Steve, Rande, Mike,
In '65 I was living in Mission Beach in San Diego and driving a 327 4-speed
Chevy Malibu hardtop. I'm not sure I even knew who Carroll Shelby was and
my favorite sport was beating up on Fords and Plymouths. Then, in 1970 I
bought the Tiger I still own and "everything changed".
I find Rande and Mike's perspectives very interesting and they strike a
chord with me as well. I, however, feel personally much less indebted to
Mr. Shelby than either Mike or Rande seem to. I do like to hang out with
Shelbyites; e.g., Cobra Club and Shelby Club events at Willow Springs, etc.
A lot of great people, fun to be around and drive with/against. But as far
as Mr. Shelby per se, I don't feel the Tiger marque owes him much. In fact,
perhaps on balance, he has been more of a detriment than a help. This is
best exemplified by the 260 motors he sold to Rootes for the Le Mans
effort. 260's?? That broke???? Shelby may have gotten a nominal sum of
$5/car, but the really interesting question is what was the secret
settlement between Shelby and Rootes over the bad motors???????????
Now, as for Shelby "designing" the Tiger - get serious!! Just what, may I
ask, did Shelby design on the Tiger? As far as I understand, he cobbled
something together just a bit better than the car Ken Miles put together in
two weeks. Eric Neal, Jensen's chief design engineer would probably have
some interesting and pertinent comments on the importance of Mr. Shelby's
prototype on the final design. My belief is "not much". And, then there's
the issue of the #45 car that Shelby "campaigned". What a fiasco!! Whether
Shelby "couldn't" or "wouldn't", we'll probably never really know. What is
a fact is that Rootes, and Ian Garrad in particular, were so unhappy with
Shelby's effort, they dropped their support and went to Hollywood Spots
Cars and Doane Spencer who spent about $40k and came up with something
approximating a real race car. Now, with Jim Adams driving, there was no
conflict of interest when a Tiger passed a Cobra, which it occasionally
did. And probably much to the chagrin of Mr. Shelby and his team.
Like all history, the real history of the Tiger is much too complicated for
simple black and white generalizations. Is the Tiger a Shelby car? I not
only don't think so, but prefer it that way. The identity of the car would
have been better served, in my opinion, if Shelby had not had any
involvement whatsoever. And if Doane Spencer had been involved in the Le
Mans effort in '64, at least maybe the engines (289s of course) would have
lasted the whole race. Well, dream on guys, we're stuck with history the
way it happened. Shelby screwed us good!! In fact, I think those who know
him well will tell you he's famous for that. Not only was he a hell of a
race driver, but a shrewd business man as well. More power to him. Would I
have him sign my car?? Well, no, but I've got this picture of a Daytona
coupe if you wouldn't mind please kind sir??
Bob in San Diego
At 10:43 AM 3/6/99 -0800, Steve Laifman wrote:
>Rande,
>
>Thank you for an interesting history. I, too, worked 5
>miles from Shelby's Imperial location, had friends who
>worked there, and toured it a few times. This is the same
>set of buildings, and teams, that both the Cobra design and
>the Tiger design originated.
>
>There is one point of logic you brought out that I cannot
>understand.
>
>You stated that A.O. Smith made Shelby designed cars,
>commissioned by Ford, from modified Ford Mustangs, and
>using Ford parts and custom parts, in '67 and beyond, and
>you think they are "Shelby's".
>
>How, then, is that different from Jensen making Shelby
>designed cars, commissioned by Rootes, from modified Rootes
>Sunbeams, and using Sunbeam parts and custom parts, in '63
>and beyond, and yet you DON'T think they are "Shelby's".
>
>Your logic for this, please?
>
>Steve
>
>
>Steve Laifman < One first kiss, >
>B9472289 < one first love, and >
> < one first win, is all >
> < you get in this life. >
Robert L. Palmer
Dept. of AMES, Univ. of Calif., San Diego
rpalmer@ames.ucsd.edu
rpalmer@cts.com
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