Well Folks,
Bob Palmer is right again! Jensen Ltd. Merely looked at the "Shelby"
prototype, and pretty much did their own thing when it came to making the
Tiger. Doane Spencer was the man who convinced "Shelby" to use rack and
pinion steering to move the engine back. He even provided the rack! He was
hoping he would get some contracts, but he did not until the "shelby" team
dropped the ball so many times they had no options but to kick. If Doane
Spencer had been deeply involved as he was near the end, the whole story
would have been different. Carrol was called "the Snake" for more reasons
than the Cobra. If it makes you feel any better Bob, I have his signature in
everyone of my Tiger books! On the White car of course! I also Have Doane
Spencers on the photo of him checking the brakes. Lou
>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>
>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??
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