07SGT Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 AJ should write a book!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akos (AJ) Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Any of us could. The two Garys, Vince, Jim Owens, Joe Jacuzzi, Chris Pessinis... and even Amy, once her 25 year long very expensive NDA is up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
07SGT Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 what is NDA? And why do you say it is very expensive? We never heard why she left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
springer Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 NDA - non-disclosure agreement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HARALD KELLEY Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Fun read. Thanks AJ for your insight on all this stuff. You should log all your info for some future time in automotive history as I am sure someone will want to capture the second generation of Shelby's and then you would have it to recall. Oh ya, don't forget the car and program that started it all. You all can guess what car that is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyGJ Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Any of us could. The two Garys, Vince, Jim Owens, Joe Jacuzzi, Chris Pessinis... and even Amy, once her 25 year long very expensive NDA is up... It would be great to get AJ and the others mentioned above in a wide open "memory lane" conversation for some one to record or document what is said. We should all chip in and buy them some food & drinks to get the conversations started....heck, I'd love to be in the audience while it's going on!! AJ thanks for all the notes on the behind the scenes info....I've been checking back each day eager to hear more. And thanks to whoever started this thread!! 2+2 was that you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2+2 Posted January 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Yes, It was me. I hoped to hear from a Shelby employee and got one of the bosses. Awesome. I am really glad to hear how active Carroll was during the design. Was he out on the shop floor often? Did he ever flip out over something he did not like going on, like most upper managers do? How was the line set up? Did you have to hire temporary employees, or where they all on the Shelby payroll. I am now an expert on the famous Shelby GT hood scoop. Thank you for all your input and time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWEDEMAN Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Here's a link to the announcement of the Shelby GT ....and the rest is history. Thanks Dave, I just relived the experience of driving my brand new Shelby GT off the showroom floor. Once in a life time feeling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyBlueHeaven Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 I agree, this is great info. I too find myself looking a few times a day to see what new info has been posted. Great History here. A book would be a great idea. hopefully some others will post up with some of that history as well. Thank you wery much AJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akos (AJ) Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 what is NDA? And why do you say it is very expensive? We never heard why she left. Yes, sorry for using the corporate jargon. NDA does stand for non-disclosure agreement. It's standard practice to pay pretty good sums of money to outgoing C-level executives so they sign a long standing NDA (5-10 years). This way, public corporations protect their shareholders' interest by keeping the behind-the-scenes secrets behind the scenes. That's exactly why you haven't heard why Amy left. BTW, does it even matter? AJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akos (AJ) Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Yes, It was me. I hoped to hear from a Shelby employee and got one of the bosses. Awesome. I am really glad to hear how active Carroll was during the design. Was he out on the shop floor often? Did he ever flip out over something he did not like going on, like most upper managers do? How was the line set up? Did you have to hire temporary employees, or where they all on the Shelby payroll. I am now an expert on the famous Shelby GT hood scoop. Thank you for all your input and time. Carroll has always been conducting his business from Gardena. The times he was in Vegas, he made the point of going out on the assembly line to chat with the mechanics, check on the cars and how production was proceeding. He has always been very nice with the people that wrench for him. Did he ever flip out? Sure he did, he still does. But always with the C-level executives only. Never with the guys in the shop. When I joined the company in March of 2006, the assembly line was an empty warehouse with the remains of the Series-1 assembly line. That car's production was set up as a conveyor belt, just like in any OEM's assembly plant. It was necessary, because they were building that car from the ground up. Our first project was the hard top GT-H. I designed the assembly line to be a cell-manufacturing facility. Each car had its lift and the full conversion was done without moving the car off that lift. This eliminated a lot of logistics issues and we didn't have to coordinate between lifts. We have eliminated a lot of down-time by letting each lift work at their own pace. I believe they are still following that philosophy today. Originally we started with 3 mechanics per lift and by the time we did the GT in 2007 it was 2 mechanics per lift. Between the GT-H and the GT projects we have also increased and repositioned the lifts from 6 to15. At the height of the GT's production, each lift was turning out 4 cars per day! There is no better sight than to watch the assembly line "hum". We never hired anybody on a temporary basis. We didn't have to. Nevada is a right-to-work state, I could hire and fire anybody at will. It did happen a couple of times that I had to let go somebody at the end of their first day... It was definitely a major challenge to find qualified people because Las Vegas doesn't have any other automotive manufacturing businesses. So tech schools like Wyotek and similar were the best source for some young and enthusiastic guys and girls that loved to wrench on cars. If you ever talk to Jeremy Roberts, who is in sales now, ask him about the stories of those hectic early days. He is one of the few kids that started with us back then and is still