RIP - Caroll Shelby

[slngsht]

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2012/05/auto-legend-carroll-shelby-father-of-cobra-dies/1?AID=4992781&PID=4178160&SID=ofxrp5h4psat#.T61s5J9Yudd

[powderbrake]

Carrol Shelby was a car guy from the get-go.

 

The Cobra was a defining moment on automotive history. If I didn't have a Seven, I'd have a Cobra.... and I'm not a Ford guy.

 

He was everywhere promoting his cars, and defending his rights to design, and I have to admire him for that.

 

I was at the Concorso Italiano near Pebble Beach when Shelby revealed the GT40. he rolled it in, took the stage, and while it was an Italian/Ferrari/Lamborghini crowd, they all stood and cheered him. The GT40 is another awesome car.

 

He might have been the SOB he was reported to be, but he knew cars, and the Cobra will always be a testament to his love of horsepower.

[The Stig]

Ironically and strangely I was at the Shelby HQ and the small museum in Vegas just this morning.

 

It must have been before the news broke as I was not aware until later that he had passed. The museum is very small but has a lovely selection of cars from early ACs to Shelby Mustangs through to 2013 Mustangs.

 

Once I get iCloud to do its stuff I will post a coupl eof pics. One in particular most appropriate.

 

RIP a great innovator and racer!

[The Stig]

The original and genuine... http://flic.kr/p/bWr1jh

 

The Shelby HQ this morning - http://flic.kr/p/bWqWmU

[gjslutz]

I never met him, but he sent me his Chili every year until I sold my Cobra, how did he know? It was CSX3300. I was so smart I sold it in 1971 to buy an Pantera.

[Mondo]

GT40 with the Gulf Racing flares is probably my all time favorite car... I would need the "Gurney Bubble" though

[JohnK]

NPR's All Things Considered did a nice obit. Even mentioning that Peter Brock (at 23!) was the person responsible for the streamlined and tradition-breaking coupe that allowed Shelby to go lots faster than the 250 Ferrari that had been eating the Cobra's lunch, and that Shelby won the Manufacturer's Championship via that piece of work by Brock.

 

Talked with Brock for some time about the engine tuning and theory-practice concerning work I was doing at a shop once several years ago - my task was an aluminum big block 427 shoehorned into a one-off aluminum-bodied Superformance Cobra. A pretty historically interesting combination. At the time I didn't know who he was or what his accomplishments were. He was a very pleasant person. I learned later from an, as usual, excellent article on Peter Brock in Automobile of the contentiousness of Shelby - as noted by the fact that others refer to the "Brock Coupe" while Shelby named it the "Daytona Coupe".

 

Still, any guy who makes such a splash in the industry has to be someone you just never stand in the way of, or expect to stop and listen, much less tending toward social niceties.

[william robert]

Shelby was a man called it like he saw it, and got away with it. A unique American automotive icon. Ironiclly, I trade a 1971 Pantera for an early Cobra (CSX2032) back in 1977. I did a lot of track days and Autocrossing in the midwest (Blackhawk Farms, Road America, State Fair Park, MIS etc.). Not much could touch it back then. I've had a lot of fast cars since then. The only thing that comes close to that pure "kick in the pants" is my Super Stalker.