SHELBY RESOURCES
CLUBS
Shelby American Automobile Club
saac.com
Team Shelby
teamshelby.com
Mustang Club of America
mustang.org
with Ford’s new supercomputer. The leaf springs were gone, replaced by tubular upper and lower control arms suspended by coil-over shocks at each corner. These cars are known as “Coil Spring” cars, though certainly the most obvious upgrade was the 427 underhood and more muscular bodywork.
Shelby American offered both Street and Competition versions of the 427, as well as the 427 S/C, or Semi-Competition. On track, howev- er, the 427 cars never saw the success of the small-block cars. But in the court of public opinion these big- block Cobras quickly earned their reputation as the baddest sports cars ever to wear license plates. The 427 Cobra’s 450 hp and 2,400-lb curb weight equal performance that rivals most supercars of today.
Henry’s Revenge During the Cobra’s reign, Shelby also
had his hands in another project — to help Henry Ford II build a race car that would kick sand in Enzo Ferrari’s face. Having declared Ford the “To- tal Performance” company, Ford II needed a sports car that could domi- nate the European race scene and win its ultimate race: the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Meanwhile, Enzo Ferrari had walked out of a deal for Ford to buy his company, and Henry Ford II wanted revenge at any cost. As Ferrari discovered on the race track, hell hath no fury like a Ford scorned. Ford found a willing partner in Eric Broadley of Lola Cars, LTD in
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England, and soon the Lola GT would evolve into the Ford GT40.
Ford looked to Shelby American to help make the GT40 a winner. After much trial and tribulation, Ford, with Shelby American, won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966 with a perfect 1-2-3 photo-op finish. The effort cost Ford more than $60 million, and no doubt HFII thought it was worth every penny.
Shelbys for the People The largest chapter of the Shelby
story belongs to the Shelby Mus- tangs. When Ford introduced the Mustang as a mid-year 1964 model, it was an unprecedented success. Ford knew that “cute” and “affordable” would run their course, yet perfor- mance would endure. The company already built high-performance 289- cid versions of the Mustang but had failed to homologate it for produc- tion racing with the Sports Car Club of America. Once again, Shelby entered the picture, this time with the GT350 Mustang.
The rest, as they say, is history. For 1965, Shelby built 521 Street and 36 Competition versions with the 289, and they conquered SCCA B/ Production racing to win the national title. These cars were raw, elemental race cars for the street with two seats, no radio, loud side-exit exhaust and any color you wanted as long as it was white. Today the 1965s are the most cov- eted of the Shelby Mustangs.
BOOKS
The Shelby American World Registry
saac.com
The Cobra Story By Carroll Shelby
motorbooks.com
The Complete Book of Shelby Automobiles By Colin Comer
motorbooks.com
Shelby Mustang: Racer for the Street By Randy Leffingwell
motorbooks.com
Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans By A.J. Baime
amazon.com
Shelby Cobra Fifty Years By Colin Comer
motorbooks.com
Carroll Shelby:
The Authorized Biography By Rinsey Mills
motorbooks.com
WEBSITES
Shelby American
shelbyautos.com
Carroll Shelby: An American Legend
carrollshelby.com
PARTS AND RESTORATION
Virginia Classic Mustang
virginiaclassicmustang.com
Tony Branda Shelby Parts
cobranda.com
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