Thread: RIP Carroll Shelby

Carroll Shelby: 1923-2012 - Hot Rod Magazine
A very brief article of a couple of his achievements.
One of the Icons of motor racing and car builders has passed away.
He is probably most remebered for his creation of the AC Cobras of the 60's, one of my dream cars.
One thing that alot of people do not know is Carroll Shelby first approached Chevy to place a V8 in the ACE car body, but due to Chevy having the Corvette, and did not want to have an internal car battle between the two, turned down his idea where he then went and approached Ford.
I am too young to have watched him race.

Originally Posted by crash

It held the record for the quickest time from 0 - 100mph - 0. I think it was eventually broken in the lat 80's or early 90's. The 289's were not too shaby either.

The later models that Brian is referring too used the original stamping dies for the body, and I think were made out of aluminium. I believe all were numbered and signed by Carroll Shelby.

The originals still fetch a big buck but not as bad as the height of the muscle car collector craze of the 80's.

I spoke to him in LA about 1992-3 and he reckoned he was making and selling genuine Shelby Cobra 427's that were better than the 1965's. Bought up used 427 side oiler engines and rebuilt them, made new gearboxes and diffs. Better metallurgy, foundry and machine shop practices made them better than the oldies.

The selling price of early ones was limited by the fact you could still buy a genuine new one for $500,000.