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The SHELBY AMERICAN Spring 2015 1

NEW SUNOCO SPOKESPERSON ?Notes from the SAAC Mailroom: An-other news item that did not surpriseus. A company in Winter Park, Floridanamed Revology Cars, Inc. has an-nounced they will be offering newclones of 1966 Mustang convertiblesand fastbacks using updated mechani-cals. They start with a Dynacorn uni-body. All of the necessary components,trim pieces and chrome items have al-ready been reproduced for owners seek-ing to restore their cars, so gatheringparts should not be a problem. Up-grades under the skin include a Fordcrate 302 V8 with fuel injection (265horsepower) mated to either a five-speed manual or a four-speed auto-matic and hooked to a nine-inch rearwith a 3.70 Traction-Lok. Four-wheeldisc brakes are standard with a choiceof 15˝, 16˝ or 17˝ “heritage” wheels. Sus-pension upgrades include Mac Phersonstruts in the front and a three-link coilspring set-up in the rear. Power rack-and-pinion steering is standard andsafety upgrades include three-pointseatbelts and a collapsible steering col-umn. The ashtray in the dash hidesUSB and AUX ports for a Bluetooth-equipped two-speaker AM/ FM retroaudio system. Other upgrades includeLED head and taillights, remote elec-tronic door locks, a hidden antenna,power seats and power windows oper-ated by switches disguised as wind-upwindow cranks.

Volume production is planned (asopposed to building individual carsbased only on the orders received). Costhas been pegged at $119,500 (add$2,500 for a power convertible top).Bumper-to-bumper warranty is for oneyear, with a three-year powertrain andfive-year rust and corrosion warranty.Cars can be serviced at any Ford deal-ership. ‘67-‘68 and ‘69-‘70 models arehinted at, depending on customer de-mand. Dynacorn has these unibodies.

This photo of Chuck Cantwell and his ‘66 GT350, 6S796, turned up in a recent issueof Hot Rod Magazine. John Cropper of Montoursville, Pennsylvania passed it along. Thephoto was used to illustrate a brief article about the potential damage caused by usingunleaded gas in 1960s muscle cars without hardened exhaust seats. Spoiler alert: it’snot a problem unless you continually run high rpms, tow a trailer or have drag racinggears. Drive the car normally, buzz it once in a while, and you’re ok.

We recall when the DOT first proposed eliminating leaded gasoline in the early1980s. The enthusiast publications (specifically, Old Cars and Hemmings but there wereothers) immediately launched into high dudgeon. The International Society for VehiclePreservation (ISVP) was actually launched to fight this proposed legislation. The fearwas that once unleaded fuel was all that was available at gas pumps across the country,collector cars from the 1950s and 1960s would all require top-end rebuilds incorporatinghardened exhaust valve seats or their heads would be reduced to junk. ISVP attemptedto lobby lawmakers to continue to allow leaded fuel to be readily available. Aside frombutton-holing sympathetic Congressmen and Senators, it also consisted of gatheringsignatures on petitions.

Initially there was a lot of excited arm-waving by a few chicken-littles who werefired up and intent on leading the charge. The most visible appeared to be Walter Haess-ner, a collector car gadfly who contacted us prior to SAAC-9 at Anaheim and asked if hecould address our group. His sense of urgency was palpable and since we didn’t knowvery much about the potential damages to our cars that he was predicting, we providedtime for him in one of the afternoon seminars. It was held in the hotel’s movie-style au-ditorium and while Haessner was speaking, he asked that people pass petitions downeach row which everyone eagerly signed. We don’t recall hearing much more about thissubject but a few large fleet owners compiled results from using unleaded gasolinewhich showed negligible damage. Leaded fuel became increasingly difficult to get andthere was a brief run on chemical lead additives. Today it is a non-issue for street carsand high octane, leaded race gas is still available at race tracks and some gas stations.

Full disclosure: Carroll Shelby was in the audience and signed a petition like every-one else. We collected the petition pages but before turning them over to Haessner weheld on to the one Shelby signed.


We’ll admit that the $120,000 pricetag is a little spendy. To provide somecontext, the original Mustang list pricewas $2,368 and a perfectly restoredoriginal is likely to cost you $38,000today—or sixteen times that originalcost. The list price of $2,368 in today’sdollars is $18,000. But comparing astandard specification Mustang withthis upgraded version is apples to or-anges. No matter: the Revology car willput a huge hickey on your wallet.

The idea for a remanufactured andupgraded Mustang didn’t spring upfrom someone’s dream. It was actuallya confluence of factors. Most importantwas the continuing interest in earlyMustangs and the attendant increasingvalues perfectly restored cars brought.Another was the Dynacorn bodies,which were an outcome of the increasedinterest and enthusiasm for these cars.Without them, such a project would bealmost impossible because the numberof restorable cars is diminishing everyday. Interest in restoring Mustangs alsoresulted in the reproduction of virtuallyall Mustang components, trim piecesand chrome. Everything needed is nowavailable. Finally there was the emer-gence and acceptance of the “resto-mod” cars; stock-looking Mustangs withperformance upgrades under the skin:newer engines and transmissions,brakes and suspensions. All four factorscame together to allow the Revologyproject to move forward.

The early Mustang is now overfifty years old. New buyers who havenever owned or driven one of these carsreally have no yardstick to judge themby. All they have are experiences driv-ing newer Mustangs. Compared tothem, the original cars are antiquated.They have their unique style but theydo not perform—accelerate, handle orstop—like a new car. Not everyone iswilling to pay top dollar, upwards of$38,000, for an old car that will do noth-ing as well as a new V8 Mustang.

Will the Revology Mustangs suc-ceed? The cost of producing a car likethis, buying all of the new parts andpieces required and then hand-buildingeach car probably justifies the cost. Butwill that high cost scare buyers away?That’s the magical question.

