Caroll Shelby article

[gt5001]

The July edition of Vanity Fair magazine has a 13-page article (lots of photos) on Caroll Shelby. In a quick scan, I didn't see much new about the GT500, other than the piece saying the car is "vindication" for Shelby in his later life. Appears to be some interesting stuff about Shelby American & his financial holdings and businesses.

[RUFDRAFT]

thanks! Gotta pick one up.

 

Thirteen pages? Whew. Should be good stuff.

[gt5001]

It's not 13 full pages and several are pages of photos, but I've now read it and it certainly is a good read. (The cover photo & story on Sandra Bullock isn't bad either!)

A couple of interesting paragraphs/sentences:

"Shelby worked on this new GT500 on a conceptual level, setting targets for horsepower (500) and price ($40,000) and leaving it up to Ford's S.V.T. division to meet them."

When he drove a prototype and complained to Jay O'Connell, SVT chief engineer, about the suspension being too soft, Shelby said, "It's a muscle car. People expect it to be tied down." He also said to O'Connell, "Buckle up. Ah'm almost 83 and I've had a heart transplant."

This article mentions a production figure of 10,000 per year and says Shelby could realize up to $2 million in royalties, which "could help Shelby save his company."

That looks like $200 to $250 per car for Shelby, depending on how many are built.

[DVS2XS]

Until reading it, I didn't know Shelby American was in financial trouble.

 

pg. 114 | KING OF THE ROAD As Carroll Shelby, 83, applies the winning formula behind his classic 1960s Mustangs to Ford’s new 2007 Shelby GT500, Robert Levine gauges the legacy of a true Texas original. Portraits by Jonas Karlsson.

 

Worth reading.

[jkittrell]

This article mentions a production figure of 10,000 per year and says Shelby could realize up to $2 million in royalties, which "could help Shelby save his company."

That looks like $200 to $250 per car for Shelby, depending on how many are built.

 

 

I wonder if that's something Shelby said was the plan from the beginning or just since demand has been high. Again, cars are for drivin' , not retirin'.

[68fastback]

Until reading it, I didn't know Shelby American was in financial trouble.

 

Worth reading.

 

 

Me neither... I wonder what they're talking about too because there's Shelby, the man; Shelby American the company that started it all and has the Shelby American auto museum in Boulder, CO (that just spent millions adding to their collection with a couple of CS Cobras and #103 GT40!!!), and then there's Shelby Automobiles in Las Vegas that mkes the current CS Cobras, converts the Shelby GT-Hs, and doesn the CS6, etc. and has the 'Shelby Museum.' So I'm sooo confused...

 

Then again, this was an article in Vanity Fair?? Hmmm...

[kb67]

I looked at the Shelby American Museum site it shows them as being a not for profit organization. I thought that it was established by others to perserve Shelbys not really a Shelby driven venture may be wrong about that though.

[68fastback]

I looked at the Shelby American Museum site it shows them as being a not for profit organization. I thought that it was established by others to perserve Shelbys not really a Shelby driven venture may be wrong about that though.

 

 

Yes, I think you're right on that, but that's the only vestige of the 'Shelby American' name that I know of which is supposedly the name used in Vanity Fair article (as opposed to Shelby Automobiles) -- I haven't seen the actual article.