around... Writing all this reminds me that I need to go to Vegas soon to see what's going on today AJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akos (AJ) Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 I agree, this is great info. I too find myself looking a few times a day to see what new info has been posted. Great History here. A book would be a great idea. hopefully some others will post up with some of that history as well. Thank you wery much AJ. My pleasure. I've been away from the forum for a while, but it's great to be back. I don't think I'm eloquent enough to write a book. Maybe I just start a blog... AJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akos (AJ) Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Fun read. Thanks AJ for your insight on all this stuff. You should log all your info for some future time in automotive history as I am sure someone will want to capture the second generation of Shelby's and then you would have it to recall. Oh ya, don't forget the car and program that started it all. You all can guess what car that is! The correct answer is....(drumroll)....: the CS6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsastang67 Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 This is the best topic I have read in a long time, thanks for all the input! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyGJ Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 AJ - just curious, how long did it take to convert the entire production of each model year of SGT....for example, I thought the 2008 run started in August 2007 but was pretty much done by March 2008....is that anywhere close? How about the 2007 production....any ideas of time frame to make all the conversions? Also, did the product come in from Ford in waves, steady stream, or couple of big drops to corral in the yard? I thoroughly enjoy all your info....thanks again for share all these details. Andy J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akos (AJ) Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 The correct answer is....(drumroll)....: the CS6 While we used the hood from the CS6 on the GT-H, Harald is right in assuming the GT-H started it all. Without the GT-H and the cash that came from it there wouldn't be a Shelby American today. AJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akos (AJ) Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 AJ - just curious, how long did it take to convert the entire production of each model year of SGT....for example, I thought the 2008 run started in August 2007 but was pretty much done by March 2008....is that anywhere close? How about the 2007 production....any ideas of time frame to make all the conversions? Also, did the product come in from Ford in waves, steady stream, or couple of big drops to corral in the yard? I thoroughly enjoy all your info....thanks again for share all these details. Andy J. We were supposed to start the '07s in September of '06. Then, because of logistics issues we started in January of '07. If I remember correctly we have presented the '08s in early summer (Don't quote me on that, it was truly a blur...) and started building them in the Fall of '07. Whoever has the low numbered '08s can probably tell you when did they start receiving their cars. We did do the California (orange) cars in one batch. We started the KR in early Spring '08 and we were pretty much done with the last GTs by then, so Andy, you are spot on. The '07s came in in batches and at a certain point we had about 2000 cars in the parking lot. There is a great aerial shot of the lot that looks like a massive chessboard with all the black and white cars. I believe you can buy the poster at the Shelby gift shop in the museum. Or ask them for a re-print. The cars came in on railcars and were transported from the North Las Vegas train station to the Shelby facility by open trailers. 9 at a time. Then we grouped the cars based on their final destination, 6 cars going to the same general area, and built the cars in one group at the same time. This way we could load the enclosed carriers and send them on their way. First I did all the pooling and the truckloads and Rich Sparkman built us a nice little tracking software that tracked all the cars from arrival to Shelby to delivery to the customer. Then later on in the program we had a nice little shipping team taking care of all the cars. This might be a little more info that you wanted to know... BTW, since we tracked each car, the Shelby guys might still have the record on who built what car and when. It wasn't 100% accurate but pretty close... AJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpow96 Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Let's keep this going: you mention that the '08 SGT-C cars were done in one batch. How about the '07 SGT-California ones? Could every lift do the gauge package for that, or was that a specialized job? -Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2+2 Posted January 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Keep the information coming. I visited the plant when the first Series-1 car was at the last stage of the build, so I remember the horse shoe shaped assembly line. Sounds like the two man teams worked out great on our SGT's In the bold move video posted here, I notice a meeting that ended with a S-Snake High-Five at the 2:22 minute mark. A.J, did you get in on any of those High- Fives, or did they do that often. It looked like Amy enjoyed that and may have keeped it going. Are you in the video ? I would like to declare The S-Snake High-Five, the official greeting of the Shelby GT family ( SGT-H, SGT-C, SGT, SGT-BJ ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akos (AJ) Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Let's keep this going: you mention that the '08 SGT-C cars were done in one batch. How about the '07 SGT-California ones? Could every lift do the gauge package for that, or was that a specialized job? -Tom Gauges were done in the mod-shop prior to getting on the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akos (AJ) Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Keep the information coming. I visited the plant when the first Series-1 car was at the last stage of the build, so I remember the horse shoe shaped assembly line. Sounds like the two man teams worked out great on our SGT's In the bold move video posted here, I notice a meeting that ended with a S-Snake High-Five at the 2:22 minute mark. A.J, did you get in on any of those High- Fives, or