If enough buyers do materialize,we’re guessing it will only be a matterof time before a GT350 model will be-come available. Look for a stronger en-gine and more go-fast goodies. Justwhat the world needs.

SOLUTION TO THE AIR CAR PROBLEM

9F02M480402 - BOLO ALERT

You’re going to have to see this for yourself. Type this into your browser and spend2 minutes and 36 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj81PpZ0jys This isthe automotive equivalent of a wood chipper. The part that dropped our jaw was thelast half [pictured] where complete engines are pulverized into nothing larger than aloaf of bread. Which brings us to our proposed solution to the air car predicament.

One of the continually recurring problems with air cars is that they are with usforever. Someone creates one (by whatever means) and then sooner or later realizes thata true Cobra or Shelby is more than the conglomeration of the correct parts and piecesused to construct it. In an attempt to legitimize the car they appropriate a serial numberand affix it in the proper places. But they soon learn that a number does not make it areal car. So up it goes for sale and eventually someone with stars in their eyes materi-alizes who doesn’t ask the right questions. They see a complete Cobra or Shelby that,for a reason which eludes them, is selling for one third the price of all other Cobras orShelbys. They cannot believe their extreme good fortune and before someone swoops into buy it out from under them, they finalize the deal and the money changes hands.

The magic spell is broken at the first large car show they bring their car to whereknowledgeable Cobra or Shelby owners have their cars. The air car soon goes back onthe market. Eventually another dimwitted buyer emerges and the predictable air carkabuki theater repeats itself. Theoretically, this can go on forever, much like the scenariofor “Groundhog Day,” because there seems to be an endless supply of wishful thinkerswhose dreams eventually tumble into the shredder.

And, speaking of a shredder, let us introduce you to the solution to air cars. Once acar has been proven to have been based on nothing more than parts and dreams, it isgrabbed by a giant claw and dropped into the hopper, where the grinder teeth renderit—serial number and all—into toaster-sized chunks of scrap. Problem solved.

Stolen 12/19/2013 from Brian Delamere and as yet unrecovered. The car was parkedoutside a church on Noel Road, Acton, London, England. Delamere had been parkingthe car in the street for 20 years and, unfortunately, it was not insured. If you see thiscar please contact SAAC member Marcus Ridley [email protected]


When SAAC was started in 1975,the median age of members was be-tween 25 and 35. Forty years later, themedian age isn’t between 65 and 75 be-cause most members joining since thenhave usually been in the 25 to 35 agegroup. Statistically, that brings the me-dian age down. But there are still a lotof those original members in the club,and they are now in the 65 to 75 agegroup.

How many enthusiasts between 65and 75 years old do you know who arelooking to buy a Cobra or a Shelby?Chances are, not many. But how manyare looking to sell their Cobra orShelby? They are definitely aging outof the hobby. How do we know? Becausewe are beginning to get a fair numberof emails asking about the best way tosell their car.

We don’t have the room to get intothe details of how to do that here, butlet’s take a look at what options theseaging owners have. 1) Nothing is easierthan doing nothing. As the years tickby you’ll be driving your car less and itscondition will slowly, imperceptibly de-teriorate. But you will not have to gothrough the trouble of putting it on themarket and dealing with potential buy-ers. By doing nothing you can leavethat to your wife, kids, or whoever willbe handling your estate. They won’thave the pride of ownership or an ap-preciation of the car that you do. Theyalso won’t have the pleasant memoriesyou have. And they won’t really carewho buys it, as long as they can getwhat they believe is a fair value for it.Hopefully. But they can also be takento the cleaners by a shrewd, oppor-tunistic buyer. None of that will matterto you, of course, because you won’t bethere and will have no say in what hap-pens to your car.

2) Once you confront your ownmortality you can admit that you’re notgoing to be around forever. Very fewpeople know the exact time the GrimReaper will tap them on the shoulderbut when you get to be 70, you canprobably make book that you won’t begetting as much enjoyment from driv-ing your Cobra or Shelby as you oncedid. And maintaining it? You’re proba-bly paying someone else to do that.Once you get the feeling that the juicejust isn’t worth the squeeze anymore,the alternatives begin to emerge.

aMAZING GT40 AIRPORT DIORAMA

NEW SHELL TV SPOT USES 427 COBRA

An absolutely incredible piece of GT40 memorabilia found it’s way to SAAC HQ, cour-tesy of the ever astute Howard Pardee. He is the SAAC equivalent of a prairie dog whopops up out of his burrow at full alert when there is even the hint of something Shelbyor Cobra related on the horizon. Pardee directed our attention to this English websitewww.worldcollector.co.uk/view_item.php?id=175&cat=43 This diorama measures36˝ x 24˝ and is rendered in 1/43-scale. It depicts a shipment of three GT40 being un-loaded from a transport plane onto Alan Mann Racing’s Bartoletti hauler. Included is afuel tanker, police van, emergency vehicle and three dozen airport staff, mechanics, se-curity and spectators. The detail is amazing and everything was scratch-built. The ad-vertised price is £24,500 (that’s $36,750 U.S.). Before you reach for your checkbook tolook at the balance, forget about it. We have it on good authority that SAAC’s GT40Registrar, Greg Kolasa, is engaged in a high-powered bidding war with U.K. GT40 his-torian Ronnie Spain. As soon as he saw it Kolasa said, to no one in particular, “This issomething that should only be owned by the GT40 Registrar.” Spain was overheard re-sponding, “That will be the day I’ll let that bloody wanker get his grubby hands on this.”

Shell has a new 30-secondtelevision spot touting theEco-Marathon car built bya group of students. Theywalk through Jay Leno’sgarage and he points outhis 427 Cobra. One of thekids asks what kind ofmileage it gets and Jaysays, “About 9 miles pergallon.” When they showhim their Eco-Marathoncar he asks what kind ofmileage it gets and is told1,359 miles per gallon. Wel-come to the future.


