mans and Goodwood in the championship-winning DBR1. "If you want my honest opinion about Le Mans," says Shelby, "I think it's much too long. It knocks the hell out of a driver and it knocks the hell out of a car, and I don't know what it really proves. But I wouldn't have missed 1959 for the world, despite the dysentery that seemed to hit Roy [Salvadori] and me every time we went there. Apart from fatigue, particularly at 11am, when you feel as though the race is never going to end, the closest scare I had was during my night spell. A couple of times I had to take to the grass to avoid some of those poop-poopers who never look in their mirrors. At about kilometre six on the Mulsanne, when your foot's well in, I had to get on the outside at 145mph to avoid a shunt. In that situation you think pretty fast."
Aston Martin DBR1 at '59 Le Mans (19 Kb)

Aston Martin DBR1 at '59 Le Mans (19 Kb)

DBR1 at '59 Le Mans

But his most amusing incident happened driving down victory lane: "David Brown was as proud as a peacock and changed into his latest tweed suit. He got in and was horrified at the oil swimming around. Then along comes this enthusiastic Frenchman who dumps Miss Europe right in his lap. That one contact was enough to smear 24 hours of oil and dirt all over his immaculate clothes. He was mad and a nervous wreck at the ceremony."
Carroll Shelby (10 Kb)

Shelby with crew chief Parnell and boss Brown.

"I hadn't eaten a thing during the race but kept going on bottles of Coke. Before I knew it, some joker tilted a magnum of Champagne into my mouth. I only had three swallows, but, 15 minutes later, I was running around drunker than a billygoat. Eventually John Bolster helped me back to the Aston shooting brake, so I could get a well-earned rest. Winning Le Mans was probably the greatest thrill I got out of racing, but it bugged me that an American car had never won, despite the valiant efforts of Briggs Cunningham." Shelby would be instrumental in putting that right when Ford triumphed seven years later.
A heart condition was to cut short Shelby's racing career, but, even in his final year, he lost none of his fire - on or off the track. Early in the season he signed up with 'Lucky' Casner's Camoradi equipe to drive a Maserati Tipo 61 'Birdcage' but the two fell out big-time after Shelby's first win for the team in the Herald Examiner Grand Prix at Riverside, which carried a lucrative $20,000 purse. So the Texan secretly loaded the Birdcage on to a transporter and towed it to Dean Moon's shop, where it was held hostage until the deal was resolved: "Lucky had Champagne taste and a beer budget but you've got to give him credit for getting Goodyear into motor sport."
Shelby rates the demon Maser as one of the best cars he raced: "It was light and as fast as a hare. It had all the scat a driver could use and the kind of roadability that many designers dream about, but don't succeed in putting across. Alfieri was a brilliant engineer."
His last win came in an all-American machine, the Meister Brau team's Scarab at Continental Divide, Colorado. Another win looked in the bag at Elkhart Lake, when he set the pace in Max Balchowsky's legendary special Ol' Yaller - ahead of a trio of Birdcages - chalking up $50 a lap before the gearbox blew: "Max was more worried about his $40 Jag gearbox than the $10,000 prize money we'd lost. That car had brutal, adhesion-busting power, but it was also perfectly tractable as a street car. The mechanics got so bored of trailering Ol' Yaller from California they dropped the racer off and drove it from Iowa to Wisconsin."
By mid-season Shelby was in serious pain: "My angina pectoris began getting pretty rough and those pains in my chest kept coming back. The doctors insisted I should quit, but I wanted to win the US sports car championship and accepted Frank Harris' invite to drive his Birdcage." Shelby ended his driving career at Laguna Seca, in the final of the Pacific Grand Prix for Sports Cars: "I found myself up against three of the hardest pushers in the business - Stirling Moss, Augie Pabst and Billy Krause. I finished fourth. In that company you couldn't afford to be anywhere but right on your toes. And that was it. I went home, hung up my hat and quit for good. What was I trying to prove by going on with a bum ticket? At least I still had my dream ofbuilding my own sports car."
Shelby maintains the key to success in life is taking advantage of the right opportunity: "The Cobra occurred to me when I got the news that the Bristol Aeroplane Company had stopped building automobile engines for AC. The light, strong, tubular Ace chassis was the ideal medium for an American V8, so I airmailed a letter to Thames Ditton, suggesting we might drop a V8 into it." At the time Shelby had a Chevy, Oldsmobile or a Buick engine in mind but Pete Brock of Hot Rod magazine told him about Ford's new lightweight 'thinwall' cast-iron small-block. A lucky meeting at Pike's Peak with Dave Evans, head of Ford's stock car racing programme, gave Shelby a valuable 'in' at Dearborn. Charles Hurlock's favourable response at AC encouraged Shelby to contact Evans, and won a loyal convert to his sports car dream. The result was two Fairlane engines for Shelby to "play around with". Hot-rodder Moon's LA workshop proved the ideal place to "hop-up" the new V8s, while an early 221cu.in unit was shipped to AC.
The first car wasn't ready for evaluation until February 1962: "It was a hunk of dynamite, but, compared to the production Cobra, you wouldn't be far off calling it a dog. AC engineers had worked hard modifying the Ace to take the V8, but when we started hitting bumps at 135mph the trouble began. One of the main problems was the worm-and-sector steering, and the front spindles (stub axles) just couldn't take the performance. In the end we changed just about everything - even those buggy springs off Tojeiro. But AC did a great job: nobody ever gives Alan Turner enough credit."
Long before the prototype, CSX0001, had arrived at Santa Fe Springs, Shelby had a name for it: "When the machine was on its way from England, I had an idea about the name Cobra. That story about seeing it in a dream is bullshit and the car would have succeeded whatever we called it. Crosley still had the rights, but, because the company's patents had been abandoned, we were able to copyright it. It's also nonsense about the prototype being resprayed over and over again. Dean Jeffries painted it yellow and then we did it my favourite blue."
Shelby with 289 pair (10 Kb)

