Carroll Shelby sinks to new lows - "retroactive" Shelbys

Last I heard people who parted out wrecked Shelbys could sell the parts wherever they wanted. My guess is Bob offered more cash than the owners of "real" Shelbys were willing to pay. Me, I think I would not have shelled out $1500 for a steering wheel (and that was 15 years ago- that's over 2 grand today) and I don't want to know what he paid for the aluminum T10 and NOS dual-quad setup.

 

I tried to restrain myself, but this statement is just too juicy. Please send me some of whatever you were smoking when you wrote the above assertion. It must be some strong sh*t.

Z.

 

Aight gents lets keep it sivilyzed

Best,
Vern

 

Not sure I understand the point of this post? If it's that he can get more for the parts now then perhaps he should sell them to someone with a real GT350. Just a thought...

 

Ah, the car was assembled and finished about 15 years ago, and only comes out in nice weather. If you saw the car, you'd realize the thought of parting it out is rather repugnant. Most if the "real" Shelby's I have seen are not this nicely done, or as well optioned, or even as "original", if you are counting real Shelby parts. It simply lacks a VIN from SA. Apparently, SA will now "correct" this for a price. Sounds like good business practice to me. SA gets to sell a VIN for a car that cost them absolutely nothing to produce. It sure beats their experience with Unique Performance. All SA got out of that was bad publicity.

 

Im really not trying to make this into more of an argument than it already is but the more you say, the more i am confused...
The car your friend has is not an "original" so anything with a legitimate SA vin is more "original" than that car, whether the legit SA car is full of scott drake and branda parts or not. And im not really sure what you are trying to say with an original car being less optioned than your friends tribute car...the original 66 Shelbys didnt come with many factory options unless u considered tranny choice, optional wheels, a supercharger, or rear seat as a lush options list. Rear axle ratio, a/c, radio, wood rimmed wheel...these were all dealer installed options..except a/c which came on all 4 of the convertibles. Anything that your friends car has besides they above items means that it is less "original"...if it more "highly optioned" then its less accurate most likely...when are you going to post pictures of this car?

 

First it was

Then it was

actually, it's lacking history. Now climb in your time machine & fix that.


Z.

 

A friend of mine just bought an early 66 Shelby, and he could use one of those rare, genuine Factory Shelby parts on your friend's car. Such as the factory Shelby steel hood and dual-quad Holley high rise which came on all 66 Shelbys.

 

I am speechless. An ad hominem attack from someone who doesn't know me, has never seen the car, and doesn't know the people who built the car. Amazing.

The people who built the car I refer to have been restoring Shelbys and Mustangs for decades. The trophies these cars have accumulated would likely fill an 18-wheeler. So, whadda you got?

 

The steel Shelby hood is well-documented, and very rare. The dual quad intake is well known, but rarely seen. His was new in the box in the mid 90's, when installed on his car. I said options. Pay attention next time.

 

Much as I like and appreciate the original production cars, I'm not Shelby. I don't get to decide what a "real" Shelby is. It's his name, he can do as he likes.

If Carrol Shelby says a car is a Shelby, it's a Shelby. Who the h*** are you to say otherwise? His name is S-H-E-L-B-Y. Get it? The "history" would be Carroll Shelby says it's a Shelby. Year, month, day, doesn't matter. He wants to put a Shelby VIN on a Flexible Flyer, it's a Shelby. You can throw all the tantrums you want, it's still a Shelby.

 

All of the parts used to construct that car were genuine Ford, or Shelby American, as appropriate. Hood, tach, wheels, engine- used original. Most all the rest were NOS. As for "options", it has the aluminum T10 as did all 65, and early 66 GT350. The dual-quad intake was the Ford OTC "Cobra" kit. The steering wheel was an NOS wood rimmed (not the cheesy plastic Mustang wheel most 66 GT350 had) and so on. Since all of the Shelby-unique parts actually came from Shelby American, I's say it was pretty doggone correct. There are no Drake or Branda parts on the car.

 

wake me up when your buddy get's his Shelby VIN on that '66. I have a feeling I'll be sleeping longer than Rip Van Winkle.

Z.

 

I doubt he gives a crap what you think. And at this point, I doubt he'd bother to buy a Shelby VIN, either.

 

Here we go again..

1- To answer the question posed in one of your replies...zrayr has a real car, thats what hes got

2- Your entire thought process on these cars is flawed. We arent talking about real and fake shelbys as a binary. Buying a VIN from shelby american or carroll shelby would not make your friend's car a "real 1966 shelby". It would, however, make the car a "real shelby approved reproduction/continuation 1966 GT350 convertible based on a mustang convertible and completed to specs inconsistent to the original 4 1966 convertibles"...is that better?

