In a message dated 12/9/2007 6:25:19 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
rande@thecia.net writes:
Just personally, I think SAAC and Rick Kopec have had a great ride,
considering
the cars are called Shelbys, and not Kopecs, and I hope no one is surprised
that at some point, Shelby or his family might want control of the biggest
national
club supporting Shelby cars.
I think something needs to be pointed out, here...
Back in the day, once the Cobra was no longer competitive and the Shelby
Mustang no longer produced by Ford (and the royalties had stopped), Shelby
couldn't get clear of Ford, the Cobra and the whole scene quickly enough,
moving
on to focus on his other businesses. He had zero interest in any "legacy",
based on his actions, ultimately moving on to form a "relationship" with
Chrysler
to rejuvenate his cash flow. Remember, this was a point in time when nobody
really cared all that much about his cars, heck, you could pick up a Cobra
for $3-4,000 and a GT350 or 500 for about half that.
SAAC was formed about this time, by a group that truly enjoyed the cars and
wanted to preserve the history, stop the practice of "cloning" GT350/500's
and provide a venue for enthusiasts to get together and use the cars. And they
were very successful in building the club, pioneering a number of "best
practices" which many car clubs have emulated and also creating the template
for
the open track event which has become so wildly popular. Shelby still had very
little interaction with SAAC or Shelby owners, at this point.
Fast forward to the later '80s, the Cobra is now worth a ton of money, the
GT350/500 are starting to be seen as more "collectible" (particularly the early
GT350) and Shelby sees that SAAC has become a successful business
enterprise...so, he begins to get more involved, mostly through appearing at
various
events and signing his name for money for the foundation.
Now, twenty years later, anything with the Shelby name on it is worth big
dollars...scratch that, anything Shelby was involved in early in his car
building career is worth big dollars, in large part due to the efforts of SAAC!
At
the same time, all the other "stuff" that Shelby did subsequent to the
Ford/Cobra days has very limited appeal and negligible dollar value,
comparatively.
So, what does Shelby do? He decides to capitalize on the work that SAAC has
done, work that started at a time when Shelby himself had zero interest or
involvement.
So, while I'm not saying that Kopec and his crew are wonderful, altruistic
folks or that Shelby's vision and legacy should be in any way overlooked, I am
saying that it isn't a simple matter of an older man trying to retake what is
"rightfully his" before his time on this earth is over...like they say, just
follow the money ;-)
**************************************Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest
products.
(http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001)
_______________________________________________
Tigers@autox.team.net
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/tigers
|