Still trying to find Rev. Carroll Apparently he was named by his mother for a fire breathing minister of the era but never found out if Carroll was the Rev.'s first name or last name. His mom was probably hoping that being named after a pastor would keep him away from bad company but a Dallas Morning News writer says Shelby used to hang around the park with local gamblers anyway. I always thought that maybe his mom was following the philosophy of the J. Cash song "A Boy Named Sue" figuring any boy with a feminine sounding name would have to resort to duking it out more often than some boy named Bob or Jim and thus turn out to be a tough hombre
Re: Still trying to find Rev. Carroll Great anecdotes, all... I think that boy-named-Sue thing might have worked Maybe the ultimate measure of real toughness is endurance and perseverance -- an 85 year old racing legend, automotive icon, still doing what he loves with the same flair and exhuberance he's been known for all his life! Sure hope Carrroll sees 100! Even if he can't make the party, Jan 11, 2023 will be an historic day ...I think we'll all keep a chair empty for him regardless. Dan
Re: Still trying to find Rev. Carroll Hi Kerry... I bumped into these early pics of CS at the Motion Picture and Television archive site -- thought you and others might enjoy. I'd never seen those before -- the 1953 one is cool! ;-) -Dan
while being interviewed on a Los Angeles radio station in 1982, CS was asked "what do you think about the revamped corvette"? He replied "Well, it looks ok, but the lack of power, I mean that thing couldn't pull a greasy string out of a dead cat's a*s". Don't believe they asked him back, but he had all of us at the factory rolling on the floor...............
Couldn't open Motorion Picture archive Maybe the link should be the URL...can you access it by computer without going there? I think one time I saw that Shelby has some motion picture credits for appearing in various things (though I have only seen him in documentaries).
I can't remember where I read it but there was a quote was something like this, someone kept asking him what he throught of a car and he said it seem to be a bit of a Blivit (or something like that), when asked what that ment he explained that was 10 lbs of Sh@t in a 5 lb bag.
I was having lunch with Carroll in 1998, years after he had his heart and kidney transplants. He was having his favorite meal, fried chicken, and salting it up real well. He noticed my look at his diet and said in his low gravel of a voice, "I take 38 gall-damn pills every day, I let the damn doctors worry about it."
"Anything worth doing is worth doing in excess" I heard him say this to a new series 1 owner.... "you keep good tires on that thing and you will blow anyones ass of the road!" I overheard him say this to a guy at a car show. "that idiot couldn't pour water out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel"
"People always ask me what's my favorite car, and I say, 'the next one I build,' " Shelby said. "I've been very lucky to do what I loved, and not many folks are fortunate to do that."
More of our favorite Carroll Shelby quotes can be found at the Road & Track website as they look back on 50 years of interviews with Carroll. Words of Wisdom from Carroll Shelby - Special Report 50 years after the first Cobra, we look back with some of our most memorable Carroll Shelby quotes. I have sampled one below but click here to see the full list.
My favorite Carroll quote is cast into the backside of a Texas-shaped cornbread pan. It reads: "Any man that eats Chili and Cornbread can't be all bad" Carroll Shelby No doubt it was an item sold via his chili fixins company, probably in the 1980's?
Here's another quote I have heard him say on various occasions...or something similar to this anyway. I was reminded of this while looking at the last page in the Motor Trend Shelby book.