did they do that often. It looked like Amy enjoyed that and may have keeped it going. Are you in the video ? I would like to declare The S-Snake High-Five, the official greeting of the Shelby GT family ( SGT-H, SGT-C, SGT, SGT-BJ ). I'm not in the video unfortunately. I was busy building the assembly line That hi-five thingy was a Ford "invention". Their lawyers trademarked it so every time we wanted to use it we would have to pay royalties. So we abstained from ever doing it... AJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2+2 Posted January 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 I'm not in the video unfortunately. I was busy building the assembly line That hi-five thingy was a Ford "invention". Their lawyers trademarked it so every time we wanted to use it we would have to pay royalties. So we abstained from ever doing it... AJ What great information . That is incredible that Ford trademarked that high-five. How in the world could you get royalties from that? I still think we could use the S-snake shaped arm thingy also as a wave while driving on the road similar to the Corvette wave. Maybe I should trademark that. Hey fellow SGT owners, if you see me doing the S-Snake wave to you while passing by, wave back I won't charge you.. You are called A.J. on this board, I am not sure what your name really is. That is more than OK if you do not want to give that out? Very much understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyGJ Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 OK, someone remind me...what were the special gauges on the SGT -Cali edition? Is it similar to the center pod gauges found on some of the S/C upgraded cars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akos (AJ) Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 What great information . That is incredible that Ford trademarked that high-five. How in the world could you get royalties from that? I still think we could use the S-snake shaped arm thingy also as a wave while driving on the road similar to the Corvette wave. Maybe I should trademark that. Hey fellow SGT owners, if you see me doing the S-Snake wave to you while passing by, wave back I won't charge you.. You are called A.J. on this board, I am not sure what your name really is. That is more than OK if you do not want to give that out? Very much understand. I was just kidding on the trademark of the hi-five. Honestly that's the only time I've ever seen it on the actual video. I think they did it for the theatrical effect, but it never caught on with either Shelby or Ford. My name is Akos Feher, hence the "AJ". Since my middle name is John hence the "A.J." AJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akos (AJ) Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 I posted a pair of original emails about the Terlingua Mustang concept car (poictured in my signature below) on the Terlingua side of the Forum. If you like the behind the scenes stories, you might like those... AJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyGJ Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 We were supposed to start the '07s in September of '06. Then, because of logistics issues we started in January of '07. If I remember correctly we have presented the '08s in early summer (Don't quote me on that, it was truly a blur...) and started building them in the Fall of '07. Whoever has the low numbered '08s can probably tell you when did they start receiving their cars. We did do the California (orange) cars in one batch. We started the KR in early Spring '08 and we were pretty much done with the last GTs by then, so Andy, you are spot on. The '07s came in in batches and at a certain point we had about 2000 cars in the parking lot. There is a great aerial shot of the lot that looks like a massive chessboard with all the black and white cars. I believe you can buy the poster at the Shelby gift shop in the museum. Or ask them for a re-print. The cars came in on railcars and were transported from the North Las Vegas train station to the Shelby facility by open trailers. 9 at a time. Then we grouped the cars based on their final destination, 6 cars going to the same general area, and built the cars in one group at the same time. This way we could load the enclosed carriers and send them on their way. First I did all the pooling and the truckloads and Rich Sparkman built us a nice little tracking software that tracked all the cars from arrival to Shelby to delivery to the customer. Then later on in the program we had a nice little shipping team taking care of all the cars. This might be a little more info that you wanted to know... BTW, since we tracked each car, the Shelby guys might still have the record on who built what car and when. It wasn't 100% accurate but pretty close... AJ Thanks AJ.....precisely the kind of timeline info I was curious to know!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpow96 Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 OK, someone remind me...what were the special gauges on the SGT -Cali edition? Is it similar to the center pod gauges found on some of the S/C upgraded cars? It is similar to the center pod gauges that could be installed as a post-title option by SA, or anyone by ordering through SPP and installing them on their own. The difference is that it includes the Oil Temp. instead of Boost gauge (on S/C cars) and was done pre-title. -Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2+2 Posted January 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 I was just kidding on the trademark of the high-five. Now I know why you have a Terlingua A.J. Thanks again and lets keep it going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akos (AJ) Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Now I know why you have a Terlingua A.J. Not just a Terlingua, but the SEMA concept one! Just wanted to brag...haha AJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HARALD KELLEY Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 I was just kidding on the trademark of the hi-five. Honestly that's the only time I've ever seen it on the actual video. I think they did it for the theatrical effect, but it never caught on with either Shelby or Ford. My name is Akos Feher, hence the "AJ". Since my middle name is John hence the "A.J." AJ AJ is one of the five signatures on the GT-H certifcate that you receive from Shelby when you register your GT-H. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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