For most owners, selling theirCobra or Shelby is never easy. If it’s theonly one you own, the level increasesdramatically. And if you’ve owned thecar for [choose one] twenty-five, thirty-five, forty-five or more years, the in-crease is astronomical. The biggest fearis probably psychological: the car hasbecome an integeral part of your life. Ithelps to define who you are. You weart-shirts with your car on them andhats; you have pictures and posters onthe wall of your garage. You collectmodels, toys and trinkets representingyour car. You may have even namedyour daughter Shelby.

One of the biggest fears in sellinga Cobra or Shelby is that you feel likeyou are selling part of yourself. Oncethe garage is empty you won’t be thesame person. Will you have phantompain, like an amputee experiences? Un-less you’ve been diagnosed with a ter-minal illness or are under a doctor’scare, you have the luxury of time toconsider your options. •Dealer or broker? Using a third partyremoves you from direct negotiationsand for some owners this is often worthwhatever commission you have to pay.•EBay? Posting photos and a descrip-tion can be done in the privacy of yourown home. You don’t have to deal, face-to-face, with potential buyers; no ap-pointments made by strangers comingto look at the car. No test drives and,best of all, no nit-picking by buyers try-ing to grind you on the price. In an on-line auction, if the high bid meets yourreserve you sell the car and that’s that.•Displaying the car at a large event?Bringing it to a SAAC convention or amajor meet like the Carlisle swap meetwill put the car in front of a large num-ber of people. You’ll have to be there toanswer questions, justify your askingprice and listen to a seemingly endlesssuccession of potential buyers, lookie-lou’s and tire-kickers who will attemptto impress you (and their friends) withtheir knowledge of the cars by pointingout your car’s deficiencies. This methodof sale appeals primarily to masochists. •Word of mouth? This can be one of thebest ways because often buyers like tothink they are getting the first crack ata car. Seeing it advertised makes it ap-pear to have been picked over.

The choice is yours. Start makingplans now or do nothing and leave it tosomeone else who may have no ideawhat you wanted to happen to your car.

PARDEE CELEBRATES EARTH DAY

CURT VOGT’S VINTAGE RACING TIPS

Earth Day, on April 22, is an important day for Howard Pardee. This year he celebratedit by purchasing ten gallons of Sunoco leaded 110-octane non-ethanol race gas (the costwas a not inconsequential $102.00) for 5R095. He then proceeded to blast around thecountryside until it was gone. He didn’t have to go very far: in the higher rpm ranges(where he attempted keep the tachometer needle) the car got about 7 miles-per-gallon.His Earth Day observance only added 70 miles to his odometer. Pardee wore a brightred armband during his drive. He said this was to commemorate the birthday ofVladimir Ilyich Lenin, which was specifically chosen to be the date of Earth Day whenit was begun in 1970 by a handful of pseudo socialists and anti-capitalist malcontentsin this country. Students of history will recall that Lenin served as the head of the Russ-ian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1917 until his death in 1922 (from a seriesof strokes). Lenin played a major role in the October Revolution in 1917 which over-threw the provisional Russian government. In the civil war that followed, Lenin’s so-cialist Bolsheviks carried out the murderous Red Terror against the White Army whichrepresented capitalism, resulting in the death of millions of his Russian countrymen.Pardee concluded his Earth Day celebration at Ygor’s Little Leningrad by consuming abowl of borscht and toasting with a glass of Stolichnaya vodka. “Nostrovia, Comrades!”

Race tires are expensive. Goodyear Vintage Blue Streak Sports Car Specials cost morethan $300. Each. That’s over $1200 a set. And if you’re driving a front-running car anddriving it hard, you could go through two sets of tires in a race weekend. But here’s atip that can save you 50% of your tire expenses. It is well known that most tire weartakes place in corners as sideways abrasion scrubs speed off as the car tracks throughthe apex. Tire wear doesn’t take place on the straights. If you carry enough speedthrough a corner and use the concrete curbing to launch both wheels on one side of thecar in the air, those tires do not wear. When you calculate this negative wear factor onevery corner, you will see that the tires only wear half as much. Try it – it works!


The Stuff That Memories are Made OfRon Tredway owned 1965 GT350

#SFM5019, an independent competitioncar, since 1983. The car was originally pur-chased by Dick Carter, who wanted to goB/P racing in a GT350. There was alreadya list of buyers for R-Models so Carter or-dered a street car because he could get itimmediately. He picked it up at Hi-Perfor-mance Motors in late February, drove ithome to Hayward, California and immedi-ately began modifying it to B/Productionrace specs. The first race was at LagunaSeca on May 9. By that date only threecompetition models had been delivered, soif Carter had ordered one he would havebeen lucky to get on the track by Septem-ber. He continued to race the car for threeyears and then stored it in a chicken coopuntil 1979. In 1981 it was purchased byBob Gaiten and restored to original specsfor vintage racing. In 1983 Tredway wasable to convince Gaiten to sell it and hebegan vintage racing it and running inNorCal track events.

There comes a time when a long-timeowner realizes it’s time to let go. After 32years, that time arrived for Tredway. Theday he delivered the car to its new owner,Bill Ockerlund, was a bittersweet one. Thehand-off was made at Sonoma Raceway.But not before one last drive. However, it’snot what you would expect. Tredwaywanted his 17 year-old daughter Elizabethto experience driving the car. After all, ithad been in their garage all of her life. Aminor point was that she had never drivena standard shift car.

These are the things that cement a fa-ther/daughter relationship. With the entireparking area at their disposal, Elizabethslipped behind the wheel and her dadbegan explaining how the clutch andtransmission worked. She started by driv-ing in large left-hand circles. After gettingthe hang of what “ease on the throttle”meant she was soon on the gas on thestraights and braking for the turns. Thekarting experience she had no doubthelped.