3- T10s were the standard tranny, not an option, an automatic would be the option
2*4 induction would be dealer added and had nothing to do with shelby american production cars of this year and spec
wood wheel would also be a dealer installed option
None of these would make the car "correct", in fact, they distance the car from correct, but dont ask me, ask a concours judge.

4- You need to step back an rethink your entire argument here. Get off the horse that Carroll Shelby would sell you a VIN for this car. First off, nothing at SHelby Automobiles Inc goes through Carroll, it goes through the company, carroll shelby does not personally sell vins to cars, period. Second, Shelby automobiles will not sell a vin to this car, there is not chance of it, its not worth their time and it simply will not happen. Thus, the very basis of your posts here are completely false. I just dont know what would make you think they would. And btw, this is coming to you from someone who works on an off for SHelby Automobiles Inc and is scheduled to be a registrar for Team Shelby...i know what im talking about.

Vern

 

2+2GT:
I am toying with the idea of taking all the original parts off of my '66 350 and selling them. I would however keep the VIN tag. Then you can truly boast about your friend having a more authentic car than mine. To get on my soapbox for a minute... if some of these enthusiasts actually put what they had $$$ wise into an authentic car of the era, they would have something of value, instead of something they hope to get authenticated; by the way; I consider myself to be a Shelby "snob", since I have the pleasure to be a caretaker of one of the original cars. Not a want to be looking in.

 

1- To answer the question posed in one of your replies...zrayr has a real car, thats what hes got
Oh goody. I am now impressed by his wallet. His mouth could use some work.

2- Your entire thought process on these cars is flawed. We arent talking about real and fake shelbys as a binary. Buying a VIN from Shelby American or carroll shelby would not make your friend's car a "real 1966 Shelby". It would, however, make the car a "real shelby approved reproduction/continuation 1966 GT350 convertible based on a mustang convertible and completed to specs inconsistent to the original 4 1966 convertibles"...is that better?
Works for me. I'm not defending Shelby doing retroactive VIN's merely his right to do it.

3- T10s were the standard tranny, not an option, an automatic would be the option
At the time the T10 was in use, the C4 was not an option, either.

2*4 induction would be dealer added and had nothing to do with shelby American production cars of this year and spec
So what? It was available from the first day. It bolts on. It bolts off. It's a legitimate Ford Cobra part that's actually old enough to have been on the car at the time.

wood wheel would also be a dealer installed option
See above.

None of these would make the car "correct", in fact, they distance the car from correct, but dont ask me, ask a concours judge.
OK, shoot me. The car could easily have rolled into the dealer's showroom as described. And I have seen the drawings, a factory 2-4V was considered for the 67 GT350, so it's not like Shelby never thought of doing it earlier.

4- You need to step back an rethink your entire argument here. Get off the horse that Carroll Shelby would sell you a VIN for this car. First off, nothing at Shelby Automobiles Inc goes through Carroll, it goes through the company, Carroll Shelby does not personally sell vins to cars, period. Second, Shelby automobiles will not sell a VIN to this car, there is not chance of it, its not worth their time and it simply will not happen. Thus, the very basis of your posts here are completely false. I just don't know what would make you think they would. And btw, this is coming to you from someone who works on an off for Shelby Automobiles Inc and is scheduled to be a registrar for Team Shelby...i know what im talking about.

Well Vern, I'll take your word for your employment. The folks I have dealt with at Shelby American have been uniformly nice to deal with, who go out of their way to assure that contacts with SA are professional and pleasant. I hope you fall in to that category.

Certainly Carroll Shelby does not involve himself, at his age and health, with the day to day operations at SA. I doubt he involves himself with much of anything. The guy's 86, with a heart transplant.

Considering SA's experience with Unique Performance, I don't see why SA would not be willing to put their imprimatueur on a well-built replica. The GT500E cars from UP, which they were willing to give their imprimatueur, were apparently carelessly built crap, when they were delivered at all, yet were legitimized by SA. As for me, I never liked them, the day the movie came out I thought them to be overly restyled and rather stupid-looking. I was very surprised when SA actually became involved in the production of such cars. So why wouldn't one suppose they might do something similar elsewhere? Although considering their experience with that disaster, maybe it will not be repeated.

 

Where the heck is the dead horse Emoticon when you need it?

Mike

 

My sentiments exactly. This ought do.

 

I have no idea why i even involved myself on this, its not worth it.

*last post here*

Best,
Vern