6ft 4in hero with 289 pair.

Shelby had the knack of attracting a dedicated and highly talented team - starting with a frustrated GM stylist called Pete Brock, who loved the name and had the badge designed before the prototype landed from England. Amazingly, only Evans at Dearborn knew about the project at this point. Fortunately, Don Frey, the head of Ford's advanced planning division, played along: "Don was a car nut and former Allard driver. Thanks to him we were able to get engines out off Ford on the cuff 'til I could sell some cars. Charles Hurlock sportingly offered me credit on the chassis."
With Dearborn funding, the operation moved into Lance Reventlow's old Scarab workshops in Venice Beach and a gallery of Californian high-performance specialists joined the SAI payroll, including ex-pat Ken Miles, Phil Remington and Lew Spencer. From then on there was no stopping the dynamic Texan. He finally "kicked Ferrari's ass" by winning the '65 FIA GT Championship with his magnificent Daytona coupe, sorted the GT40, helped establish Ford and Goodyear as key players in international motor sport, developed the best ever Mustang and advised Rootes on the Tiger. Shelby also marketed a successful chilli mix, capitalised on the mag wheel craze in the '70s and revived Chrysler's flagging performance image, doing his bit for the Viper.
Daytona Sebring swarm (24 Kb)

A swarm of Daytona Sebrings.

After heart and kidney transplants, he turned his magic touch to charity work in the early '90s, forming the Shelby Heart Fund and the Shelby Children's Foundation - as well as launching his 427 'continuation' Cobras and the Oldsmobile-powered Shelby Series 1.
Shelby and junior in MG (13 Kb)

Shelby junior in MG record car.

At 77, he still gets a kick out of beating Ferraris; his team's popular victory in the TT Celebration at the Goodwood Revival 2000 proved that Shelby's lost none of his burning passion to win: "Goodwood will always be important to me because Aston won the championship there in '59. Shelby and Moss at Goodwood (21 Kb)

Shelby with team-mate Moss at Goodwood

We never should have beaten Ferrari but John Wyer insisted on lots of testing and we were regularly down at Goodwood. The Duke of Richmond would have us all over to the house - even the mechanics - for dinner at his long table. That's why I make a big effort to get to the Revival every year."

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