What did she say after she reluctantlyparked the car? “Probably not the best carto be your first stick shift experience, butit sure left a lasting impression.” It’s agood thing pictures of the adventure weretaken because when Elizabeth mentions toa future boyfriend that she has driven aShelby race car he probably won’t believeher at first. Then, after seeing photos, he’slikely to be jealous. One thing is for sure:he’s not likely to impress her in a HondaCivic, Toyota Tercel, Prius or Smart car.


BARN FINDS : YES FOLKS - THEY’RE STILL OUT THERE !

Spoiler alert right up front: we don’t have any information on this ‘68 KR otherthan these pictures. We have no idea where it is, who owns it or who found it. So calmdown. These pictures were on the svtperformance forum. A co-worker of the guy whoreported the car and posted the photos is, naturally, pretty excited about trying to lib-erate it from its current limbo. The engine was changed but the original is there.

Whenever we see barn find pictureswe can’t help wondering, how did this carend up like this? Obviously it was pur-chased at one time at something close tofair market value–whatever that waswhen the current owner got a hold of it.Usually a major mechanical malfunction,such as a blown engine, sidelines the car.No longer running, it is parked in the ex-pectation that it will be repaired. If it’smore work than first thought or more ex-pensive, it gets pushed off to the side andis slowly forgotten.

Until someone sees it and knocks onthe door, inquiring about the car. Specifi-cally, would it be for sale? We’ve seen thisbefore. “Naw, it ain’t for sale. I’m gonna re-store it one of these days and put it backon the road.” But instead of closing thedoor, the owner asks if you want to see it.Of course, you do. The owner gives you thefull history and even lets you take pictures.But he is adamant that it is not for sale.Don’t even ask. What is usually happeninghere is that you are providing the ownerwith some free entertainment. He gets toplay the commanding role while you as-sume the subservient position, pretendingto be interested in what he says, But really,all you are listening for is a hint that hemay be open to selling. The other questionis, does he know what it is actually worth.Usually, but you never can tell.

Is a ‘67 GT350 more to your liking? This car was parked in a dimly-lit red brick buildingin Canton, Ohio. Original engine and driveline but lots of surface rust. But the floorsand body panels appeared to be solid. About 10 years ago the owner had purchased anold service station that had a few forgotten cars in it which had been sitting for about30 years. He moved them to a warehouse and they sat for another 10 years. One of themwas this car. It has since changed hands and is undergoing a rotisserie restoration.SAAC Forum speculation extrapolated the serial number as 67210F8A01142.

The SHELBY AMERICAN

When the cold winter weather experienced by most of the country begins to loosen its icy grip, the first sunny day that comesalong becomes a good excuse to get in your Shelby or Cobra and blow out those cobwebs that have accumulated over the winter inthe exhaust pipes. On the first day of spring this year, Roger Morrison, one of SAAC’s earliest members, found himself running downOld U.S. Highway 81, north of Salina, Kansas, just before sundown. Watching the changing shape of CSX2181’s silhouette on theside of the highway was mesmerizing, and he had to watch himself to keep from experiencing a case of Cobra distracted driving. Ifthis magazine was a little more artsy-fartsy this image might have appeared on the cover. But we have our standards.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

Spring 2015 7


WHEN GOD-FEARIN’ WOMEN GET THE BLUES

FORD’S NEW NANNY-CAR

This is the title of a song released in2001 by country and western singer Mar-tina McBride. SAAC member Yvonne Kirkof Owings Mills, Maryland loves McBrideand bought this CD the day it came out.It’s about a female named Shelby Hill whobecomes unstrung after getting the blues.She confronts her husband who is a policeofficer, runs down several parking metersand then drives her minivan to a used carlot which has a bright red Mustang con-vertible parked out front. It has white Le-Mans and GT350 rocker panel stripes,hood and side scoops and chrome Magnum500 wheels. A sign on the windshield ad-vertises “Like A Shelby.” She takes it outfor a test drive, kicks the salesman out,and leads police on a chase which is cov-ered by a mobile TV news team. It ends ina police roadblock where she is escortedfrom the car by an officer. All in 5 minutes.

“As much as I’ve always liked thissong,” said Kirk, “I can’t believe today wasthe first time I saw the video.”

Ford has announced that it will be in-troducing cars that can “see” the speedlimit and prevent drivers from exceedingit. The “Intelligent Speed Limiter” willdebut on the new S-Max, launching in Eu-rope. A windshield-mounted camera scansroad signs and when the car enters a 25mph zone, it reduces the speed to match.Rather than using automatic braking, thecar limits its own velocity by adjusting theamount of fuel going into the engine.

If a burst of speed is needed, thedriver can deactivate the system by push-ing a button on the console or temporarilyget past it by giving the gas pedal a

sharp nudge. If the car is coasting andbuilding up speed, it will sense the in-crease and activate an alarm to make youbrake. If you like your seat belt buzzeryou’ll love this. Other extra-cost optionsare a pedestrian detector and a collisionwarning system.

Our first thought was, would theymake a retro-fit kit that could be installedon all previously built cars? And if so, howlong would it take for NHTSA to make itmandatory? We also see an unintendedconsequence when this gizmo eliminatesspeeding citations. How will municipalitiesmake up for the revenue shortfall?

Don’t worry, where there is a will,vampire politicians will find a way. Law-makers will simply increase licensing andvehicle registration fees to make up for it.And raise the tax on gasoline. And increasetolls and parking fees. All these increaseswill make us long for the good old days,when sneaky cops with radar guns werehiding behind every billboard, aroundevery corner and over every hill.

