Car designer misses show in Volo By KAREN LONG klong@nwherald.com VOLO – Carroll Shelby could not make it to the Volo Auto Museum's annual show Saturday, but many of his cars did. Shelby, 82, a legendary car builder, was scheduled to appear at the museum's fourth annual Shelby Show but recently had undergone surgery for an unnamed kind of cancer. Elaine Swearingen of Manhattan said she and her husband, Keith, were disappointed because they wanted Shelby to sign the glove compartment of their 1968 Shelby GT500KR. The highland-green car is a fastback with a 428-cubic inch Cobra Jet engine and automatic transmission. Its parts are original, except for the recently replaced brake system, Elaine Swearingen said. "Carroll Shelby has quite a following," she added. About 80 of the 250 cars at the show were Shelbys. Registration proceeds, which cost $30 a vehicle, will go to Carroll Shelby's Children's Foundation, which he decided to create while waiting for his heart transplant. The organization provides financial assistance to children in need of organ and tissue transplants, and it promotes organ and tissue donation. Shelby's designs working for Ford, then Chrysler, inspired the Shelby Mustang, a 1960s-era muscle car, and later the Dodge Viper. More recently, he has designed the 2004 Cobra Concept, the 2005 Ford GT and GR-1 Concept, and 2006 Ford Shelby Cobra GT500. Shelby's absence did not stop car enthusiasts from coming to the show, said Joe Lopez, the museum's assistant director. "We had a person at the door telling people he can't be here, and they're still coming in to support his cause," Lopez said. Steve Moore, 58, of Mundelein admired one of the original Shelby Cobras, which married the body of an English car with the powerful V-8 engine popular in America in the 1960s. "It's like putting a nice black dress on a beautiful woman," Moore said. The car has an aluminum body and a 289 cubic-inch engine. "He beat the Beatles," Moore said. "This was really the British invasion." Chris Schertz of Milwaukee and Zach Brandt of Germantown, Wis., both 23, eyed the museum's 1967 Prototype Shelby GT500 Convertible, which Shelby drove in 1966 and 1967. The car has a 428 engine that produces about 400 horsepower. Brandt wanted to see a 2000 Cobra R, while Schertz had different cars in mind. "I just wanted to come look at the old Mustangs," he said. http://www.nwherald.com/CommunitySection/293114410015218.php
I wonder if Mr. Shelby will be at the SAAC event later this month. With his health issues it won't be long now. But I bet doctors said that a long time ago too.
Steve Moore and I were admiring the 289 Cobra when the reporter came up and asked questions. She had no idea what the car was. So Steve gave her some "on the job training" Robin
He has had health issues all his life. I spoke with him this morning. He should be alright. He has had a lot of doctor appointments recently but he said, "at my age that's what it takes to keep from going horizontal." I don't see him traveling much in the near future but you never know. He has never been one to sit still. RS
It maybe the beers I have drank talking, but this is why I think he will be one of the most memorable Texan's since LBJ.
Boy oh boy, you sound like kind of like me... That's a name (Shelby) that no one will be able to live up to. Here on earth anyways.
