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Re: carroll shelby & Tigers

To: bob josten <bobjosten@comcast.net>,
Subject: Re: carroll shelby & Tigers
From: Steve Laifman <SLaifman@socal.rr.com>
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 11:26:01 -0800
Bob,

Carroll is very polite and friendly with Tiger owners,  and readily 
signs the firewall at shows featuring Shelby cars. SoCal Shelby welcomes 
Tiger owners as full members, and invites them to all shows.  Carroll 
appears at many. NorCal does the same.  However, he does not have the 
pride of "fatherhood" he had with the Cobra, and rightly so.  That was 
all his doing (with due respect to AC for a nice chassis and a weak 
power train, who NEEDED something more marketable.)  It was SOLD as a 
"Shelby Cobra", not a Mustang GT350 - (by Shelby). It was his money that 
imported the rolling shells and put the motor in on his California 
assembly line. 

Rootes could have named it the Rootes  "Shelby Tiger", but Shelby was 
not a big name in 1963 (same year he rolled out the 260 CID AC based 
Shelby) so it wouldn't have made good marketing buzz, nor was he funding 
it - he was being paid a commission.

So, those issues could represent the difference in attitude of the 
"Shelby" boosters (other than the ones mentioned), and does explain the 
Rootes naming. Recall, Lord Rootes was not known as a magnanimous person 
wishing to promote others.  I can't say there would really have been any 
marketing advantage for him to have done so, in any event.

Steve


bob josten wrote:

>I was cutting through the Santa Monica Airport today (well known west LA
>shortcut) and saw the Shelby Racing trailer parked on the edge of what looked
>like a big film shoot.
>I stopped and asked one of the grips what was going on and he said they were
>shooting a car awards show called 'Autorox' for Spike TV.
>According to this http://www.autorox.com/rsc/ Shelby gets an 'icon award'.
>I wonder if he will mention the Shelby Tiger.
>Also, for the show, the 60's English sports car voted the number one 'chick
>magnet'? The Austin Healey 3000- although that can't be correct. I used to
>have a 3000 and for some reason the car I drove was not a chick magnet.
>
>Bob





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