Like every enormous corporationwhere the left hand doesn’t know what theright hand is doing, why is Ford tasking itsengineers with projects like this while, atthe same time, developing a new Ford GT?


GRAFFITI VANDAL CAUGHT IN THE ACT

PARDEE BEFORE SAAC – THE EARLY YEARS

This photo, taken at the Amelia IslandConcours, was sent to us by a SAAC mem-ber who captured an unidentified graffitihoodlum brazenly defacing a ‘65 GT350,5S424, in broad daylight. Before securityofficers could be summoned the delinquentvanished, seemingly into thin air. Whenthe car’s owner, Darek Stennes, returnedand saw the damage was speechless. Whenhe was finally able to find his voice, hesaid, “This is nothing more than a cravenattempt to devalue a fine car by mindlesslydefacing it with unintelligible scribbling. Thereprobate who did this obviously has someserious psychological issues. I hope heseeks professional help.” Following whatwas described as the senseless act of a de-ranged miscreant, security at the eventwas tightened significantly and no furtherincidents were reported during the rest ofthe weekend.

It may be hard for some to believe, butHoward Pardee was not always a Shelbyregistrar. When SAAC was started in 1976,Pardee was 38 years old and was alreadybeing described by younger members as“Pops.” Prior to that he was a musician inthe U.S. Coast Guard Band, playing theclarinet and inventing the “air clarinet.”While in college he ran away and joinedthe carnival. He has never given a reasonfor this but there is speculation it hadsomething to do with his becoming capti-vated by a buxom blonde bombshell namedHazel Moon. On the carny circuit through-out the midwest he was billed as one ofThe Three Fezzes. A publicity photo re-cently turned up of Pardee [at left, in fezand spats]. We are not sure what his actactually consisted of but he and his threecohorts shared the billing with Moon andAlioop and his Captivating Cobras.


FASTEST COBRA IN THE WORLD - DICK SMITH’S RECORD FALLSThere was always a faster gunfighter

than “the fastest gun in the west.” It some-times just took time for him to appear. Inthe case of the fastest Cobra, it took 48years. Dick Smith held the Cobra top speedrecord since 1967, when he was clocked inCSX3035 at the end of the backstretch atDaytona International Speedway at198.047 mph. That record has held untilApril 11, 2015 when it was broken by Vir-gil Benton of San Diego, California whowas officially timed at 199.0 mph inCSX4224 at the Mojave Magnum speedevent held at the Mojave Air and SpacePort in Mojave, California.

Benton’s Cobra was essentially a stan-dard specification 427 S/C powered by analuminum 427 CSX block and heads witha naturally-aspirated Holley 950 cfm car-buretor. The engine was rated at 650horsepower at the crankshaft. The rearend is a Dana 44 with 2.73:1 gears. Theonly modifications are a Richmond 4+1road race transmission and an air dam.

Dick Smith was always happy to accept the SCCA’s officially timed 198 mph top speed at Daytonain 1967. However, in later years, he spoke with a former Ford employee who told him that Fordalso had a radar gun at the track and they had unofficially timed him at 201 mph.

Benton calculated that it would take6700 rpm to reach 201 mph. His first runwas 195 mph. A second run was cut shortdue to an electrical problem. The third runwas 199 mph at a bit more than 6600 rpm.On the grid he was informed it would behis last run of the day. There’s not muchquestion he will be back next year to try totop it. But once the event becomes betterknown other Cobra gunslingers will belooking to knock him off. Stay tuned!


Burgy’S

Ford GT Corner

The Latest News That’s 44-inches High

On Tuesday, January 13, 2015 the newestFord GT was unveiled at the Detroit Auto-mobile Show. Peter M. De Lorenzo, whowrites the Autoextremist blog (“the bare-knuckled, unvarnished, high-octanetruth”) was there and published this re-port. We highly recommend his website:www.autoextremist.com

Well, it was another opening and an-other Detroit Auto Show, except it reallywasn’t, because if it weren’t for the unveil-ing of the brand spanking new Ford GT su-percar - which blew the lid off the showearly Monday morning - the rest of thenews down at Cobo Hall was remarkablymuted, predictable or just flat-out boring.But let’s get right to the star of the showfirst, because there was nothing even re-motely close to the unveiling of the FordGT at the Detroit Auto Show. Oh, therewere other intros of note to be sure, but thenew Ford supercar was so far and away thebest thing to happen at Cobo Hall that therest of the introductions seemed like theywere at another, quieter show.

The Ford GT was a surprise for anumber of reasons, first of all, becauseFord was able to keep a lid on the ma-chine and resist the usual temptationto have preview media showings andother excitement busters that havelong been tricks of the PR trade in thisbusiness. That Ford executives boughtinto the “let’s keep it a surprise” rightdown to the last second was commend-able and made the impact of the revealthat much more exciting. (Someonefrom the racing community talked atthe L.A. Auto Show and spilled somesalient details, but Ford didn’t crackand held the information close to thevest, which is simply remarkable inthis digitally obsessed day and age.)

And secondly because the new GTitself is an eye-opener, with only mini-mal touches of visual heritage baked-in – and only if you squinted real hard– which was absolutely refreshing tosee. This was no re-hash of a re-hashretro exercise, far from it, in fact. Thisnew mid-engine machine bristles withadventurous body surfacing and a dra-matic, aero-shaped rear along side andaft of the carbon fiber cockpit cell thatis simply mesmerizing to behold fromthe back of the car. It has a brutal ele-gance about it that is undeniable andstunning in person.

Three years ago a serious evaluation of thepotential of the new Mustang as a properGTLM racing machine was undertaken in-volving the key people mentioned above.This evaluation marshaled every crucialinternal and external resource in order toexplore the possibility of the factory put-ting ting together a competition programfor the new Mustang that would produce amachine capable of going toe-to-toe withfactory entries from Corvette, Ferrari,Porsche et al in the vaunted GTLM cate-gory, the most competitive class of roadracing in the world.

