My daughters 2007 Shelby GT got into a fender bender. What I do not understand is why Shelby and Ford have to have photos of the car to sell a replacement side stripe and a side emblem. A Shelby # and a VIN should be enough to get parts. We are now down two weeks waiting on two items. I do want to point out that Brian Turner at Shelby Performance Parts & Carol at Jerry's Ford have been very helpful in trying to resolve this...but all this silly verification of the car is a little over the top. I would have thought that Shelby would have kept a record of every VIN and dashboard number of every car they produced in a data base to prevent cloning. Times are tough enough without Shelby & Ford making them tougher!
Looks as though Shelby is really tight on replacement parts being sent out. I can give you a little insight on what happens with what I'll call SOME dealers. Not all just some!! I have a friend who purchased a Dodge truck and ran into a little transmission problem..took it to the dealer he bought it from for repairs. Dealer explains that the transmission needed to be replaced with a factory service replacement. While the vehicle sat at the shop for weeks awaiting parts the dealer also finds the motor has a knock...that would be a total rebuild of the lower end.. also the fuel not getting to the carb correctly..Explaining not to worry its covered under warranty. Finally gets the truck back with a lot more miles than he took it to them with and being worried that with all the transmission problems Chrysler was having he decides to trade it for a different truck because he travels a lot and didn't want to take a chance on having trouble on the road. I recommend he get the service record to show what had been done to the truck should someone question why such a new truck be traded..While getting this information from the dealer the service manager lays the folder down to answer the phone and my friend opens the file to find all kinds of service was preformed on this vehicle according to the many lists of warranty claims filed on his vehicle with his name forged to the bottom of the records. Turns out no service was ever preformed to the truck. Need I say more why they would like to see the damage to fill your request..
It is simple........ They are trying to keep the CLONES to a minimum which helps with the Value of your Car. There are a LOT of Saleen & Roush Mustangs on the Road that are just GT Mustangs with the Body Kit. I talked to a Lady a couple of Years ago who had a very Nice Low Mileaga Black 1997 "Sleen" Convertible (or so she thought) She paid a hefty price for the Car. I had her raise the Hood and saw that it did NOT have the Numbered Saleen Badge on the Firewall. I told her that it is a very nice Car but it is not a Saleen. I told her that she should call them and give them the VIN# to double check and gave her the Number......... She did and it was not a Saleen............ She filed a Lawsuit soon after. I designed the special "CS" Emblems that I used for the Tribute Edition Shelby's that I built under Contract. The only way to get a Replacement Emblem if it was wrecked is to send me the Damaged Emblem or a Police Report if it was Stolen. David.
I keenly appreciate what you folks are saying about the clones...don't disagree...but if Shelby is going to build cars and sell them, and in this age of computers, they should be able to have a VIN/Shelby data base they can reference for a part replacment. That way they can in any court case state whether they did the car or not. By the way, IMO all this cloning is going to grind to a halt...the economy is going to take care of that! Fortunately it was a small accident...but one side stripe and one badge should not be that hard to get....
I see what you are saying BUT........ I can get your VIN# and your SGT Number just by looking in the Window. Not to many people will go the extra mile and take Photos to get the Emblems and Stripes. I say, the more difficult it is to get the SGT replacement Parts the better. David.
In 2003 Harley Davidson produced special 100th anniversary badges for the gas tank of some models. The only way to purchase replacement badges was to show the damaged badges. Proof of ownership of an anniversary model was not enough, you had to show a need for the badge. Not a bad idea.
We provided FORD photos two weeks ago. Went through the system. They never got to Shelby. I have a guy who can make the stripes if necassary and we can reattach the damaged badge. Folks who think the these cars are going to be valuable and sell them at Barrett Jackson in 20 years are drinking too much. In the Wash DC area, we have GT's and GT 500's sitting on dealers lots unsold. All we want is a stripe and a badge... Shelby needs to quit worrying about cloning and take care of the present customers...that's how you keep the brand going.
Funny....Shelby's were sitting on the Lots Back in the 60's as well and look at them NOW. The 1969's sat for so long that they had to Re-Vin them as 1970's to sell them. In 1975 you could have bought 1965 Cobra 427's for $2,500.00 and now you would be lucky to find one for $2,500,000.00. David.
I feel your pain. It sounds like you know what to do if you have to. On the other side of the fence I am sure it is refreshing news to those that are in a more non collision repair situation that Shelby is making it harder to copy their car and hence protect the exclusive /value of the brand. The best of luck with your repair work. Bob
The Saga Continues...Shelby finally shipped the stripe (a one pound package according to UPS) on Dec 23. They told Jerrys Ford that to overnight the package would be $150! UPS just told me today that to overnight it would have been $50....It is now Jan 2...the package was sent ground and might get to the body shop on January 5! moral of story...if you get into a fender bender and need Shelby parts...make sure that the request goes into the dealer as quickly as possible so you might get the part in a reasonble amount of time. Otherwise you will be sitting and sitting and sitting and sitting....