The program was fleshed out to thelast detail, with every contingency takeninto account and with costs figured downto the penny. The result was the baddest,most radical Mustang imaginable, a ho-mologation special that would have beenmarketed and sold to professional racingteams as well as enthusiasts desiring theultimate track car. Alas, that project madeit to the final “go/no-go” meeting where itdied on the conference room table.

And that was that. Or was it? Inthe process of evaluating the prospectof a balls-out Mustang-based GTLMracing machine, the key players real-ized that they had also identified thepeople and areas of expertise through-out the company who had the talentand the desire to make a tip-of-the-technological-spear project of this mag-nitude come to fruition, whereuponMark Fields then asked the ultimatequestion - “what if?” And lo and beholdthe project was back on the frontburner with a new code name –“Phoenix” – and with a new mission toproject the technical future of Fordthrough a visionary interpretation of anext-generation Ford GT.

And the rest, as they say, is his-tory. Simply put, when the new FordGT comes to market in 2016 it will rep-resent the innovative spirit that hasbeen a hallmark of the Ford MotorCompany from its very beginnings. Itshowcases the very best thinking of themost talented True Believers withinthe company, and when it hits selectFord showrooms sometime in 2016 itshould be one of the most seductivecombinations of purposeful beauty andsophisticated high performance - withan unexpected level of efficiencythrown in for good measure – availablein the market.

Power is unexpected too. Instead ofthe flat-plane crank V8 out of the newShelbyGT350 Mustang (which for manywould be the obvious choice), the new FordGT is powered by a 3.5-liter, Direct In-jected, Twin-Turbo, EcoBoost V6 with600HP+ that has been under intense de-velopment over the last four years andraced competitively in the new TudorUnited Sports Car Championship, deliver-ing an impressive win at the 12 Hours ofSebring last year.

There are four key players at Fordwho deserve kudos for making the newFord GT a reality. Jim Farley (now runningFord of Europe), Raj Nair (Ford’s ProductDevelopment Chief), Jamie Allison (Direc-tor of Ford Racing) and CEO Mark Fields– who made the “let’s do it” call when itcounted – and of course the talented groupof True Believers in Design, Engineeringand Product Development who have beeninvolved on the project from the beginning.

The story behind the story? The FordGT wasn’t supposed to happen at all.


It appears that a new standard hasbeen set at the Auctions America FortLauderdale, Florida auction held March27-29. A 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition,#783 [pictured at left] with only 3 originalmiles, sold for $451,000. Only 343 cars re-ceived the Blue and Marigold Gulf paint, a$13,000 option.

Now, catch this: the car was describedin the auction catalog as “unrestored/orig-inal, Condition 2.” Let that set in for aminute. An original car with only 3 milesis described as being in #2 condition. Whatwould it take for it to be a #1 condition car?Is brand new no longer good enough? Doesa brand new car have to be over-restoredto be considered #1 condition? As the auc-tion results said, “The new owner’s chal-lenge is to decide whether to continue topreserve its single-digit mileage or actu-ally enjoy its 3.6 second 0-60 performance.”Our bet is on the mileage preservation.

A second Ford GT was also sold at thesame auction for the same eyebrow-raisingprice: $451,000. This car also has a uniquehistory, which might account for the highprice. It is described as a 2005 model andwas the second car built. The first car waskept by the Ford Motor Company. The sec-ond through the ninth cars were reservedby Ford for “internal use.” This car waspurchased by Michael Dingman, whoserved on FoMoCo’s Board of Directors formore than twenty years. In appreciationfor his service and dedication to the com-pany he was offered the opportunity to ac-quire one of the first cars. It has had onlytwo previous owners and there are lessthan 100 miles on the odometer. Being thelowest serial number Ford GT that willever be available for purchase is probablythe reason this car brought so much moneyat this auction.

Trying to pin a value on a car of whichonly 40 examples were made is difficult atbest. This is the case with the GT40 MK Vsbuilt between 1984 and 1991 by PeterThorpe’s Safir Engineering, Ltd. So fewcome on the market that really all youhave is the latest sale price (or auctionhigh bid) of one car. In one sense, it’s toosmall of a sample to extrapolate from butif it’s all you have, it is a starting point.GT40 MK V #P/1133 was one of the lastcars built and was originally kept by PeterThorpe. Only two MK Vs were constructedwith aluminum monocoques, thus allowingthem to be described as “lightweight” mod-els. This car is also described as a “Spyder”because it has an open roof. It was bid upto $325,000 (but not sold) at Auction Amer-ica’s Fort Lauderdale event.


BROCK’S “SPOOK” — THE FIRST SCCA-LEGAL AIRDAM

JOHN CHUN, R.I.P.

Return with us now to the year 1970when Peter Brock’s BRE team was cam-paigning a Datsun 2000 roadster. At GreenValley Raceway in Richland Hills, Texasthe car showed up with front brake scoopsmounted under the car at the lowed edgeof the gravel pan. Brock recalls, “I called ita “spook” – a garbled contraction of thewords “spoiler” and “scoop.” This was actu-ally the first use of an airdam on a produc-tion SCCA racer. There had been someexperimentation in Italy by Richie Gintheron a Ferrari sports-prototype and I learnedof the idea from him. However, due to theSCCA rules, airdams were not “permitted”(the all-encompassing clause in the rulesthat said if a part or device is not “ap-proved” it is illegal).”

Brock read the rules very carefullyand discovered “brake scoops” were legal.“What if,” he thought, “the brake scoopswent all across the front of the car?” Heconstructed a prototype and took it to techinspection. “I protested myself and had theChief Steward declare that, indeed, thebrake scoops were legal. That’s why theairdam has such wide air intakes thatmeet in the center of the car. That judge-ment set the precedent for the rest of theseason and was accepted at every otherrace we attended. Of course, the idea wassoon copied by everyone who saw what wehad done. I should have patented the idea.If I had a nickel for every airdam everbuilt...”

Traces of Brock’s original spook concept can be seen on his revised R-Model front apron when a pair of cars were unveiled atWillow Springs on February 14, 2015. The rubber chin airdam is a way to extend the apron down to the track surface to block theair from going under the car at speed. When that happens, it lifts the front of the car, which negatively effects the handling becausethe front tires do not have the car’s entire front weight on them. Airdams were already being used on other race cars: NASCAR,Trans-Am and Can-Am among them, but this was the first time it was used on an SCCA production sports car.

SAAC member Gerry Pechmannof Cottage Grove, Wisconsin is inthe business of engraving mon-uments. Following the acquisi-tion of a previously “lost” ‘68GT500, a series of coincidencesbrought him into contact withformer Shelby designer JohnChun in Minnesota, who’s storywas detailed in the last issue.Chun passed away a few monthslater and his wife, Helen, con-tacted Pechmann about creatinga monument for John’s gravesite. This was not the firstShelby-related monument thatPechmann has produced.


GT350R2 POSTER NOW AVAILABLE FROM SAAC – while they last

The story of the updated GT350 R-Models, done by The Original Venice Crew – Peter Brock, Ted Sutton, Jim Marietta and DuaneCarling, was related in the last issue of The Shelby American in an article by Peter Brock. The unveiling of Brock’s R-Model re-doat Willow Springs on February 14, 2015 – fifty years to the day from the original R-Model’s first race and first victory at GreenValley Raceway in Texas – is commemorated in a poster created by William Deary of The Carroll Collection. The two cars are por-trayed over a blueprint of the Mustang independent rear suspension. The poster measures 14˝ x 22˝ and is available for $20 (postageincluded). Get one (while they last) from: [email protected] and include credit card information and your shipping address.Checks (payable to “SAAC”) are accepted from computer-challenged members 60 years or older. SAAC: PO Box 910193, Lexington,KY 40591-0193. Posters are sent via Priority Mail in an industrial-grade mailing tube. Overseas postage extra.

WONDER WOMAN’S COBRA REPLICA AVAILABLECelebrity cars seem to have a special cachet that can some-times increase their value beyond what it might otherwise be.Does it work in every case? We’re not sure but this might bethe opportunity for an adventurous soul to find out. Word hasreached us by way of Jeff Burgy that the Kellison Stallionwhich was custom built for Lynda “Wonder Woman” Carter isavailable on eBay. The VIN indicates it is a 1978 model, thesecond of 117 Stallions built by Silver Classic Coachcraft inLincoln, California between 1976 and 1980. It was originallypainted Emerald Green and was the only one built with a 302small block. The car was ordered by Ron Samuels, Carter’sthen-husband and agent. It has a tan Connolly leather inte-rior and was built without side pipes to eliminate the chanceof Carter burning a leg. The previous owner has had the carfor 18 years and couldn’t help himself; he replaced the Stallionbadges with Cobra emblems. Wonder Woman costumes arereadily available if that gives you any ideas for the next con-vention. Talking your wife into that should be easy.

e route

The SHELBY AMERICAN

REIGNING F1 DRIVING CHAMPION LEWIS HAMILTON TO RUN IN 2015 GUMBALL 3000 RALLY

Word being splashed across the Inter-net is that F1 World Driving ChampionLewis Hamilton will be entering thisyear’s Gumball 3000 Rally. Hamilton wonthe World Driving Championship in 2008,2014, and is presently leading in points in2015. It’s not likely he will be driving a 427Cobra (he currently owns two: CSX3282and CSX3244, pictured). The British driverhas yet to indicate which of the cars in hiscollection he will be driving and becausethe Monaco Grand Prix is scheduled forsame day the event begins (May 23),Hamilton will miss the start but will joinup along the route.

The event’s name comes from the1976 movie “Gumball Rally” which fea-tured a 427 Cobra as one of the competi-tors. It was a take-off on the originalCannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining Sea Me-morial Trophy Dash created in 1971 byCar and Driver senior editor Brock Yates.The event was a clandestine cross-countryrace from New York City to RedondoBeach, California to establish the lowestelapsed time. It was run five times be-tween 1971 and 1979 and the fastest timewas 32 hours and 51 minutes.

The Cannonball spawned a bunch ofmovies, books and even copy-cat events butnone had the cache of the original. TheGumball 3000 has been run for the past 17years. It has evolved into a road trip forhigh rollers in expensive toys. This year’sroute starts in Stockholm, Sweden andpasses through other European cities of

Oslo, Copenhagen and Amsterdam beforethe cars are shipped to the U.S. It restartsin Reno and goes through San Francisco,Los Angeles and finishes in Las Vegas. Be-fore you lunge for your computer to get anentry application, keep in mind that theentry fee is £40,000 per person (that’s$61,880 in U.S. dollars). Per person.

TRY IT BEFORE YOU BUY ITThe fastest way to sell a muscle car is

to put a prospective buyer behind thewheel on a race track. It’s also one of themost difficult things to do, from a logisticalstandpoint. It’s not like going for a testdrive at the dealership–unless the dealer-ship happens to be next to a racetrack...which they are not. Shelby Ameri-can has come up with a new program toaddress this. Of course, you’re going tohave to go to Nevada. The company’s newTry Before You Buy experience allows aprospective buyer to drive a base model2015 Mustang GT, a 627 horsepower 2015Shelby GT and a 2014 Shelby GT500 atthe Spring Mountain Motor Resort &Country Club in Pahrump, Nevada, about60 miles west of Las Vegas. Initially threeone-day events have been planned andeach will accept a maximum of 20 partici-pants who will receive personal instructionby factory drivers Gary Patterson andVince LaViolette. The package includes agift bag which contains a Shelby polo shirt,a Shelby backpack, a GoPro camera to cap-ture the experience (the automotive equiv-alent of a “selfie”) and a catered lunch and

refreshments. The cost: a cool $2,500 but itcan be used as a deposit if you decide topurchase a new Shelby.

We can’t help wondering what itwould have been like if an identical pro-gram had existed at Shelby American in1965. Imagine going out to Willow Springsor Riverside Raceway and driving a 427

Cobra and a ‘65 GT350 with Ken Miles andJohn Timanus as instructors. And the cost?$2,500 in 1965 dollars would be $328.85.The only thing missing would be the GoProcamera because that hadn’t been inventedyet. Instead, you would probably have got-ten a Polaroid of you and Ken Miles. Yeah,if only.


MECUM MAGAZINE: JUNE IS PRACTICALLY AN ALL-SHELBY ISSUE

PERUVIAN R-MODEL VIDEO

Mecum Auctions sends out a snappymonthly online magazine. The June edi-tion filled 38 pages with Shelbys and Co-bras. It’s mostly hype about their auctionsbut that’s understandable. The pictures and car details arereally nice. The Cobras are CSX2549 and CSX3356.

If you’re interested in an online subscription go to theirwebsite: mecum.com/mecum-monthly/ It is also avail-able as a printed version (that concent sounds vaguely fa-miliar, for some reason). Cost for the subscription (12issues for $24.95). Info is also available on their website.

The history of the five Peruvian R-Modelshas been documented in the 2011 Shelby registry.In short, five cars (211, 213, 530, 535 and 540)were purchased by five Peruvian sportsmen in1966 who wanted to compete against each otherin similar cars (a precursor to the IROC). Onewas wrecked and one was last reported to still bein the country. The remaining three were sold tobuyers in the U.S. in 1984. Today they have beenrestored and have been vintage raced. Athleteand racer Bratzo Vicich owns the world record formost miles in a rally car. There is a brief videoabout him on You Tube. You can catch it at:www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PXCPcZsTxE


‘66 Shelby trans-Am notchback barn findAfter sleeping in a garage for 37 years,

the 16th and last Group II Mustang notch-back has finally emerged from the shad-ows and will go under the spotlight at theMecum auction in Indianapolis on May 12-16. The story (with pictures) was broken byStephen Cox, a co-host of the cable televi-sion coverage for Mecum auctions andpicked up on other automotive blogs. Notmuch in the article that accompanied thepictures isn’t the car’s registry footnote.

The car was obviously painted red atsome point prior to 1977; it was reportedto have been driven infrequently untilthen, when it was put in storage in Florida.That’s probably a polite way of saying“parked and forgotten.” Cox’s Internetstory contains a few inaccuracies when hebacks into Shelby T/A history and specifi-cations to add context, but that’s probablyto be expected. The most glaring is his as-sertion of the car’s original horsepower.“Like the fifteen cars that preceeded it, aK-Code 289/271 small-block powered thisShelby Mustang. In reality, it probably hadfar more power than that since Shelby’ssmall block Fords routinely registered wellbeyond 400 horsepower on their dyno.”Well, not really. In Shelby American’s en-gine shop, the upper limit of a 289 engine,built for the FIA roadsters and DaytonaCoupes with a roller cam and Weber induc-tion system was about 385 horsepower. Astandard GT350 R-Model dynoed between340 and 360 horsepower. Group II notch-backs like this car received the equivalentof an R-Model engine which was probablyaround 350 horsepower. This is a far cryfrom “well beyond 400.” This is how misin-formation is masqueraded as fact.

Browsing the Internet revealed aphoto file containing 111 images of the car:http://s1381.photobucket.com/user/428rc/library/66TA/posted?sort=3&page=1They show close-up details which revealthe condition as being much worse thanthe photos used in Cox’s article indicate.The side view of the car [pictured above]was taken from about 25-feet away, mak-ing the car look better than it really is.

Car #16. Reportedly purchased byShelby American employee (name notknown). Driven to Charlotte, NorthCarolina. Purchased from used car lotby present owner Wayne Bard (Semi-nole, FL) 7/69. Driven until ‘77 andgaraged and untouched since then.De-livered with aftermarket chrome Cra-gar 15˝x 6˝ spoked wheels. Reportedlynever raced. - 2011 SAAC Registry

The value of this car makes an inter-esting talking point. In his article, Coxstates, “To preserve the amazing original-ity of the car, no further work was done. Itremains as Shelby built it in 1966 and asdriven by its first owner until the mid-1970s. Such limited restorations are thelatest trend in collector automobiles, offer-ing several enormous advantages. Ex-penses are dramatically reduced. Thehistory of the car is carefully preserved.And it’s never too late to go back and re-store the car to perfection if a future ownerchooses to do so. But as they always say,“it’s only original once.”

The details in the photobucket pic-tures show that while the car has all of itsoriginal equipment still in place, none of itis in good condition. It would be hard toimagine someone purchasing this car withthe intention of leaving it exactly as it is–atime capsule, so to speak. If a new ownerwere to undertake it as a restoration proj-ect (which could be done by almost anyshop specializing in Mustangs) virtuallyeverything, to include every nut and bolt,would have to be refinished. Every me-chanical component would require rebuild-ing. The body would need massive work. Aconservative estimate of a total restorationwould be north of $100,000.

However you work out the equation,there is still one 900 lb. gorilla in the room.This car has no racing history whatsoever,and that is where the inherent value is.Today, if a Mustang notchback race cardoes not have Trans-Am history, its valuedrops like an anvil off of a pier.

solution to the air car problem - saac - home · power rack-and-pinion steering is standard and...

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